The Holiday Season, the Kentucky Derby of book buying, sees as many surprise performances among its thoroughbreds as those which surface during the running of its equine counterpart. By Thanksgiving publishing houses, as so many stable owners, have done all they can to promote their contenders, yet in the end the race must be run.

    Among the pre-race favorites a number of books have suddenly come into form after lagging early. Tom Clancy’s Red Rabbit, and Steven King’s From a Buick 8, after seeming to have pulled up short during the fall, have experienced a sudden resurgence and are making a determined Holiday stretch run. John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas, a return contender, has bucked past indicators and come back stronger than its initial season.

    Tom Brokaw, looking to jockey another winner with his A Long Way From Home, is indeed a long way from home, and not getting much closer. A Child Called It, however, running in its fourth Holiday Season, has held to form now for 235 consecutive weeks, and must be declared as running in its own separate race therefore.

    Barbara Kingsolver’s Small Wonders, something of a slow starter , has been steadily gaining, while longshots like John Mortimer’s delightful Rumpole Rests His Case, and Umberto Eco’s Baudalino, have proven to be stronger than expected.

    Gift Books in general have struggled, perhaps not being sleek enough for this year’s course, though Alexander Tsiaras’ unusual From Conception To Birth, and Thomas Pakenham’s wonderful Remarkable Trees of the World, have gotten out of the stating gate at least. Christopher Chants’ A Century of Triumph: The History of Aviation, has also been running well.

    When a writer as unknown in the U.S. as Imre Kertesz won the Nobel Prize for Literature his odds didn’t raise significantly, despite the sudden prominence conferred by literature’s greatest prize. Yet there it is, Ketesz’s Kaddish for a Child Not Born, and Fateless, have been steady contenders.

    In terms of Childrens book entrants, the crowded field has greatly thinned out. Jan Brett has run to form with Who’s That Knocking on Christmas Eve, while word of mouth favorites A Story For Bear, by Dennis Haseley and The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke, have surged to the head of the pack. Bagram Ibatouilline’s positively stunning illustration of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Nightingale has been a surprise performer, a surprise because The Nightingale has been so often vistied by illustrators as to be somewhat unsteady on its feet now as a subject. Genuine brilliance, as that evident in Ibatouilline’s hands, has won out however.

    Amateur jockey Heather Austin has surged into the professional ranks with Visiting Aunt Sylvia’s, a delightful picture book set in Maine and written and illustrated by the talented Austin.

    It is the duty of both spectators and participants to be as sporting as possible, and so we leave the field as it heads for the tape, wishing all the entrants well, and an even measure of both laurels and other green measures of success.