Christmas Eve Reads 2021

Time for my annual Christmas Eve reads post…

Christmas is filled with traditions. You know this even if you don’t celebrate the holiday. Here in the U.S. you can’t avoid the craziness of the nationwide offering to Mammon that is Black Friday and the entire shopping season during the run up to Christmas Day. The stores are filled with holiday items for sale the moment Halloween is over. And then there’s the Christmas music, because there’s always at least one person you know who wants to listen to nothing but Christmas music all day, every day, from Thanksgiving Halloween until Christmas day. There’s always one. If you do celebrate Christmas then add to that Christmas Eve services, family gatherings, Christmas dinner, office parties, gift exchanges, leaving cookies and milk for Santa, and opening gifts on Christmas morning. Traditions.

And yeah I know 2020…I mean…2021 has poured cold water on many of the ways the holiday is celebrated but you know what I mean.

I have one particular tradition I enjoy as much, if not more than all the others. For the past ten Eleven twelve thirteen…wait…fourteen years or so there have been two books I’ve read every Christmas Eve to my children. After we open Christmas Eve gifts (one gift per kid, another tradition for our family) we all gather together in our matching pajamas (cheesy I know), pile onto the couch by the fireplace, and as the kids snuggle up next to me I read…

How The Grinch Stole Christmas
By Dr. Seuss

I’ll be honest this is the fun book. One of the best known children’s Christmas stories by the most famous of all children’s authors. It’s the story of the Whos down in Who-ville and the Grinch who lives just north of the town; the Whos who love Christmas and the Grinch who does not. Dreading the certain festiveness that he knows will ensue the Grinch hatches a plan to keep Christmas from coming. He throws together a “Santy Claus” outfit, ties up his dog Max to a sleigh and heads down into town after everyone is abed. Then, sneaking down every chimney he steals Christmas from every Who household, robbing them of their stockings, and presents, their Christmas feasts and their trees, even the logs for their fires, leaving not even the smallest of crumbs for all the Who’s mouses. Because there’s no way they can be merry and celebrate Christmas without all those things. But the Grinch discovers “a shocking surprise,” that Christmas perhaps means something a little bit more.

My memories of this story are primarily from the animated 1966 classic  narrated by Boris Karloff. I watched that cartoon film countless times at school and at home as a young boy and it remains one of my favorite holiday films. So when I grew older and started buying books when our children were born this was naturally one of the first purchases as December rolled around.

I can’t come close to matching the amazing voice of Boris Karloff, but I give it the old college try. From the opening page where…

“Every who
Down in Who-ville
Liked Christmas a lot…”

…To the final line…

“The Grinch carved the roast beast!”

…I give it my all; speeding up and slowing down the pace, tweaking my inflection and tone; raising my voice to describe all the, “NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!” and lowering it to a toddler’s squeak when Cindy-Lou Who begs, “Santy Clause, why, Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?”

This book is a blast to read aloud and the kids love it, even though they are getting older. But I’d be lying if I told you it doesn’t cause a catch in my throat near the end when the Grinch comes to realize Christmas means something more. More than all the gifts, all the decorations, and all the food. There’s something much deeper and meaningful to this holiday. Even if you’re not religious there’s something more to Christmas than all the commercialism. Suess doesn’t come out and say directly what this something is and he doesn’t need to. Deep down we know. It’s a touching reminder told through children’s verse that connects us once again with the joy of the season we too often forget.

The Night Before Christmas
By Clement C. Moore
Illustrated By Niroot Puttapipat

This is a beautiful edition of Clement C. Moore’s classic Christmas poem with elegant silhouette illustrations on every page. Here are a few…

and they culminate in a spectacular two page pop up display…

Who (of us in the English speaking world at least) doesn’t know that memorable opening line,

“‘Twas the night before Christmas,
when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse;”

Indeed, once you read the poem you probably realize you know every word having heard it countless times throughout your life. People may argue about the best Christmas song, or the best Christmas movie and whether Die Hard even counts as one (the correct answer is YES it does), but The Night Before Christmas really is THE Christmas poem, hands down. I know some people out there will argue it’s about Santa and how he’s not “the reason for the season,” but that’s not my point. You know this poem and it’s probably a core association with the holiday. Let’s be honest for many American’s it’s one of the few poems they even recognize, it’s that foundational.

So every Christmas Eve I end my read to the kids with The Night Before Christmas next to a fireplace where the stockings are hung with care, while their excitement for the morrow builds. As they prepare to lay down in their beds with “visions of sugarplums” (or whatever candy they’ve secreted from the pantry) dancing in their heads they replay this classic story in their mind’s eye and wait in hopes of catching St. Nick and his eight tiny reindeer before they “dash away! Dash Away! Dash away all!”

Sure I’m laying that foundation for another generation and you know what, I’m just fine with that.

I hope this Christmas Eve finds you and yours doing well. I hope you are able to spend it engaged in whatever traditions you cherish most. If for whatever reason that isn’t possible I hope you can rest in the peaceful, joyful memory of happy seasons past. Or maybe…just maybe…this is the time for you to start a new Christmas tradition with those you hold dear. Whatever the case I want to wish a…

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

The Boy Who Walked Too Far Book Tour

Today is my stop on The Boy Who Walked Too Far book tour! 

Let me say at the outset that I haven’t read this book. I knew when I signed up for the tour with Storytellers On Tour that I wouldn’t have time to read it before the event began, but I REALLY wanted to take part. Why you ask? Well, not long before the sign-up request went out I’d read a really positive review of the book that made me put it on my want list. It just sounded so damn cool. So when the request went out for tour roadies I decided I’d have to join in some way even if I couldn’t read and review it just yet.

