We wrap up this year’s Holiday Author Blog series with Lisa Unger, the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of over 20 novels. Her upcoming thriller, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT TO 10, releases on February 25th and revolves around an extreme game of hide-and-seek that turns deadly. Lisa has received so many books as Christmas presents that it’s impossible for her to choose just one as her favorite. So here she talks about four classic works that were gifted to her during the holidays and what they have meant to her and her family.
I come from a family of readers, so a book has always been a cherished gift. Even as a kid, when other things were also on my list --- Guess jeans! Or a new game for our state-of-the- art Atari video game system (hi, 1980s)! --- books remained exciting and special. Because physical books are something that we hold and cherish. They occupy a space on our shelves and are a journey we take and remember. And when someone gives us the gift of story, it becomes bigger than the book in our hand.
Ask a writer what her favorite book is, and you’re likely to get an overwhelmed or blank expression. What? I have to choose one? Impossible, of course. The same is true for the books I’ve received as Christmas gifts. But here are a few of my favorites.
LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott
My mother, a librarian, is a passionate reader, voraciously reading widely across genre. But it has been well known to me that she has two favorite books: A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN by Betty Smith and LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott. One Christmas, she gave me a copy of LITTLE WOMEN published by the Illustrated Junior Library. It’s a gorgeous edition with artwork by Louis Jambor, including the jacket illustration of the beloved March sisters singing around the piano. The illustrations brought the story I loved to life in a new way, and I’ve read this edition over and over again.
A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC and WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS by Shel Silverstein
I’m often asked for my early influences as a writer. And somehow Shel Silverstein never makes the list. But maybe he’s every young reader’s first introduction to poetry. I still remember receiving these two books in a set for Christmas with their black-and-white covers, wild illustrations and wacky, funny, smart poems. For some reason, when I was younger I hated dust jackets. I stripped them off to reveal the cloth-bound book underneath, loving the feel of that texture and the elegance of the embossed spines. Many years later, these were the first books I read to my daughter.
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement Clarke Moore, illustrated by Robert Sabuda
I have a wonderful cousin, Sarah, who lives in Australia. And we’ve been devoted to staying in touch and making time, even though it’s not as much as I think we’d both like. Sending gifts overseas for the holidays is often a feat in our busy lives. So we had defaulted over the years to sending gift cards. But on one of her visits to the US, for Christmas --- which is also my daughter’s birthday --- she gave us a copy of THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement Clarke Moore. My daughter was just a toddler at the time, so this pop-up edition from Robert Sabuda was especially thrilling. My daughter is 18 now, but to this day, we sit every Christmas Eve and read from this book before she goes to bed. Last year, her boyfriend even joined us.
There’s a reason the gift of a beloved book is so special. These editions, some gifted to me in childhood, have remained, moving with me as I have traveled through life. They have had a place on every shelf, in every home. Now they each sit on a shelf in my daughter’s bedroom. When I read to my daughter for the first time, the day we brought her home from the hospital, it was from the Shel Silverstein book that my mother gave to me. When I shared LITTLE WOMEN with her, it was from the illustrated book that I had loved as a girl. And on Christmas Eve, I’ll read to her (if she still lets me!) from the book Sarah gave us.
These beloved objects are more than physical gifts. When you give someone you love a book you have loved, you are giving them something that they will have forever and hopefully will share with someone they love. That’s the joy of story; it never stops giving.
