Download or read book Almost Like Christmas written by Joseph Heller and published by Mulholland Books. This book was released on 2016-12-06 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A masterful short story from the acclaimed author of Catch-22, about one long night of anticipation. In a small town in the American South, it is night in the middle of the twentieth century. Carter, a high-school teacher and football coach in the newly desegregated schools, is awaiting news of two of his students who have been in a serious altercation. Outside the building where Carter has kept his vigil, a crowd of townspeople have also gathered to keep watch. Carter must choose how much he wants to participate in the spectacle, and how much he can afford to keep his distance. "Almost Like Christmas" by Joseph Heller is one of 20 short stories within Mulholland Books's Strand Originals series, featuring thrilling stories by the biggest names in mystery from the Strand Magazine archives. View the full series list at mulhollandbooks.com and listen to them all!

Download or read book An Almost Perfect Christmas written by Nina Stibbe and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of Love, Nina -- a hilarious ode to the joys and insanities of the most wonderful time of the year. Every family has its Christmas traditions and memories, and Nina Stibbe's is no exception. From her kitchen-phobic mother's annual obsession with roasting the perfect turkey (an elusive dream to this day) to the quest for a perfect teacher gift (memorable for all the wrong reasons); from the tragic Christmas tree ("is it meant to look like that?") to the acceptable formula for thank-you letters (must include Health Inquiry and Interesting Comment), Nina Stibbe captures all that is magical and maddening about the holidays.

Download or read book The Legend of the Christmas Witch written by Aubrey Plaza and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-11-16 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza and creative partner Dan Murphy comes the long lost tale of the Christmas Witch, Santa Claus's much misunderstood twin sister. The perfect gift for the holiday season and beyond! Gather ‘round the fire to hear a Christmas legend that has never been told before...until now. Each year a mysterious figure sweeps into town, leaving behind strange gifts in the night. No, not Santa Claus, but his sister… The Christmas Witch. Her story begins many, many years ago when her brother was torn away from her as a child. Raised alone by a witch of the woods, Kristtörn's powers of magic grew, as did her temper. Determined to find her long lost twin, she set out on a perilous journey across oceans to find him. But what she found instead was a deep-seated fear of her powers and a confrontation that would leave the fate of Christmas hanging in the balance. From award-winning producer and actress Aubrey Plaza and her creative partner Dan Murphy comes a holiday story unlike any told before. With all the richness of classic folklore, they’ve woven a tale of bravery, love and magic. Whatever you thought you knew about Christmas…think again.

Download or read book Singin Swingin and Gettin Merry Like Christmas written by Maya Angelou and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-09-02 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A memoir about motherhood and music from the bestselling author of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS 'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' Barack Obama Maya Angelou's seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration. In this her third marvellous volume, music and her son are the focus of Maya Angelou's life. She is on the edge of a new world: marriage, show business and a triumphant tour of Porgy and Bess. 'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY 'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON

Download or read book Just Like Magic written by Sarah Hogle and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-10-04 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The holidays were never her thing, until she accidentally conjures the Holiday Spirit...before her very eyes. Bettie Hughes once knew the comfort of luxury, flaunting a collection of designer purses and an enviable dream home in Hawaii. That was before she lost all her money. Long obsessed with her public image, Bettie boasts an extravagant lifestyle on social media. But the reality is Bettie is broke and squatting in Colorado, and her family has no idea. Christmas, with its pressure to meet familial expectations, is looming when Bettie plays a vinyl record of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” backward and accidentally conjures up Hall, the Holiday Spirit, in the form of a charming and handsome (if offbeat) man. Once the shock wears off, Bettie knows she’s stumbled upon the greatest gift: a chance to make all her holiday wishes come true, plus a ready-made fiancé. But as some of Bettie’s wishes lose their charm, she finds herself thrown off-kilter by Hall’s sweet nature. Suddenly, grumpy Bettie is finding her heart merry and light. But the happier she gets, the shorter Hall’s time on earth grows. Can Bettie channel the Christmas spirit and learn to live with goodwill toward all men? Or will her selfish ways return as soon as the holidays are over?

Download or read book A Christmas Memory written by Truman Capote and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A reminiscence of a Christmas shared by a seven-year-old boy and a sixtyish childlike woman, with enormous love and friendship between them.

