Season's Reading

Many of us probably watched movies such as It's a Wonderful Life, or specials such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer during December. Others might have attended a production such as The Nutcracker. Did anyone pick up a favorite book for a seasonal re-read?

I have two favorites for seasonal re-reading. One I discovered just this year and am re-reading now - The Following of the Star. The other is a children's book, The Letter on the Tree. I probably won't get to that this year but will plan to pick it up next December.

Haven't reread it this year, but one of my favorites for seasonal reading is Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge. I did listen to the audiobook of A Christmas Carol last night -- fun to revisit. I hadn't actually read the book in quite a while, and Tim Curry was a wonderful reader.

>2 aviddiva: Those two are on my list, too, except that in UK it's known as The Herb of Grace and my version of A Christmas Carol is read by Anton Lesser!

My other favorite is one I used to read when my kids were little, Jingle the Christmas Clown by Tomie dePaola. I still make the star cookies from the recipe in the back of the book.

Didn't manage any before Christmas, but I'll be listening to The Snow Queen today on the way to work and home.

I listened to half of The Snow Queen on Christmas eve, and enjoyed it a lot. It's one of those fairy tales that I know better from retellings than from the original (NOT Frozen, though I will probably watch that eventually.) I thought the reader was very good, and I enjoyed hearing the 19th century moral admonishments which give it a different flavor than newer versions. They weren't overwhelming, which was good, but they were of their period, which was also good. I'll probably finish it today.

Still nibbling away at Little Women in odd moments. So cozy.

>6 aviddiva: I'm enjoying it overall, the narrator does a good job. Will probably finish on the commute tomorrow. The flower's stories bored me, but then I'm very impatient these days.

I tend tog go back to A Christmas Carol and the poem, T'was the Night before Christmas. I used to read the poem to the children on Christmas Eve: before they grew up and got big. Now I read it to myself.

>9 pgmcc: I used to read that to my children on Chrismas eve also. My grandmother gave me a darling little book of it illustrated by Arthur Rackham when I was two. I still have it and adore it. Wish I had remembered to sit down my adult children and their SOs this year and read it to them!

>10 MrsLee: Last Christmas when everyone was with us I managed to read half of A Christmas Carol to the assembled masses. It was a nice event. At least, that's what they all told me. ;-)

Resurrecting this old thread, as I intend to read seasonally this month.

I acquired Christmas Days last year and saved it for now.

It disappoints on one level, as I expected typical Lincoln warmth with aged, quirky and generous characters. The closest I get is hired hand, Theophilus.

This is a romance and stays only with the young'uns. But it does a good enough job of describing loving holiday gatherings in the 19th century.

I will, of course, re-visit my favorite tiny books by Grace Richmond,
On Christmas Day in the Morning, etc.

Received a treasure from my SIL last year ... it was my mom's copy of The Complete Christmas Book, circa 1958. A compendium of "easy and festive" (think stay-at-home skilled homemaker) cooking and decorating ideas which, surprisingly, seem to be reincarnating themselves on Pinterest. About half the book is wonderful short Christmas stories and poems.

Even before I was a strong independent reader, I remember lying on my stomach in front of the fireplace flipping through the two-color illustrations with visions of sugarplums.

Duct tape on the spine notwithstanding, I'm glad it's back home.

>12 2wonderY: good idea, thanks!

I have some Christmas-themed ebooks that I want to get off the "shelves", will post about them later this week. :)

I found my seasonal book for December.

The Old Peabody Pew, and its subtitle - A Christmas Romance of a Country Church.

Ms. Wiggin writes a four page dedication to the real woman of the Dorcas Society which is fictionalized in the book. She ends it:
If it had not been for you, I should never have written this story, so I give it back to you tied with a sprig from Ophelia's nosegay; a sprig of "rosemary, that's for remembrance."

One of my favorite Christmas books is Kate Douglas Wiggin The Bird's Christmas Carol - I have 2 copies of this book, a 1990 reprint and a 1929 edition with color plates, given as a Christmas gift in 1944.

