I hate the “holiday season”. It could be because I had a bad childhood, or because I now work a retail job, or maybe it’s just seasonal depression. I don’t really know. In any case, I tend to do what I can to distract myself from the madness that surrounds me as much as possible, and just get through it.

This year, I have been escaping by reading books that have nothing at all to do whatsoever with Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwaanza, Winter Solstice, Festivus, or the rest of the buffet of merrymaking.

So, here you go. Those of you feeling as “grinchy” as I am will like these books right now. The rest of you, I am guessing, will just want to read them a month or so from now. Whatever works for you.

Haweswater by Sarah Hall is a work of fiction based loosely on an actual dam that was built in England WW2. The dam exists, the people and the town in the story are fictional. This book is like reading a painting. I got lost somewhere in the descriptions of the fields and the weather and the changing seasons. Hall makes the reader feel like she is standing there, watching everything that happens, getting rained on, and smelling the farmed earth after the rain. Early on in the book is an extremely dramatic and bloody description of a woman giving birth. This birth produces Janet, a woman who grows up in the little town of Marsdale, following her own rules. One day, a man from the government, Jack, comes to Marsdale, to tell them that their town is doomed. The Hawswater dam is going to be built, and their entire town will be flooded, and everyone will eventually have to leave their home. The book is filled with tension, heartbreak, and unpredictability. I was completely drawn into this world.

The Ghost Map is by Steven Johnson. This is a nonfiction book describing how a cholera epidemic in London in the 1850’s decimated the population. There were two basic problems that allowed this to happen. One, the sewer system that is in London today had yet to exist. Two, people, for the most part, believed that people were getting sick from “bad air”, instead of from how cholera is actually contracted. Reading this book was a lot like watching one of those medical shows, where a few smart people piece together the puzzle of how people are getting sick. I found it fascinating. A warning to the squeamish though, I would not advise reading this book while trying to eat. By necessity, this book spends a whole lot of time talking about excrement, where it collected, and how it smelled. If you can deal with that, then its a great read for anyone with an interest in science, disease, or just what is involved in living in a city.

LOST Endangered Species is another one of the series of books based on the television show. This one is written by Cathy Hapka. Once again, this book focuses on a character that is not in the actual show, and has many of the characters who do appear in the show make cameo appearances. If you like the show LOST, you might like these books. This is the second one I have read, and so far, both have been extremely easy reading. It’s mind candy for those of us who aren’t into romance novels.

This story focuses on Faith, a “treehugger” who has a Ph.D. and specializes in snakes. The book starts right after the plane crash, and Faith remembers the events leading up to her getting on Flight 815. Without giving anything away, I can say she was running from something. She also was trying to find herself, and the story puts her in a series of events where she has to decide to either stand up for herself and her principles, or, keep quiet and let others make decisions she doesn’t agree with. In part of it, Faith is searching the jungle they crashed in, trying to find a bird she thought she saw that was supposedly extinct. Hence the title. Its a quick little mind vacation, and I liked it, but, I don’t think readers who aren’t already fans of the tv show LOST will get much out of it.

So, there are the three books I have been letting my mind dive into lately, as I try to avoid hearing yet another Christmas song on the radio. This is what works for me.