The time of festivities, feasting, and family is fast approaching. Football games, lots of pie, and laughter around the table Norman Rockwell-esque scenes permeate advertisements and commercials.
But not everyone's feelings about these gatherings are so heartwarming. Anyone seen that holiday episode of "The Bear" from season two? Nothing makes you feel better about your own family than seeing a more chaotic one. If you find yourself needing a hidden flask and a space in the house away from the dysfunction, then take one of these books to escape into.
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a hilarious and terrifying new novel that explores the way your past-and your family-can haunt you like nothing else.... Louise's parents have passed away, and she's returning to the small Southern town where she grew up to get their house ready to sell. It means she'll have to spend time with her younger brother-and their old grudges make that a terrifying prospect. But childhood hurts pale in comparison to the dangers posed by what still lives inside the house. (Trigger warning: Creepy possessed puppets)
Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak
It's Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew's elder daughter--who is usually off saving the world--will be joining them at Weyfield Hall, their aging country estate. But Olivia, a doctor, is only coming home because she has to. Having just returned from treating an epidemic abroad, she's been told she must stay in quarantine for a week--and so too should her family. For the next seven days, the Birches are locked down, cut off from the rest of humanity--and even decent Wi-Fi--and forced into each other's orbits.
The Adults by Caroline Hulse
Meet The Adults. Claire and Matt are no longer together but decide what's best for their daughter Scarlett is to have a "normal" family Christmas. They can't agree on whose idea it was to go to the Happy Forest Holiday park, or who said they should bring their new partners. But someone did--and it's too late to pull the plug.
Claire brings her new boyfriend Patrick (never Pat), a seemingly sensible, eligible from a distance, Iron-Man-in-Waiting. Matt brings the new love of his life Alex, funny, smart, and extremely patient. Scarlett, who is seven, brings her imaginary friend Posey. He's a rabbit. Together the five (or six?) of them grit their teeth over Forced Fun activities, drinking a little too much after bed-time, oversharing classified secrets about their pasts and before you know it their holiday is a powder keg that ends--where this story starts--with a tearful, frightened, call to the police... But what happened? They said they'd all be adults about this...
This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
Judd Foxman's wife, Jen, has left him for his boss, but after the death of his father and a week of sitting shivah with his enjoyably dysfunctional family presided over by their mother, a celebrated parenting expert despite her children's difficulties, the mourning period brings each of the family members to unexpected epiphanies about their own lives and each other.
The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs joint trust fund, "The Nest" which they are months away from finally receiving.
Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest's value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems. Brought together as never before, Leo, Melody, Jack, and Beatrice must grapple with old resentments, present-day truths, and the significant emotional and financial toll of the accident, as well as finally acknowledge the choices they have made in their own lives.
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
Performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang dedicated themselves to making great art. But when an artist's work lies in subverting normality, it can be difficult to raise well-adjusted children. Just ask Buster and Annie Fang. For as long as they can remember, they starred (unwillingly) in their parents' madcap pieces. but now that they are grown up, the chaos of their childhood has made it difficult to cope with life outside the fishbowl of their parents' strange world.
When the lives they've built come crashing down, brother and sister have nowhere to go but home, where they discover that Caleb and Camille are planning one last performance--their magnum opus--whether the kids agree to participate or not. Soon, ambition breeds conflict, bringing the Fangs to face the difficult decision about what's ultimately more important: their family or their art.
