Good day to you all, SoBros Network Patreon subscribers. Welcome to the SoBros Book Club, on which I will share some book recommendations for those of you who enjoy taking in the written word. Today, we’re discussing Pretty Paper by Willie Nelson.
Willie Nelson has certainly done a lot of things in his time on this Earth. You can add novelist to that list, after he turned his Christmas hit, “Pretty Paper,” into a Christmas novel back in 2016.
I won’t lie to you guys – I’m not the biggest country music fan…this despite growing up in Nashville, Tennessee. Maybe I just heard too much of it in my 34 years in this city. I only picked this up last year because I was perusing the bargain section of my local Books A Million, looking for a fun and festive Christmas story to read. I picked it up, saw that it was a mere $3.99, and thought, “what the hell? why not?”
And, folks – this is me saying that sometimes you can indeed be rewarded for throwing a little bit of “fuck it” around. I ended up reading this one during my flight from Nashville to Newark, and then again back from Newark to Nashville. All in all, with time at the airport included, it was about the equivalent of a lazy Sunday afternoon. Let’s hit the synopsis before I go any further.
It’s the early sixties and Willie Nelson is down and out, barely eking out a living as a singer-songwriter. The week before Christmas, he spots a legless man on a cart, selling wares in front of Leonard’s Department Store in Fort Worth, Texas. The humble figure, by the name of Vernon Clay, piques Willie’s curiosity, but Vernon is stubbornly private and despite Willie’s charming queries has no interest in telling his story. Willie is tenacious, though, and he eventually learns that Vernon is a fellow musician, a fine guitarist and singer.
When Vernon disappears, he leaves behind only a diary, which tells an epic tale of life-altering tragedies, broken hearts, and crooked record men, not to mention backroad honky-tonks, down-home cooking, and country songwriting genius. Deeply moved and spurred on by Vernon’s pages, Willie aims to give the man one last shot at redemption and a chance to embody the holiday spirit.”
Okay, I’ll admit…it sounds hokey as fuck. And, really – it is. There is a lot of serendipitous and sappy shenanigans in this story. But, it just hits the spot this time of year. It’s fair to say this is a new Christmas classic in my household. I’ll probably at least try and read it as much as I can every year.
It has everything you’d want in a Christmas story – a down-and-out main character looking for a comeback, a sympathetic character that tugs at your heart strings, conflict and heartbreak, an interesting setting, enough real life that Willie Nelson fans will probably be appeased, and the rollercoaster ride that comes along with our protagonists seeking triumph. I dare say it’s even heart-warming, y’all.
I don’t know that this one works any other time of year without coming across as a Lifetime movie wannabe knockoff. But, it does work well during the Christmas season, and it definitely helped get me into the Christmas spirit.
And, I still need the fucking chili rice recipe from this story.
Other SoBros Book Club Features
Fevre Dream
The Junction Boys
Playing For Pizza
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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