While not a fan of the traditional song 'Twelve Days of Christmas', I do rather like many of the variations such as 'The Twelve Days After Christmas', 'The Twelve Days of Cowboy Christmas', and the version where each day is in the style of a different composer, but my absolute favorite version is a print version. I laughed until I had tears in my eyes over Jack Kent's Twelve Days of Christmas.

Will you be going to a large family gathering? Is there ever a pause in the conversation? Or a need for an activity due to the weather? Then be sure to have a copy of Quizmas: Christmas Trivia Family Fun by Gordon Pape (with Deborah Kerbel) at hand. Designed for all ages, the chapters have questions on movies, books, carols, food, and so forth, for Tots to Teens as well as the grown-ups. Don't skip the introduction, it's wonderful.

While A Christmas Story: Behind the Scenes of a Holiday Classic, by Caseen Gaines, was not quite what I was expecting, it proved to be an interesting read anyway. There are a few 'behind the scenes' entries, here, but there are also chapters about buying the house that was used for the exterior shots, and then having it redone completely on the inside to match the movie set. Visiting the school (it's in Canada) the day of the demolition and saving that chalk board from the classroom. Tracking down many of the outfits that were worn (also in Canada). The house is open for tours year 'round, along with the museum and gift shop. If you like the film, I think you'll enjoy this book.

There really is a book store called 'The Mysterious Bookstore', and it really is run by Otto Penzler (mentioned in an earlier blog). For years he asked for short stories from authors he knew. There were a few requirements: they had to be a mystery set at Christmas time, and had to take place in the book store. They were then bound and used as gifts for his regular customers. Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop: 'Tis the Season to Be Deadly is a collection of those stories. Oh, and see if you agree with the lists of the 10 Best Christmas Mystery Stories, Christmas Moves, and Christmas Mystery Novels of all Time at the end of the book. :-)

A few more Christmas mysteries: Christmas Carol Murder, by Leslie Meier. Twelve Clues of Christmas, by Rhys Bowen. The Clue Is In the Pudding, by Kate Kingsbury (this is part of a wonderful series)!

I hope there is some reading time for all of you during the holiday festivities. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog