Great Holiday Gift - A Little Fruitcake

If you're stumped for gifts to buy this holiday season, or just want a very good read, might I suggest A Little Fruitcake: A Childhood in Holidays? It's author is David Valdes Greenwood, a former professor of mine and a fantastic playwright.

David is one of the best writers around, and his work on the front-lines of the fight for civil rights that Proposition 8 put into focus for so many. Work like David's is still revelatory to many Americans (your relatives?) and that's why his books are not only entertaining, but important. His subjects tend to be pure Americana, and as he's a gay, married man raising an adopted daughter, it's his wonderful lack of self-consciousness, his lack of "otherness" that I think makes his work so recognizable, fun, and truthful.

Synopsis:

For one Maine boy--the indomitable "little fruitcake" at the center of these tales--nothing is sweeter than the promise of the holidays. A 1970's Tiny Tim, he holds fast to his ideal of what Christmas should be, despite the huge odds against him: Sub-zero Maine winters. A host of eccentric relatives. And his constant foil: a frugal, God-fearing Grammy who seems determined to bring an end to all his fun. A book that's filled with funny, charming Yuletide memories (from building a Lego® manger to hunting for the perfect Christmas tree), A Little Fruitcake will inspire even the biggest Grinches around.

Sample Reviews:

"The perfect stocking stuffer…in the vein of David Sedaris."—The Today Show

"A little beauty of a book…Fun, funky, and fa-la-la-liscious, A Little Fruitcake is joyous reading for a joyous season."—Louisville Courier Journal

"David Valdes Greenwood has spun a silver-tinsel upbringing in a small Maine town into a glittering chapter book stuffed with precious memories.'' Portland Press Herald

Links:

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