I was prompted to bring out the Christmas books today after reading Simon's post about The Christmas Mystery. I've owned the book for over ten years, and it's about time I read it. This will be the first read of the holiday season, which to my mind begins tomorrow, Hallowe'en.
I love these seasonal books. They live in a box in the closet for most of the year, but now is their time to take the spotlight. Most of them are books we bought when the kids were younger, but some are newer purchases, such as Dave Barry's book, which was one of my first blog book reports, a great collection of Robert Benchley short pieces, Lee Smith's The Christmas Letters, and A Happy Book of Christmas Stories by William J. Lederer. I'm excited to revisit my old book friends.
I read The Christmas Letters every year. I'll have to start in on some Christmas books as well. I love the fact that most are short.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely tradition! I'll have to go and see if I have any Christmas books. I know I have 'Christmas Carols for Cats' and a lovely book about log fires which is full of snippets from literature, poetry etc. and is quite Christmassy. Thank you for the idea. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh Nan! This book involves a favorite Christmas tradition for me! I have this book and have also had it for years. I read it EACH Christmas as an advent calendar. I read the chapter each day starting with December 1st and really savor the book. Even though I have done this for the last 7 years, I still marvel at the wonderful story. Maybe you could save it for reading in December. It means so much then.
ReplyDelete~~ Heidi ~~
Kay, I think I've read The Christmas Letters three or four times now, including an unbridged audio. Some images stay with me through the years. I may have told you, that a friend of mine has Christmas letters her mother-in-law wrote, and they have that same quality - not telling what is really going on.
ReplyDeleteCath, is the Cats book fiction? Is it real songs? And what is the title of the log fires book? It sounds great.
Heidi, I'm going to do exactly as you suggest. Thank you so much! Back on the shelf it goes until December 1. I had forgotten it was an Advent book. Tom and I remember me starting to read it to the whole family years ago, but the kids were older and busier, and it just didn't work out. I can't wait! And thank you again for the suggestion.
The cat book is only about 30 pages long and has 12 well known carols with the words changed to apply to cats. It's very amusing! I just checked and it's available on Amazon - Christmas Carols for Cats by Julie and John Hope.
ReplyDeleteThe log fire book is wonderful. It's called Fireside and is by Janice Anderson and that also is available on Amazon UK.
Another one I found among my books is Fill My Stocking which is a Christmas anthology by Alan Titchmarsh who is very famous as a TV gardener in this country. This also is delightful.
I definitely want the Titchmarsh book. I almost bought it last year. And I don't count buying Christmas books as part of my no-book-buying resolution. :<) Thanks, Cath, I'll look into the other two.
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