Download or read book A Baxter Family Christmas written by Karen Kingsbury and published by Pocket Books. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a life-changing holiday tale of love and hope after heartbreak. Two years after the car accident that took Erin Baxter’s life, her father, John Baxter, still lives in constant grief. John’s heartbreak prompts him to invite Kendra Bryant, the transplant recipient who now has Erin’s heart, to Christmas Eve dinner despite protests from his remaining children. Ashley and Luke want to protect their ten-year-old niece­ who is the only surviving child of Erin’s, but John remains determined and believes that meeting this woman is something his deceased daughter would want. Meanwhile, Kendra Bryant is struggling to come to terms with the tragedy that gave her a second chance. It is only when she witnesses the Baxter’s unwavering faith in God that she begins to heal and allow peace and happiness back into her life. At the same time, Maddie West, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Brooke Baxter West, continues to pray for meaning this Christmas. When she discovers a newfound friendship with a boy she never expected to see again, she begins to believe in miracles, especially around Christmastime. A Baxter Family Christmas is a heartwarming story that brings together two families in the midst of tragedy and loss, all with the help one very special child.

Download or read book Every Day Is Like Christmas Almost written by Melanie Smith and published by Page Publishing Inc. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taken away from her birth mom at a very young age, Lucy wasn't quite sure what was in store for her. Visitors came by from time to time to look at her and her other puppy siblings, and she kept longing for what was on the other side of the big door. After one of her sisters was taken away in a little basket, she devised her plan of action. Finally, the day arrived when she would go to her forever home and embark on a whole new set of adventures. Her mind was always racing, and she began deciphering all of life's situations. A quick learner, she immediately started noting what merited treats. She decided that life is always better with treats-and a lap to cozy into. She was a handful when she was young, mischievous throughout most of her life, happy with the simplest gesture of affection, and maybe too smart for her own good. This is her tale of life, love, and challenges-challenges that almost claimed her life too soon. She has put paw to paper to share her life lessons in hopes that everyone can put what really matters into perspective.

Download or read book Auggie Wren s Christmas Story written by Paul Auster and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2014-05-13 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A timeless, utterly charming Christmas fable, beautifully illustrated and destined to become a classic When Paul Auster was asked by The New York Times to write a Christmas story for the Op-Ed page, the result, "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story," led to Auster's collaboration on a film adaptation, Smoke. Now the story has found yet another life in this enchanting illustrated edition with Argentine artist Isol. It begins with a writer's dilemma: he's been asked by The New York Times to write a story that will appear in the paper on Christmas morning. The writer agrees, but he has a problem: How to write an unsentimental Christmas story? He unburdens himself to his friend at his local cigar shop, a colorful character named Auggie Wren. "A Christmas story? Is that all?" Auggie counters. "If you buy me lunch, my friend, I'll tell you the best Christmas story you ever heard. And I guarantee every word of it is true." And an unconventional story it is, involving a lost wallet, a blind woman, and a Christmas dinner. Everything gets turned upside down. What's stealing? What's giving? What's a lie? What's the truth? It's vintage Auster, and pure pleasure: a truly unsentimental but completely affecting tale.

Download or read book Christmas at the Comfort Food Caf The Comfort Food Caf Book 2 written by Debbie Johnson and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2016-09-23 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Full of quirky characters, friendship and humour, you will devour this engaging and heartwarming novel in one sitting’ – Sunday Express‘My new favourite author’ – Holly Martin

Download or read book A Christmas Story written by Jean Shepherd and published by Crown. This book was released on 2010-10-27 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beloved, bestselling classic of humorous and nostalgic Americana—the book that inspired the equally classic Yuletide film and the live musical on Fox. The holiday film A Christmas Story, first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year. Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family’s typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. This edition of A Christmas Story gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker’s shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father’s pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg lamp; the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie’s duel in the show with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie’s unstoppable campaign to get Santa—or anyone else—to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”? The pieces that comprise A Christmas Story, previously published in the larger collections In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.

Download or read book The Christmas Princess written by Mariah Carey and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2022-11-01 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by Mariah Carey's childhood, The Christmas Princess is an unforgettable holiday story, told by the Queen of Christmas herself with Michaela Angela Davis and featuring beautiful illustrations by Fuuji Takashi. The Queen of Christmas introduces . . . Little Mariah! There was one time unlike any other, when everyone pitched in and helped one another . . . CHRISTMAS TIME! Mariah Carey, lovingly and aptly known as the Queen of Christmas, has brought forth a unique, heartwarming, and modern fairy tale with The Christmas Princess, starring Little Mariah! Like her historic, globally adored song “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” this story is an instant and inclusive family holiday classic. While firmly placed in the tradition of Christmas storytelling, The Christmas Princess is infused with her one-of-a-kind festive Mariah magic and musicality. Little Mariah doesn’t have much and doesn’t want a lot, but there is just one thing she longs for: a peaceful and joyous holiday season. Feeling outcast and alone, Little Mariah sets off on a wintry, wondrous journey, ultimately discovering the healing power of her voice to spread the spirit of Christmas at home and all around the world.

