✨Staff picks of the week by Julia Buckwalter✨
As the only person on our staff who reads and enjoys Christmas books (haha) I wanted to take advantage of that by bringing your attention to the fact that we carry a piano-ful (displayed behind Ed Abbey`s desk) of Holiday-themed reads, featuring Christmas, Hannukah, Ramadan, Diwali and Chinese New Year, mostly of the Rom-com variety, a few more philosophically bent. Here are two new books to know about, which I both really loved reading and found to be polar opposites: Brightly Shining by Ingvid Rishoi & Most Wonderful by Georgia Clark.
Brightly Shining (Rishoi) is a dark tale; if this had a Christmas genre, it would be modern Dickens with a splash of Fredrik Backman. In Norway, sisters Ronja and Melissa live in a cramped apartment, facing eviction along with their loving but chronically drunk father. The youngest, Ronja, feels her misfit nature most among spoiled classmates, sitting outside in the bitter cold and feeding her lunch to her squirrel friend. Life seems hopeless until a job opportunity for the family arrives - selling Christmas trees. The writing is very sparse and very effective! This book was a much unexpected read, and may leave you with tears in your eyes and a lump in your throat.
Most Wonderful (Clark) is on the other hand a goofy, cute, steamy, maximalist, completely queer romance delivered with plenty of emotional intelligence, pop culture quips and lots of sex! This book is for the open-minded love-to-laugh readers out there... A tale of three siblings gathered together in upstate New York over the holidays, navigating emotional and work-life upheavals in their show business mother`s upstate NY mansion. You`ll root for Birdie, the lazy stand-up comic, Liz, her show-runner type-A sister, and Rafi, their adopted and hopelessly romantic humanitarian brother. A splashy, fun, new favorite and not-so-guilty pleasure to keep you warm and smiling on these cold Winter nights!
Find both of these on our site here 👇
https://backofbeyondbooks.com
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