All Booked: Favorites for the Holiday Season

By Tessa Reeg Mon Dec 09, 2024 | 10:09am

This edition of All Booked was originally emailed to subscribers on December 3, 2024. To receive our literary newsletter in your inbox, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

Hello, fellow bookworms! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by family, friends, and good food.

We’re in holiday crunch time over here at the Independent, so I haven’t been able to read as much as I want to or as much as our recent few rainy days call for! So for this newsletter, I’m doing something a little different. These are some of my favorite books to enjoy when the weather starts turning, and they’re a few of my all-time favorite books as well.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877)

Every animal lover should read this book. The story of Black Beauty, a carriage and riding horse living in the days of Victorian England, depicts the world through the eyes of a horse and his life story as he passes from owner to owner, some kind and some cruel, and what he learns from them and from other animal companions he befriends. Aside from being beautifully written, Black Beauty’s true legacy is its impact on animal welfare. Through Sewell’s gifted writing, memorable characters, and the sheer empathy that inspired her to write, readers across England and the United States were inspired to advocate for animals and pass anti-cruelty laws, particularly for carriage horses, which were often treated more like machinery than living beings.

Whether you’re a horse lover like me or simply have a soft spot for animals in general, put this one on your list. While Anna Sewell only lived for five months after the book’s publication and saw a fraction of its impact, it continues to stir the hearts of readers to this day.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)

Depicting the intertwined lives of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters, Amy Tan’s best-known novel The Joy Luck Club expertly weaves together the lives of eight very different women and the ways in which they influence, hurt, love, and forgive each other. Tan compares and contrasts the childhood and adulthood experiences of the four mothers, born and raised in China before immigrating to America, and the four daughters, born in San Francisco and growing up influenced by two different cultures, and the ways in which they adapt and thrive in their American lives and remain loyal to their cultural roots.

No matter how many times I read this one, I always find something new to notice and appreciate. The many layers and characters of The Joy Luck Club all contribute to form a story of the complicated relationship between daughters and mothers, the good and the bad, and the enduring strength of women throughout history.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)

While I may have read this one for the first time in 6th-grade English class, it remains one of my all-time favorites. The Giver, Lois Lowry’s 1993 young-adult dystopian novel, depicts a society that has converted to “Sameness,” a state that has erased color, weather, true emotion, and personal choice from its inhabitants’ lives for the sake of maintaining order and safety. Twelve-year-old Jonas receives his adult career assignment: to be the next Receiver of Memory, and begins his training under the previous receiver, whom he dubs the Giver, an old man who alone keeps all the memories of the community before the time of Sameness. Jonas struggles with this new knowledge and whether living as he always had is truly the best way to live.

One of the most heartbreakingly beautiful books I’ve ever read, The Giver is such a wonderful, succinct depiction of what it means to be human: messiness, emotion, and all. While it’s written for a child/young adult audience, it’s a message that one can appreciate at any age.

Whether you’re rereading old favorites or diving into something new, I hope you’re having a cozy start to December. Happy reading!

—Tessa, allbooked@independent.com

FROM OUR PAGES

We’ve had some great author visits and interviews recently, so don’t miss out. Here is some of our book-related coverage from the last two weeks! Read all this and more at Independent.com.

The Audiobooks Explosion Has Some Roots in Santa Barbara by Christina McDermott

Gillian Flynn Talks About Books, Bravery, and Bad Girls by Leslie Dinaberg

From Trash to Treasure for Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation by Tiana Molony

A Blissful Sit-Down with Anne Lamott at the Arlington in Santa Barbara by Richelle Boyd

Justin Fantl’s Santa Rosae Celebrates the Channel Islands by Matt Kettmann

Want a Way Forward? Father Gregory Boyle Says Try ‘Cherished Belonging’ by Jim Buckley

UPCOMING BOOK EVENTS

Below, you will find a few bookish events coming up in Santa Barbara. If you are hosting a bookish event in Santa Barbara, be sure to submit the event to our online events calendar.

Storytime at Solvang Library
Tuesday, Dec 3, 10:30 a.m. | Solvang Library

Bilingual Songs & Stories for Kids
Tuesday, December 3, 11 a.m. | Eastside Library

Lunch with an Author: Dawn Tripp
Tuesday, Dec 3, noon | Belmond El Encanto Hotel & Spa

Baby & Me Storytime
Wednesday, December 4, 11 a.m. | S.B. Central Library

Read to a Dog
Wednesday, December 4, 3:30 p.m. | Carpinteria Community Library

Library on the Go
Thursday, December 5, 2:30 p.m. | S.B. Junior High School

Read to a Dog
Thursday, December 5, 3 p.m. | Eastside Library

Baby & Me Storytime
Friday, December 6, 10:30 a.m. | Goleta Valley Library

The Santa Bárbara Mission Archive-Library Open House
Saturday, December 7, 9:30 a.m. | Santa Bárbara Mission Archive-Library

Raíces y Sueños: Bilingual Storytime
Sunday, December 8, 11 a.m. | S.B. Museum of Art

Local Author Book Festival
Sunday, December 8, 2 p.m. | S.B. Central Library

Kids’ Book Reading and Signing: Mike Bender and Josh Shelton
Sunday, December 8, 3 p.m. | Chaucer’s Books

Preschool Storytime
Monday, December 9, 10 a.m. | Carpinteria Community Library

Bilingual Songs & Stories for Kids
Tuesday, December 10, 11 a.m. | Eastside Library

Romance Book Club
Tuesday, December 10, 5:30 p.m. | S.B. Central Library

Poetry Reading: David Starkey and Catherine Abbey Hodges
Tuesday, December 10, 6 p.m. | Chaucer’s Books

Wiggly Storytime
Wednesday, December 11, 10:30 a.m. | Goleta Valley Library

Book Reading and Signing: Josh Brolin
Wednesday, December 11, 6 p.m. | Chaucer’s Books

Read to a Dog
Thursday, December 12, 3 p.m. | Eastside Library

Wiggly Storytime
Thursday, December 12, 5 p.m. | S.B. Central Library

Baby & Me Storytime
Friday, December 13, 10:30 a.m. | Goleta Valley Library

Book Talk and Signing: Mary Tonetti Dorra
Saturday, December 14, 2 p.m. | S.B. Museum of Art

S.B. SPOTLIGHT

We at the Independent get many books sent to us by area authors, sometimes too many! It’s practically impossible for us to read and review them all, but just because we are busy bees does not mean that they aren’t worth the attention.

If you are a local author and would like us to feature your book in this section, please email allbooked@independent.com with the subject line “S.B. Spotlight.”