January is a month for beginning as you mean to go on. So I thought, even as I need to put together my end-of-year reviews for 2018, that I would share what I’ve read in the first half of the month.

So far this year, I have finished three books. The first was an audiobook I started during my drive to Connecticut for Christmas, but the other two were new reads begun this month:

When Santa Fell to Earth, by Cornelia Funke

When, in mid-December, the sleigh/caravan of Niklas Goodfellow, the last real Santa Claus left on earth, crashes in a small town and his reindeer, Twinkletoes, runs off, Niklas and his comrades (two small angels and a group of grumpy elves) must scramble. Not only do they need to make repairs to the caravan and find their reindeer, but they must learn what the local children want for Christmas while evading detection by the evil dictator of the North Pole, Jeremiah Goblynch, and his gang of evil Nutcracker goons. Goblynch, who only gives children mass-produced presents and asks only the parents what they’d like their kids to receive, has enslaved or killed all the other Santas, turned the reindeer into meat, and turned the elves out into the freezing wilds of the North Pole — and he’s gunning for Niklas, who has already escaped his clutches once. Luckily two children loyal to the idea of Santa Claus — Ben and Charlotte — have found Niklas and are actively working to help him save Christmas.

Funke narrates the audiobook, giving the story more of a European flair with her German accent than I might otherwise have ascribed to it. I liked, but didn’t love the story, but would definitely seek out a print copy of the story to see the illustrations, and would recommend it for older children who are starting to question holiday traditions. Also, I thought this would make a fantastic film — either for the big screen or the small — but it turns out it’s already been adapted, way back in 2011. However, it was made in German and overdubbed in English, and has a limited DVD availability. So, I guess I still stand by the statement, pending some way to watch the version that’s been made.

Pages: 167. I borrowed an audiobook version from the library, which I listened to on my phone.

The Hollow of Fear, by Sherry Thomas

The Lady Sherlock series keeps getting stronger. In this, the third installation, which begins at the exact moment the second concludes, Charlotte must add a new role to her repertoire. In addition to playing Sherlock Holmes, noted consulting detective, she must also add the role of his brother, Sherrinford, whom she must play in drag, in order to come to the rescue of Lord Ashcroft Ingram, who has been accused of murder at his country estate.

Without giving away spoilers about what has happened thus in previous installments, all of your favorite characters from the series stop in. Livia has a larger role to play in this book, which made me happy, but Mrs. Watson and her niece get much smaller pieces of the pie. The Marbletons make brief cameos, with the promise of a larger role in the next novel for one of them. Elder sister Bernadine is not forgotten, nor is half brother Myron, and we are introduced to yet another Ashcroft brother — Remington. And Inspector Treadles makes a triumphant comeback from his petty reaction in the first novel, giving him some of the best growth in the series thus far.

If you have already read the first two novels in this series, you will be delighted by this one, which promises plenty of twists and lots of deduction. And if you haven’t yet embarked upon the series, I urge you to do so. A feminist Victorian-era take on the most famous detective in literature awaits! And you can spread out the first three novels before the fourth comes out in the fall!

And, yes, this, too, would make a great adaptation for the screen!

Pages: 326. Personal copy.

Dear Mrs. Bird, by A.J. Pearce

Emmy Lake, who has long aspired to be a war correspondent, finally gets her break when she answers an ad at the London Evening Chronicle seeking a junior. So caught up is she in the romance of her dream being nearly realized, she neglects to ask any questions about the job during her interview, a mistake she soon realizes when it turns out that she’s been hired to work as a typist for the grouchy editor of the newspaper’s sister publication, a neglected weekly women’s magazine. When the editor (the titular Mrs. Bird), who doubles as the magazine’s misanthropic agony aunt, presents Emmy with an extensive list of topics she has deemed Unsuitable — including nearly every one Emmy thinks relevant to the tumultuous early days of World War II — Emmy decides to start sending back her own advice under her boss’ name.

In between, Emmy and her childhood BFF, Bunty, shelter from the German air raids, go on dates (Emmy gets jilted early in the book, but Bunty has a longtime beau, who is a shift commander at the fire brigade where Emmy volunteers several nights a week) and generally try to live as bright a life as 20-somethings can behind their blackout curtains and dim torches.

Reading this book gave me a twinge of sadness because I would have loved to talk with my grandmother about it. She wouldn’t have read it — it made her too sad to see detailed retellings of a war she survived — but she would have appreciated the contemporary slang and the context of carrying on — and excelling — even under great duress.

Three for three endorsements for an adaptation. I’m not sure this is feature film material, but it would make a great Masterpiece addition.

Pages: 281. Library copy.