
I haven't read a book in quite some time. Frankly, I've been too busy to read much of anything other than the news. While listening to my normal radio routine over the last couple months, I've been bombarded with talk about Glenn Beck's new book -
The Christmas Sweater.
My first reaction was along the lines of - The Christmas Sweater? It doesn't get any more lame than that. Not only do I not have time to read books, but if I am going to read one, it damn well isn't going to be about an article of clothing.
I have to applaud the marketing team Glenn has, however. The pseudo-commercials in the show for the book had other bestselling authors making fun of the book, along with Glenn's producer Stu. My favorite one was those making fun of the book by claiming that Glenn would write another book each year about other articles of Christmas clothing.
As I noticed it was a New York Times Bestseller, I kept an eye open for it in the stores. The local stores didn't seem to carry it, which irritated me a bit, if only because they had a "bestseller" section, yet didn't include the number 1 book. I didn't think it was a simple oversight either as the other bestsellers that came out that week were clearly on the shelf, with no ominous empty space left signifying that the book had indeed sold out.
In any event, I did see the book in the store eventually and decided to pick it up. The first thing I noticed was the production value of the book. It wasn't a simple hardcover book, but each page was artistically styled with a nice simple border that went above and beyond the standard text normally in books. In addition, a special paper was used which gave the book a unique feel. I'm not a paper expert so see for yourself if you want more detail than that.
As for the book itself, it started out somewhat slow,dealing with the life of a young boy named Eddie and how his perfect world was turned upside down. I'm not sure what Glenn's true intentions were for what the reader should get out of the book, but there were a couple strong messages throughout for me, namely
The true meaning of Christmas / family and
redemption. The story is loosely based on Glenn's childhood which explains quite a bit about the struggles he's gone through and how it has shaped the character of who he is today.
I was very happy to have read the book and recommend it to all. As long as he doesn't come out with
The Christmas Boot next year, I've got no complaints. The book also has a stage show going from town to town, with a satellite broadcast in select theaters (similar to his previous stage show - Unelectable '08) which will be shown nationwide on this coming Thursday - December 18th. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see that and it will be as enjoyable as his last show.