Found a treasure at the flea market today... An English Murder by Cyril Hare, first published in 1951. Described as "a Golden Age classic set on Christmas Eve." Can't wait to read it!

An English Murder

That does look like a fun read.

Here's a partial list of the Christmas picture books I've collected that live on my shelf - most are not vintage, but I enjoy them every year...

The Night Before Christmas illustrated by Douglas Gorsline (1975)
The Night Before Christmas a Michael Hague pop-up book (1981)
The Christmas Day Kitten by James Herriot illustrated by Ruth Brown (1986)
Eloise at Christmastime by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight (1958)
A Pussycat's Christmas by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Anne Mortimer (1994)
Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies, illustrated by Tomie dePaola (1998)
Cats and Carols written and illuatrated by Lesley Anne Ivory (1995)
The Night Before Christmas llustrated by Jan Brett (1998)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, pictures by Kareen Tayletson (a changing picture/lift the flap book) (1989)
The LIttlest Angel by Charles Tazewell, illustrated by Paul Micich (1991)

and my newest acquisition, inspired by the wonderful thread in this group:

Mole's Christmas from Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Beverly Gooding

Happy Holidays and Happy Reading to one and all!

I would add:

A child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, preferrably the version illustrated by Edward Ardizzone.

I may have mentioned this one before, but it's worth more than one look.

I love How Far to Bethlehem? by Nora Lofts

More Christmas reading...of the mini-book variety, these live on my shelf in a wicker basket:

Merrily, Merrily - written/illustrated by Mary Engelbreit (1995)
Don't Waste the Miracle - written/illustrated by Mary Engelbreit (1993)
A Christmas Anthology - edited by Carol Kelly Gangi (1999)
The Grinch Pops Up! - by Dr. Seuss (2002)
The Gift of the Magi and other stories - by O. Henry (1995)
Life is Just a Chair of Bowlies - written/illustrated by Mary Engelbreit (1992)
Eloise's Guide to Life - by Kay Thompson/illustrated by Hilary Knight (2000)
Believe - written/illustrated by Mary Engelbreit (1993)
A Cat's Christmas - by Stefanie Samek, illustrated by Larry Ross (1996)

Happy reading to all... and to all a great day!

My first read all-by-myself was How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

A few years ago my grown son gave me a copy for Christmas. I love it.

As I box and un-box my books this season ( have I mentioned in this group that I’m moving?) I can’t put hands on some favorites; but others have been carefully transported and lovingly re-shelved. I’m making reading my Christmas books a priority. I was disappointed by a couple of modern romances, and I’m not finding joy yet in the older volumes.

I’m dipping in to A New Christmas Treasury, starting with The Christmas Shadrach, by Frank Stockton. Odd, not what I expect from him. This collection was published in 1954.

I’m also midway through Mr. Pickwick’s Christmas, and thinking I’d appreciate it more if I had read the rest of the Pickwick Papers. I’m having some difficulty keeping the friends and their foibles straight. My copy is a lovely book, with heavy pages and a green embossed cover with gilt lettering. The illustrations by George Alfred Williams are uninspiring, though he writes an extensive forward about them. It is inscribed inside by my husband’s great aunt Lucile Pease, 1918.

I have been turning my bookshelves upside down looking for Stories for Christmas, an anthology edited by Mary Virginia Robinson. A gift from my grandmother when I was really way too little to understand most of them (four, I think), but much read and appreciated later. My favorite was always "The Man Who Owned the Stable." I thought it might have survived our tornado turmoil from several years back...but evidently it was a casualty.

You might want to check and correct your touchstone, GG. ;)

>26 2wonderY: I think you might be right.
;-)

(BLUSHING)
(horrified)
(blushing some more)

So much for a heartwarming little book note! I don't think I turned on the correct link, but hopefully, I got rid of the other one.

Oh, the second time I looked it went to the right book. But I couldn’t figure how you did that without editing. System glitch?

