The Adults by Caroline Hulse

Christmas is just loaded with emotional landmines, and it's always delightful to read about somebody else's disastrous holidays to put your own in perspective. Nobody got shot through with an arrow at mine this year - you?

A divorcing couple, their new partners, and the couple's young daughter all go away together to a fun park resort for a Christmas "weekend" that lasts five days. Somehow, everybody can see it's a bad idea and yet no one can put on the brakes to make it stop.

There are a lot of lies and half-truths floating around, but you're not going to put four adults plus one child and an imaginary bunny friend in a small chalet this long and believe they're not all coming out eventually, explosively, once the wine starts flowing.

This was a very funny book, dark and laughable with a lot of British stiff-upper-lip, polite until it hurts. You know early on somebody gets shot, but that whole story and its implications come out through police interviews that alternate between the main chapters. If you've ever endured a forced-joviality vacation at a family fun resort with children, you'll totally relate.

Louis Undercover by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault

In this sensitive, sad story told in a mostly gray-scale graphic novel format, a boy juggles the emotions of his first big crush and his family's turmoil after his parents split up.

The only spots of color (yellow, blue, pink) in the book highlight hope: the girl he's in love with, happy memories, bravery, sobriety. They're few and far between - a physical depiction of the small, bleak lives of Truffle and Louis, their mom, and their distant dad. But there is, nonetheless, that hope for the future.

I loved this - it's a fantastic book about the tolls of alcoholism. It's not a happy story, but it's a truthful story about rebuilding a life and moving forward. I think it's an important book, an appropriate way for older kids and teens to either see themselves reflected or to better understand others.

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

A week of sitting shiva for his deceased, lapsed-Jew father isn't what Judd Foxman wants to do right now. It's going to get ugly if the four grown Foxman siblings have to all live under the same roof for a full week. But there isn't really any choice.

Not that Judd's really got anything better to do - he's separated from his wife after he found her in bed with his boss. Oh, and for that same reason, he's now jobless and living in a basement apartment.

So maybe a week in his mom's basement might not be that bad.

The book's funny, and the sibling love-hate relationships are very realistic. They're each comfortable in their consigned sibling roles, and yet also dying to be something else altogether.

PS: I've seen the 2014 movie version of this (same title, starring Jason Bateman as Judd) and it stayed pretty close to the book, with a few notable exceptions and the usual simplification of the storylines. It should probably tell you something that I sought out the book after enjoying the movie. Additionally, I laughed out loud when Judd in the book remembers his Mom working out in the 80's and trying to get a butt like Jane Fonda's - because in the film Jane Fonda plays the mom.

Us by David Nicholls

In an unlikely romance, geeky scientist Douglas Petersen wins the hand of the lovely painter Connie and they marry, start a family, and move into contented middle age ... until one night, Connie blindsides Douglas with the announcement she's thinking about leaving too when their son goes off to college in a few months.

In the meantime, they've got a grand European vacation planned to show Albie all the great works of art on the continent - and there's no reason to waste the money or skip such fun, now, is there?

This book shifts back and forth in time to tell the story of Douglas and Connie's romance and marriage, while also chronicling one really hellacious vacation. Eventually, Douglas realizes what's wrong - but is it too late?

This book can be pretty grim going, but it's also quite funny. Every family's got a "Douglas", so you'll recognize the depressions and dramas - sometimes you just want to swat him one for his ignorance. I was also super-jealous of their European adventure, even as miserable as it was.

Know Your Beholder by Adam Rapp

As musician Frances Falbo's life has crumbled around him (band breakup, divorce, agoraphobia), he conveniently has turned his childhood home into a small community of apartments; this means he has income, friends, and people to watch and interact with, all without ever taking off his robe and slippers.

This apartment microcosm community includes Frances' reclusive ex-brother-in-law, a pair of former circus acrobats whose young daughter has just gone missing, an aspiring thespian, a college artist, and a transient former bandmate, and more.

The book is funny, and also a little heartbreaking. The apartment tenants are a motley crew, and observing their comings and goings is full-time entertainment for Francis and for the reader. It's not the kind of book that everything gets tied in a ribbon bow at the end, but things end in a satisfying manner, and it looks like Francis may get out of the house after all.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Two teens thrown together by fate and the school bus become friends (then more) despite the odds - doesn't that sound like a book you want to read? YOU TOTALLY SHOULD!!

Eleanor's new to school, and things at home suck: becoming invisible may be the only way she'll survive her mother's explosive new husband. On the other hand, Park's been in the same neighborhood his whole life and lives a common middle-class existence with minimal family drama. It's not an easy or fast friendship but music and comic books become a common language and a bridge to understanding.

