A Lot Like Christmas

A Lot Like Christmas by Connie Willis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This collection of a dozen (really long) novellas, each completely unique, is tied together solely by virtue of the Christmas theme/setting and more than a touch of magical realism.

It was almost a 5-star collection for me, but a few of the stories had issues/plot holes that bugged me enough to drop the rating. The biggest one was in "Inn," which told the story of the Holy Family being turned away from shelter in a blizzard by a church in the middle of rehearsing the Christmas pageant. The story would have been fantastic had it not relied on the faulty premise that locked doors (in a church building) keep people from both getting in and out. I yelled at my car stereo so frequently while listening to this one, it's a good thing it wasn't the last story in the collection, or it would have tanked my rating completely.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character and setting vie for secondary, depending on the story. It's a mix of genres, from realistic fiction to sci-fi to fantasy to mystery, although everything has some level of magical realism. At least one story has some swearing, several have a touch of romance, and none have any graphic violence or sexual content.

I think this might become a holiday tradition for me--just remembering to fast-forward through the "Inn."

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