There is nothing like a collection of stories for reading before a fire. They're entertaining. You can pick and choose according to your mood, and it's easy to put the book down when your bedtime hour comes 'round.

In the case of Secrets: Fact or Fiction, you can also pick a genre. It includes everything from historical fiction set in Elizabethan England (my favorite period) by C. W. Gortner (beautifully researched, by the way) to a domestic mystery by Larry Pontius. There is a romance and some near-romances, and some stories that defy classification. All are novelesque in that they are long enough to capture readers' interest and keep them riveted. They're also long enough to allow for grounding, characterization-all the good stuff that novel readers love.

So, for readers who are busy, who like the idea of pick-me-up reading but hate to give up novels, this may be a perfect transition.