These are kids you relate to and root for - hell, odds are you knew or may have been one of them at some point in your life. And their story is stellar.

And a note: while it's marketed as a teen book, the 1986 setting meant that as a 40-something reader, the music and cultural references were especially poignant for me. Do not miss this one!

(I can see now why some people were so hard on Rowell's book Fangirl - which I read first although it came out second. I absolutely loved that book, but now that I've read this one I can see how Fangirl might falter in a direct comparison. I still think it's a great book ... but this one is EPIC and certainly would be a hard act to follow.)

Have a Nice Day by Julie Halpern

Fresh out of the hospital (3 weeks forced hospitalization for depression/anxiety), Anna's concerned about her reappearance at school: Will everyone look at her funny? Will they avoid her? How should she approach her absence? What will she wear? And how much homework has she missed? This kind of worry is no help to her irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety!

But Anna quickly finds that attention span in teenagers is short, and she doesn't really have anything to worry about. Plus, her newly-acquired coping skills may mean she's better-equipped to deal with common phenomena like crushes, parents, homework, and class projects.

Apparently, this is the sequel to "Get Well Soon" - that book deals with Anna's hospitalization - but I didn't know that until half-way through "Have a Nice Day." It didn't seem to matter that I hadn't read the first book; this one stood alone well without missing a beat.

Anna's a regular, likeable teen with the kind of concerns to which many will easily relate. Even if you haven't been hospitalized, most of us still worry about fitting in and sharing our personal struggles and triumphs. Anna was never an absolute nutcase - so, neither are we, right?

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

The cat got mad at me while I was reading this book because I kept jostling her when I laughed; Janzen's stories about her family, her disastrous marriage and its breakup, and her medical mishaps are truly and amazingly hilarious.

But be warned: she's a fan of big words, and knows how to use them! On her mother's farting: "One of the great surprises to proximate auditors was her contribution of hortatory flatulence. Loud and astonishing were her expostulations, like the speeches of Daniel Webster." (This is one of the passages where the cat abandoned me.)

But there is a more serious side to the book, and there's a fair amount of spiritual discussion as Janzen explores and analyzes her beliefs concerning her Mennonite childhood, chafing against that restrictive lifestyle, and then her return for an extended stay at her parents' home during her adult "rebuilding" phase.

Bad Dog (A Love Story) by Martin Kihn

This is a funny, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat drama that's equal parts heart-warming and heart-breaking book about recovery and self-discovery. And dog training.

When his marriage crumbled - mainly due to alcohol and an uncontrollable dog - Kihn joins AA and decides to train his Bernese Mountain Dog, Hola, to be a certified AKC Good Citizen. Individually, either of those pursuits seems unlikely to succeed and piled together they're practically guaranteed to fail. But it's the road to the goal that's ultimately an enlightening process.

The book's well-written, and the levity Kihn introduces certainly lightens what could have been a depressing and dark book. The whole way you're on an emotional rollercoaster: rooting for Hola, despite the sinking suspicion things won't go well. But yet, they could be OK! Or, not.

If you've ever loved a dog, you'll enjoy this book (and especially, if you've known a Berner). And if you've ever taken on a challenge despite the fact you knew you couldn't win, you'll root for Kihn and Hola on their epic adventure.

Drink Play Fuck by Andrew Gottlieb

This book is a satirical male response to that other famous book about a woman finding herself after the breakup of her marriage. Except this one is subtitled: "One man's search for anything across Ireland, Vegas, and Thailand."

When Bob's wife blindsides him with a divorce, he decides to take a year off. First, he goes to Ireland. In the airport he meets a guy who becomes his buddy and drinking tour guide. After four months, he decides that Lady Luck is calling by way of Vegas - where he meets a new life coach and friend who helps him gamble and golf away another four months. When he decides his next four months should be more, ahem, physical in nature ... his guru directs him to a remote resort in Thailand.

This book is light, comical, and could be enlightening if you were open to that sort of thing - or at least, it's as "life-changing" as I found the other book (ie: not at all). There is a point to the whole adventure, and it turns out that it's not anywhere near as debauched as it sounds.

We're having a Tuesday

by DK Simoneau

Many children have two homes...one with Mom and one with Dad. This nicely done picture book addresses the issues from a kid's perspective. Each home has something wonderful, but each is also missing something wonderful. This book gives parents and caregivers an opportunity to start a conversation about why it is difficult to leave one home for the other. Simoneau nicely shows how each home can be a special place filled with love. The last few pages are a small journal so that children can think of things they miss about each parent when they are not around, ways to remember them, and things each parent remembers about the child.