I also read a non-mystery this Christmas. I found it at the bookstore in the neighborhood – Garrison Keillor’s A Christmas Blizzard, billed as a novel. And so it is, but really one of Garrison’s whacky stories, just longer than most of his tales.
This book is just full – as of all Garrison’s writing and conversations are – of idiosyncracies, characters, the morals of these fables. The characters he creates are so human, so down to earth. Not much of overt / high flown philosophical discussion here. But there is truth – and lots of fun.