Can the sisters, Dolores and Genevieve, finally break free from their mothers powerful personality? Can Larissa learn to embrace the endurance test that is the Office Christmas Party or will this years be a finger buffet too far? Can Alice open her home and her heart to the one visitor that she doesnt want this Christmas? And when mysterious Madame Lucia sets up shop with her crystal ball above a travel agents, will the staff be convinced that fate really can play a hand? Relax and unwind in front of a roaring fire and indulge yourself in these, and many other humorous and uplifting tales. Remember that Christmas comes but once a year, so let the magic reel you in; (less)

It includes everything from scrumptious Christmas cakes and puddings, to quick and easy homemade presents (biscuits, preserves and other standbys) and edible tree-decorations, recipes for feeding friends and family over the holiday season with minimum stress and maximum enjoyment (cook and freeze ahead or slow-cook in the oven), as well as Christmas party food and drinks (less)

R.R.

Tolkien for long believed would be a far shorter book, 'a sequel to The Hobbit'. The enlargement of Bilbo's 'magic ring' into the supremely potent and dangerous Ruling Ring of the Dark Lord is traced and the precise moment is seen when, in an astonishing and unforeseen leap in the earliest narrative, a Black Rider first rode into the Shire, his significance still unknown.

The character of the hobbit called Trotter (afterwards Strider or Aragorn) is developed while his indentity remains an absolute puzzle, and the suspicion only very slowly becomes certainty that he must after all be a Man. The hobbits, Frodo's companions, undergo intricate permutations of name and personality, and other major figures appear in strange modes: a sinister Treebeard, in league with the Enemy, a ferocious and malevolent Farmer Maggot.

The story in this book ends at the point where J.R.

R. Tolkien halted in the story for a long time, as the Company of the Ring, still lacking Legolas and Gimli, stood before the tomb of Balin in the Mines of Moria.

The Return of the Shadow is illustrated with reproductions of the first maps and notable pages from the earliest manuscripts (less)

His body was found in the small basement of a lakeside cabin he had built himself and frequently used on weekends. When he did not show up for a trial on Monday morning, his law clerks panicked, called the FBI, and in due course the agents found the crime scene.

There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies - Judge Fogletree and his young secretary. I did not know Judge Fogletree, but I know who killed him, and why.

I am a lawyer, and I am in prison. It's a long story (less)

R.R.

Tolkien shines through with a light just as dazzling as that of the Two Trees. The serious student of Tolkien will find much delight in this book, and it serves as an excellent example of the creative imagination at work.

' -Don Sakers, Baltimore Sun About the Author : J R R Tolkien has contributed to Book of Lost Tales as an author. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a major scholar of the English language, specializing in Old and Middle English.

Twice Professor of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at the University of Oxford, he also wrote a number of stories, including most famously "The Hobbit" (1937) and "The Lord of the Rings" (1954-1955), which are set in a pre-historic era in an invented version of the world which he called by the Middle English name of Middle-earth (less)

And then my mouse hole caught on fire! Holey cheese, this was turning out to be the worst Christmas ever..

..

About the Author : Geronimo Stilton has contributed to Merry Christmas, Geronimo! as an author. GERONIMO STILTON runs a newspaper, but his true passion is writing tales of adventure.

Here in New Mouse City, the capital of Mouse Island, his books are all bestsellers! His stories are full of fun--tastier than Swiss cheese and tangier than extra-sharp cheddar. They are whisker-licking-good stories, and that's a promise! (less)

His body was found in the small basement of a lakeside cabin he had built himself and frequently used on weekends. When he did not show up for a trial on Monday morning, his law clerks panicked, called the FBI, and in due course the agents found the crime scene.

There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies - Judge Fogletree and his young secretary. I did not know Judge Fogletree, but I know who killed him, and why.

I am a lawyer, and I am in prison. It's a long story (less)