Holiday Reading
“It’s nice to have a book “to come back to” during the holiday season, whether you’re returning home mid-afternoon from a shopping trip to Greenville, at midnight from a cross-country flight, or toddling down your hallway after making cookies. Keep reading for a stack of books that you can keep by your chair throughout the holidays.”—Amy Albright
Pendleton Bookshop
By Amy Albright
“As they carried along and met more people Furlong did and did not know, he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?”―Claire Keegan, from Small Things Like These
PENDLETON South Carolina—(The Pendletonian)—December 2024—It’s nice to have a book “to come back to” during the holiday season, whether you’re returning home mid-afternoon from a shopping trip to Greenville, at midnight from a cross-country flight, or toddling down your hallway after making cookies. Keep reading for a stack of books that you can keep by your chair throughout the holidays.
In his memoir, All Creatures Great and Small, James Alfred Wight (pen name James Herriot), a veterinarian, recounts treating a variety of animals (tiny dog to cow); navigating quirky co-workers and neighbors; and falling in love in mid-20th century, rural England. A nightly read-aloud with your family or friends would have the feel of an English radio serial. Someone in a new job or a new place would find good company in Herriot.
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, by Karina Yan Glaser, has resourceful children who don’t need money to have fun, big love in a big family, and a beautiful overcoming at the end. While the intended audience is middle-grade (8-12 years), I love to recommend this book to adults.
Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris has chapter-sized servings of dry hilarity that would be fun to read (or give!) with a plate of cookies.
A Christmas Memory, by Truman Capote, is a nostalgic celebration of the relationship between a child and his cousin. I recommend reading an illustrated version.
The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry, is a fable-like love story about a hard-working couple who want to give each other gifts that they can’t afford. This short story could be a useful way to teach children (or yourself!) about giving.
Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan, is a foil to a certain kind of holiday tale with a happy ending. I read this book after seeing it on a holiday reading list, and I found myself disagreeing with the list—because it’s not a happy story. But worthwhile holiday reading doesn’t need to be happy. Rather than being surprised with the perfect gift, Bill Furlong (the main character), sees something that puts a hard lock on his conscience. Rather than being surrounded by family, he’s emotionally and morally alone as he makes a big decision. Following the track of the traditional Nativity, you will find a story about marginalized humans in difficult circumstances, but without any angel song or wise men.
Amy Albright
Amy Albright is the founder and owner of The Pendleton Bookshop, located in the historic Hunter's Store building on Pendleton’s town square. A lifelong reader and proud literary nerd, Albright curated a shoebox library, which may have consisted entirely of Beverly Cleary, for her second-grade classroom and volunteered at the public library as a middle-schooler. One of her first jobs was as a high school contributor to The Greenville News in Greenville, South Carolina. She loves adventure—picking up flying tips as a passenger in the cockpit of a bush plane crossing the Arctic Circle in Alaska, driving members of the famed artist-activist group, the Guerilla Girls, to the airport, or reading an untested author—but she also loves some quality solitude. Albright manages the bookshop using skills earned working in special events coordination, tours, and collections management at small museums in Virginia. She lives in Pendleton, a three-minute walk from the bookshop, with her husband, daughter (“the little bookseller”) and two dogs, Jasper and George.