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.

Start Without Me by Joshua Max Feldman

No pressure - it's just Adam's first holiday with the whole big family since he got out of rehab. He probably won't disappoint them in any new and dramatic fashion, right?

Meanwhile, an exhausted flight attendant ponders her own impending Thanksgiving celebration with the insufferable in-laws. Marissa and her husband are already arguing and it's probably not going to get better over dinner. But spending the day with her own family would be even worse.

The intersection of these two characters makes for a funny, sad, and completely engrossing story. You'll relate if you've ever made a snowballing series of poor decisions. These are people trying to do right, failing, and then wondering if it might be easier to just quit.

Drunken Fireworks by Stephen King

In the form of a police interview, local lake-shack owner Alden McCausland explains how the escalating July 4th fireworks battle between himself and the rich summer-homeowners across the water got out of hand.

Narrator Tim Sample does a marvelous job with Alden's thick, sloshed Mainer accent and his only slightly apologetic account of the rivalry. And since I live in a lake (Lake Wisconsin) community, this short story rang especially true concerning the brooding tension between the locals and the summer people. Plus, it's very funny, with lots of strong language used to express intense emotion (my very favorite kind of vulgarity).

This is the wonderful, non-scary kind of Stephen King story people often forget he writes; no vampires or monsters, just real people and the kind crazy things that actually happen in life.

*This book has been released ONLY in audiobook format.

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

It's just your typical, heartwarming holiday tale ... as only Moore can do. Because you've got to know that his kind of Christmas story is going to be filled with scream queens, pot-smokin' lawmen, murder, zombies, fruit bats, and other unexplained phenomena.

If you've got a dark sense of humor and a love of macabre, you'll enjoy this one.

In the end, it's the classic story of crisis bringing the whole community together - and it's all the fault of an angel who's just too literal, with no sense for human emotional nuance.

House of Cards by David Ellis Dickerson

This hilarious, true story deals with a guy who just hasn't found himself yet.

When David gets his first "grown-up job," he's shaggy, unkempt, awkward, and more than a little socially unaware - partially because he was raised both evangelical Christian and poor. Let's just say there's a lot he's missed out on about life.

It's his dream job: writing for Hallmark greeting cards. But what happens when your life's dream turns out to be not-so-dreamy? Then what what do you do?

During the course of the book, you'll learn a lot about how greeting cards are created (who knew?!) and David will learn a lot about himself, the world, and eventually ... women.

It's a quick, entertaining read. You'll find it especially relate-able if you've ever been sure that you just don't fit in.