So instead of a review today I’ve got something that may entice you a little bit too…

Self-Published Fantasy Month 2020 Kick-Off

So, in all the excitement of the past couple of days I totally forgot to post here about the kick-off of Self-Published Fantasy Month!

September 1st marked the beginning of Self-Published Fantasy Month. I’ve mentioned it here on the blog and on Twitter in recent weeks and months and it’s finally here!

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ve hosted Self-Published Fantasy Month here on the blog for the past couple of years. In a nutshell it is an attempt to bring attention to great self-published fantasy. In the past it has mostly consisted of book reviews and the occasional author interview or guest post. Other bloggers would take part at times as well. This year I branched out and asked a few other bloggers to give me a hand and form a team to put on the event. And wow, it is SO MUCH BETTER THAN IT EVER WAS BEFORE!

I don’t want to spend a lot of time and word space on it here. Instead I want to direct you to the event website selfpublishedfantasymonth.com. There you’ll find everything you need to know about what’s going on. But here’s a quick overview of what you can expect:

• Book Reviews
• Guest Posts
• Author Interviews
• Daily Instagram and Twitter photo challenges
• Podcasts
• A Read Along
• Book Giveaways

And there are many ways you can participate too. You can write reviews (and get a reviewer badge for your blog), join the read along, participate in the daily challenge, enter the giveaways and more. For more detail see the event Kick Off Post for information. Then follow us on the platforms below…

Webpage: selfpublishedfantasymonth.com
Twitter: @SelfPubFanMonth
Instagram: @selfpubfanmonth

I hope you’ll decide to join us for what I hope and expect to be an amazing event.

– Jason

Review Redo: Banebringer

Recently the Self-Published Fantasy Month Team posted a list of some self-published fantasy recs for those who have not read much self-published fantasy and don’t know where to start with finding a good book to read. Our hope was to offer up a few suggestions each while admitting the list would leave out a bunch of great books and authors. I hate leaving out great stories so I decided to re-post the reviews of all the self-published fantasy books I’ve really enjoyed over the last few years. Over the coming days and weeks I’ll be re-posting them here in the lead up to Self-Published Fantasy Month. My hope is you might find one that catches your interest for September!

Today’s installment is Carol A. Park’s Banebringer.  I should note that Park is the spouse of fellow SPFM team member Calvin Park, but that doesn’t mean I’m boosting her book for that reason. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope you will too.

Blog Page Update: Self-Published Reviews

I’ve been meaning to work on editing and updating my blog for…(checks calendar)…years. Other than a few tweaks to my rating system page the only thing I’ve really done is add more reviews and other blog posts to my Home Page/Archives. I did add a new page devoted to The Great Series Read Project recently but it is still kind of unfinished. The blog is a bit of a mess and needs some attention.

The Great Series Read Project

I have a problem.

And be honest with me…you have this problem too.

We see a new book series that looks awesome as hell, read the first book, and then get distracted by some new series that comes out (like a dog chasing a squirrel) and we never get around to finishing the series. Or maybe we don’t finish due to financial issues or some other reason. But we all do it. Don’t pretend you don’t. Yeah I know some of you wait until a series is finished and binge the whole thing, but not all of you. Not most of you.

And I don’t know about you, but I ALWAYS intend to go back and finish these series that I’ve neglected. Sometimes I do. Many times I don’t.

You know what I’ve been missing? Something to motivate me other than guilt. That is until Caitlin G. launched The Great Series Read Project over on her blog Realms of My Mind. Caitlin compiled a list of the series she’s started but not finished, then added series she’s completed or is up to date on, and then added some “candidate” series for the future. Her plan is to read one book a month back-to-back until she completes a series. Once she posted about it on her blog I told her I was stealing the idea. Since then Imyril over at There’s Always Room For One More, Lisa from Dear Geek Place, and Susy over at Susy’s Cozy World have joined the project. Below are links to their lists…

What I’m Reading: Legacy of Ash

I’m trying a few new things this year to add some variety to the blog. One of them is to let you know what I”m currently reading. I have no idea if you care, or if you’ll find it interesting but I’m gonna try it out for a while and see.

I also have to admit I’m writing this today because I’ve been sick for over a week (first a bad cold that turned into the crud) and I’m still not in the right headspace to write a review this weekend even though I really need to get a couple of them written.

Christmas Eve Reads: 2019

Time for my annual Christmas Eve reads post…

Christmas is filled with traditions. You know this even if you don’t celebrate the holiday. Here in the U.S. you can’t avoid the craziness of the nationwide offering to Mammon that is Black Friday and the entire shopping season during the run up to Christmas Day. The stores are filled with holiday items for sale the moment Halloween is over. And then there’s the Christmas music, because there’s always at least one person you know who wants to listen to nothing but Christmas music all day, every day, from Thanksgiving Halloween until Christmas day. There’s always one. If you do celebrate Christmas then add to that Christmas Eve services, family gatherings, Christmas dinner, office parties, gift exchanges, leaving cookies and milk for Santa, and opening gifts on Christmas morning. Traditions.

Music Monday: November Rain

My 2nd Blogiversary

A couple of days ago I quietly hit the two year mark for the blog. I wasn’t going to say anything and just let it slip by. I’m not really big on celebrating big events in my life, I don’t like a lot of attention on my birthday, or Father’s Day or things like that. But the more I thought about it the last couple of days the more I wanted to say SOMETHING about this milestone. And the thing I most wanted to say?