A Brooklyn Christmas Tale

I like to think that I always look for the brighter side of things in life. Take this past week, for example. I could have been frustrated with the fact that I was hacking up blood and stuck inside the house and away from family during the holidays. But while it wasn't all that pleasant, there was a brighter side to it.

I had time to read this book I'd started about a week ago -- one I bought last year and which I'd been waiting until Christmas time to read. Denis Hamill's Empty Stockings (A Brooklyn Christmas Tale).

Like all of the other Denis Hamill books I have read, this was a great read -- the characters and setting were strong and vibrant. And the story was a touching one. The novel takes place in 1963 and starts on the day that JFK was shot, following the struggles of a fourteen year old boy living with his family in a tenement apartment in Brooklyn. Dreaming of growing up and becoming a sports writer for a daily newspaper, Rory Maguire is trying to support the family with a part-time job at a local butcher since his father's accident which has cost him his job, his ability to walk and his dignity.

This is a poignant and heart-warming tale. Hamill is a brilliantly gifted storyteller who brings home the urban Irish-American experience wonderfully in this novel which I plan on reading again and again each December.

So, sure, I'm a bit miffed that I spent the holidays under the weather. But at least I had the comfort of a wonderful book to help fill the hours.