Reading Ahead: October 2014, part 4

Mornings are cooler and the leaves around here are just starting to change. Autumn seems to be coming just a little bit early this year, but if you're already looking forward to some cozy evenings curled up with a book (or maybe even thinking ahead for a little holiday-inspired reading?), then here are a few ideas for your reading list.

Mr. Miracle, by Debbie Macomber. Macomber has rightfully earned a reputation as an author who can make any story heartwarming, so this holiday novel should be no different. When Addie Folsom returns home to Tacoma, Washington for the holidays, it's with the plan of staying on and attending community college. She doesn't know that her guardian angel is working overtime to help her get her life back on track. And she certainly never anticipated finding love right next door. Readers looking for something gently funny and cozy this season should check this one out. Also available in Large Print.

Winter Street, by Elin Hilderbrand. Hilderbrand is perhaps best known for her summer books, full of heart and beaches and families coming together. This, her first Christmas book, finds many of the same elements, minus the summer. Kelley Quinn is the owner of Nantucket's Winter Street Inn and the proud father of four, all of them grown and living in varying states of disarray. As Christmas approaches, Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together for some quality time at the inn. But the best laid plans dissolve into chaos as the youngest, Bart, has joined the Marines and has been shipped out to Afghanistan, the three elder siblings are each caught up in their own personal dramas, and Kelley catches his second wife kissing someone else. The only one who can save the dysfunctional family's Christmas may just be the least likely candidate. For everyone whose family makes them crazy around the holidays, this should be a must-read.

Some Luck, by Jane Smiley. Pulitzer Prize winner Smiley (A Thousand Acres) is back with her first adult novel since 2010, following a remarkable family over the course of three transformative decades in America, each chapter covering a single year, starting in 1920 as Walter Langdon is returning to his family in Iowa after serving in World War I. As time moves forward, the Langdon children grow up and move away from home, start families of their own. This is the first part of a proposed trilogy, an epic family drama that Jeffrey Archer or Ken Follett fans may want to check out.