Christmas, Present (2003)

As Oprah's first book club pick, Jacquelyn Mitchard's ''The Deep End of the Ocean'' rocketed to the top of the charts. ''Ocean'' was a finely crafted novel that deserved its accolades; Christmas, Present -- at a slim 132 pages -- is nothing but a sappy attempt to cash in on the lucrative holiday-book market. Elliott and Laura are celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary on Dec. 23 when Laura gets a headache that turns out to be much more than a headache: As the ER doctor bluntly informs them, Laura is hemorrhaging in her brain, and she's going to die that very night -- which she does, as the nurses trill ''Silent Night.'' What could have been a three-hankie weeper goes down like leaden, lukewarm eggnog.