Our book club book for the November/December read was A Redbird Christmas by the author of Fried Green Tomatoes, Fannie Flag. 

Let me first say that I do not like Christmas books - but I actually liked this one.  I think I liked A Redbird Christmas because it was not so much about how the characters celebrated the holiday, or what they did during the holiday, but instead about what happened between two Christmases that so changed the characters lives.  I like stories about characters I want to root for. 

In the beginning of the book you find out that the man character has a terminal illness and must move south for a warmer climate in order to not meet his end in the coming weeks - so he goes to Alabama!  Of course he goes there, doesn't everyone?  He meets a host of characters, most notably a Cardinal, Jack, with his own particular personality who is so interwoven through the cast of characters that this tiny little bird defines the rises and falls of the story arc with his presence - or lack of it.  I will refrain from giving spoilers of course, and all in all I very much liked the book - until the last chapter. 

Honestly it seems like the editor or agent for the book must have come back to Fannie Flag and told her to rewrite the ending - or maybe she wrote it like that intentionally - I'm not sure, but I don't like it.  The book, in the beginning, sets you up for eventual bad news, you're expected the demise of at least one character.... And then the last few pages happen and everyone, and I mean EVERYONE gets their happy ending - even the most unlikely characters for the most unlikely reasons.  There are two characters who would have inhabited the two towns on either side of the river at the same time when things were peaceable - why would they never have met? Everyone else had met.  I digress.  I think that for most people reading the book they'll like it, it's a Christmas book, it's supposed to make you happy and warm and fuzzy inside - I just feel that the ending was too forced and sudden.  However, for a Christmas book, it's a good read and I'd say better than many others out there.