Thursday, December 10, 2020

Jeanne Reviews: A Very Scalzi Christmas by John Scalzi

Please welcome back to the blog Jeanne of the Bristol Public Library today with her latest review. For more reading suggestions, make sure you checkout the Bookblog of the Bristol Public Library.

 

A Very Scalzi Christmas by John Scalzi


For the uninitiated, John Scalzi is an award-winning science fiction writer who employs a good bit of humor in his works. A co-worker is a fan, and she encouraged me to read Redshirts, which is a take on the hapless redshirted crewmembers who usually end up getting killed in order to add a little tension to a story without bothering the main cast. I was a tad suspicious, first generation Star Trek fan that I am, that this was going to make fun of a show that I’ve followed since 1966 but I ended up being pleasantly surprised so when Kristin started gently promoting A Very Scalzi Christmas, I wasn’t hard to convince. 

As the title implies, this is a collection of seasonal writing:  sketches, short stories, lists, etc. There are interviews with Santa’s lawyer, who represents NicholasNorth LLC in all its litigation, a list of New Year’s Resolutions (some of which involve NOT inventing vindictive robots), the worst Christmas specials, and an interview with the Christmas bunny.

 

My favorites were the short stories.  “Christmas in July” begins one warm sunny morning when people awaken to discover Christmas trees and presents—and not just any presents, but the perfect present for each recipient.  Naturally, this causes all sorts of confusion and a great deal of interest from the military who would very much like to know how every house was infiltrated.  “Sarah’s Sister” takes a more serious tone as a ten year old girl is not exactly thrilled about becoming a big sister, especially not on Christmas Eve.

 

I did enjoy some of the interviews, especially the one with the innkeeper—yes, THAT innkeeper—who explains about the whole animal shed thing and wonders about the inappropriate gifts brought by those kings.

 

I think that I would have enjoyed some of the lists more if I had read them instead of listening to them on cd.  There was a cast of readers who did a very good job, but some things I just find funnier if I read them. 

 

Overall, this is a delightful collection.  A colleague introduced it at one of our book club meetings and it has proved a revelation to some of those readers who equated science fiction with seriousness. 


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2 comments:

  1. Lesa8:46 AM

    Jeanne, I love John Scalzi. I read Redshirts. I've read a few of his other books, but I'm a faithful follower of his on Twitter where he's hilarious. I also follow his Scamperbeasts account about his cats. Loved A Very Scalzi Christmas, but then, I read the book. I'm sure it was different to listen to it.

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  2. BPL Ref2:59 PM

    Hi, Lesa, I've read and enjoyed Redshirts as well. I also read his Fuzzy reboot-- you may have reviewed that. (I pick up a lot of books from your reviews. Thank you!)

    I really think it was hearing it because even at the time I was thinking that if I were reading this list of New Year's resolutions I'd be laughing my head off. Hearing it, I anticipated too much. In that little split second when he'd read one resolution and before he got to the second, I'd guess what the next one was mentally and often was right. Same thing with the interviews. I think that's why I liked the stories so much more.

    A friend is a big fan and she introduced me to this work-- and his cats. :-) She's working her way through the Old Man's War series.

    Thanks for commenting!

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