Santa came a little early this year.

And he came in the form of my colleague Howard Primer.

In addition to being an ace sports copy editor, Howard is also studying at Cleveland State University.

And he was kind enough to offer me first crack at books he'd used this semester before he donated them.

So I will be spending my Christmas vacation reading:

"Once There Was a War" by John Steinbeck
"Hiroshima" by John Hersey
"The Ransom of Russian Art" by John McPhee
"My Detachment" by Tracy Kidder
"The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
"By-Line: Ernest Hemingway"
"Scoundrel Time" by Lillian Hellman
"Slouching Towards Bethlehem" by Joan Didion
"One Man's Meat" by E.B. White
"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
"Rescuing Patty Hearst" by Virginia Holman
"Miami and the Siege of Chicago" by Norman Mailer
"The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe

 I started flipping through the descriptions and got sucked into Hellman's Scoundrel Time right off the bat.

I'm hoping to make it through baking a few batches of Christmas cookies and some gift wrapping before I cave in to the pull of the book.

Thanks again, Santa Howard, and happy reading all!

- Tricia Ambrose

@triciaambrose