Knight
Christmas and books just seem to go together. At least they do in my world.
I can’t remember a December 25th morning when there wasn’t a book or two under the tree with my name scrawled on the tag. Also, as I dearly dread searching through crowded stores, I count myself lucky that I have several friends and family members who are also avid readers. Choosing just the right gift is so much less stressful when you have readers on your shopping list.
This year Becky and I have most of our book shopping done. Weeks ago we purchased a newly published cookbook for [REDACTED] who has never come upon a celebrity cookbook she doesn’t want to own. We smile to ourselves when we gift her a Cookbook-By-A-Famous-Person because [REDACTED] rarely cooks. She just likes reading what her fave celebs suggest as good recipes. She seems partial to actors as well as to her favorite authors.
This Christmas we are giving her Castle Rock Kitchen: Wicked Good Recipes from the World of Stephen King. [REDACTED] is a huge fan of The King of Horror having read, I believe, his entire oeuvre. And if by chance we get invited to her house for a home-cooked meal, well, that would be scary good fun.
Another good thing about books at Christmas is that it saves me from having to come up with gift ideas for family members when they ask what I would like for a present. I have twice as many of anything and everything I can possibly use for my day-to-day living. Don’t need more socks, cologne, or things to sit on my shelves. Books? Well, that’s different. Is there such a thing as too many books?
I already know of one Christmas book I will get.
Due to miscommunication, mishearing and senior computer confusion, I now have the book Babble! And How Punctuation Saved It hidden away in Becky’s stash of presents in the extra bedroom. Well, it’s not really hidden away since I know about it, but it is a little fiction we like to play during the holidays. Maybe I am trying to atone for snooping around the house when I was a kid trying to get an early peek at what Santa would be bringing me.
I can’t locate the review of Babble! I read—it’s somewhere in the Cloud, I guess—but it convinced me that I wanted to hear the story of a village where arguments, fights and general chaos reigns because the citizens have no punctuation. Later, a mysterious young girl arrives with a small dot—a period. Eventually, people begin to learn communication. But will those squiggly lines and dots truly make a lasting peace? I haven’t started reading the book yet because of that Holiday fiction I mentioned, but I plan to get right on as soon as I am allowed.
Books keep showing up at our house. Gifts for us and from others. Dinners With Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendship by Nina Totenberg about her 50-year friendship with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg showed up at the house a week ago. Tune In. The Beatles: All Those Years Vol. 1 by Mark Lewisohn arrived last Thursday. I don’t know if it will come via Amazon or Barnes and Nobel or UPS or Santa or at all, but I am hoping to find Bob Dylan’s newest read, The Philosophy of Modern Song, under the tree. All these arriving Christmas books are swirling like sugarplums in my head.
Okay. Still have a few days until Christmas, and I’m looking over my gift stash for Becky. it might be a little light. Maybe I could get her a book.
Norman Knight, a retired Clark-Pleasant Middle School teacher, writes this weekly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