Download or read book A Christmas Spark written by Cindy Steel and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-02 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Snowed in at a cabin with the most infuriating man in the world. I may take my chances with the wolves...When my best friend found out I'd be alone over Christmas, she hooked me up with a week stay in her family's cabin in Idaho. I was on a publishing deadline for my latest book and was really looking forward to a cozy week by the fire, cuddled up in flannel pajamas with my laptop and hot chocolate. Alone. So imagine my surprise when I arrived at the cabin during a blizzard, and found it already occupied. By an all too familiar face and a fine pack of chiseled abs. Even though it had been ten years since I'd last seen Chase, he had no problem picking up exactly where we left off. I had a big problem with it.It didn't matter what he threw at me--the old nickname, the teasing, his charming grin, or even those chiseled abs (did I already mention those?), I refused to let him get to me after...the incident. Nope, not me. I was made of stone.Unfortunately, I'm beginning to understand that when you strike Chase against stone...you get sparks. Lots of them.

Download or read book Small Things Like These written by Claire Keegan and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize "A hypnotic and electrifying Irish tale that transcends country, transcends time." —Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. An international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.

Download or read book Somebody Like Santa written by Janet Dailey and published by Zebra. This book was released on 2022-09-27 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When he arrives in the small town of Branding Iron, Texas, journalist Cooper Chapman, hoping to start a new life with his young son, gets a second chance at love with the help of a little Christmas magic.

Download or read book Finding Christmas written by Karen Schaler and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the writer of the Netflix sensation, A Christmas Prince, and Christmas Camp, the Hallmark movie and novel, comes a heartwarming new Christmas story, Finding Christmas, showing how sometimes the detour in your journey is the path to true love. With all the glittering decorations, twinkling lights, snow angels, gingerbread men and mistletoe, Christmas is Emmie’s first love. This year, she can’t wait to share her favorite Christmas traditions with her boyfriend, Grant. She thinks he’s “the one.” So when Grant’s hectic work schedule has him more “Bah Humbug” than “Ho, Ho, Ho,” Emmie creates a holiday-themed scavenger hunt to help him find his Christmas spirit. At the end of the journey, Grant will arrive at the charming town of Christmas Point where she’s planned a romantic weekend filled with holiday activities. But Emmie’s plan backfires when a mix-up has the wrong guy following her clues! Sam, a best-selling mystery writer, thinks Emmie’s clever Christmas riddles are from his agent, who is trying to help him get over his epic writer’s block. When he arrives at Christmas Point and finds the stunned Emmie, he immediately feels she’s someone special, but she can’t see beyond the fact that the wrong guy has shown up. Inspired by the small, charming town, Sam decides to stay and convinces Emmie to join him in a little holiday fun while she waits for Grant. When Grant finally shows up, Emmie is disappointed to discover he’s not enjoying the activities she planned and can’t help wonder if he’s really the one for her. She also can’t get Sam out of her mind and all the great times they had together. With Christmas coming fast, Emmie will need the magic of the season to help steer her in the direction of true love...

Download or read book Twice Shy written by Sarah Hogle and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can you find real love when you've always got your head in the clouds? Maybell Parish has always been a dreamer and a hopeless romantic. But living in her own world has long been preferable to dealing with the disappointments of real life. So when Maybell inherits a charming house in the Smokies from her Great-Aunt Violet, she seizes the opportunity to make a fresh start. Yet when she arrives, it seems her troubles have only just begun. Not only is the house falling apart around her, but she isn't the only inheritor: she has to share everything with Wesley Koehler, the groundskeeper who's as grouchy as he is gorgeous--and it turns out he has a very different vision for the property's future. Convincing the taciturn Wesley to stop avoiding her and compromise is a task more formidable than the other dying wishes Great-Aunt Violet left behind. But when Maybell uncovers something unexpectedly sweet beneath Wesley's scowls, and as the two slowly begin to let their guard down, they might learn that sometimes the smallest steps outside one's comfort zone can lead to the greatest rewards.