Just finished my annual comfort read of Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher...perfect for this Christmas, particularly...and I'm revisiting The Saddlemaker's Wife, which I highly recommend as well. Earlene has written a series of cozy mysteries I've followed for years, but this is a stand-alone of much higher quality. Set in northern California ranch country three days before Christmas.

>30 gmathis: What about Winter Solstice makes it especially perfect for this year? I'm not familiar with it.

Several very loosely related people, none of whom are expecting much of a Christmas, weather the season together in an old estate house in Sutherland, Scotland. The "none of whom are expecting much of a Christmas" is a little fitting for 2020, is it not?

Rosamunde Pilcher is the Queen of Settings, be it geographical or interior design. I daydream about her living rooms, cottages, guest houses, and landscapes. I even reread her play-by-play of a grocery shopping expedition :)

>32 gmathis: That sounds lovely! My mother loves Rosamunde Pilcher, but I've never read any. But I do have a couple waiting in the TBR--maybe if I have a little extra time at the end of this month!

>33 NinieB:Coming Home is my favorite of her later, longer novels. A WWII story that leads from the edge of Cornwall to London to Ceylon. It's just delicious.

I finished my Christmas Day with a re-read of Grace Richmond’s Brotherly House. It’s a deft evocation of family quarrels and how an emergency can pull hearts together again.

Hope you all had a blessed holiday!

my holiday comfort read is Mole's Christmas a/k/a Dulce Domum from Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

>30 gmathis: thanks for the heads up on The Saddlemaker's Wife by Earlene Fowler... I know where I can find a copy, will grab it tomorrow... will also look for Rosamunde Pilcher's Winter Solstice...

One holiday book I recommend is Maeve Binchy's collection of short stories (some with a slightly darker twist) This Year it Will be Different

>37 rhinemaiden: I've always considered Maeve to be Rosamunde Pilcher's edgier cousin...have read many of hers, but not This Year It Will Be Different. En route, courtesy of a Christmas gift card, is The Road to Cardinal Valley, which is a sequel to The Saddlemaker's Wife.

>38 gmathis: today was my lucky day! Found The Saddlemaker's Wife and Winter Solstice! Happy me! Good to know there's a sequel to Saddlemaker... I've been a fan of Earlene's books since her first... my favorite in her Benni Harper series is Kansas Troubles

Speaking of Maeve Binchy... one of my favorites of her full length books is Nights of Rain and Stars

Thanks again for your recommendations...looking forward to a nice holiday weekend for reading.

>39 rhinemaiden: Love those serendipity finds! Hope you enjoy. Sadly, I haven't seen any new Earlene Fowler entries lately. Once I finish The Road to Cardinal Valley, I'm afraid I'll be at the end of that road (sniff).

>40 gmathis: time to re-read???

>41 rhinemaiden: Indeed!

>30 gmathis: thank you so much for the recommendation of Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher. When I began reading the other night I thought "this seems familiar, did the author write a similar book with different characters?" then I realized I HAD read Winter Solstice quite awhile back...LOL. I'm enjoying it again, it's a perfect comfort read for the end of the year, this time I'll keep it on my shelf.

Happy New Year!

>43 rhinemaiden: I'm in the process of swapping out my paperback Rosamunde collection with (easier on tired eyes) hardbacks; it's definitely a permanent collection item!

>44 gmathis: interesting that you're swapping your pb's for hb's... I prefer pb's because I do a lot of reading in bed and hb's tend to be awkward to hold. Winter Solstice was only available in hardback... if I see a pb I'll buy it for my permanent collection. (I buy most of my books at local flea markets...)

>45 rhinemaiden: I, too, am swapping out my hardcovers for paperbacks due to arthritic hands and reading in bed.

I love that chapter from The Wind in the Willows, not thought of it for a while. I sometimes read A Christmas Carol but skipped it this holiday.

>46 fuzzi: it was Wind in the Willows that brought me to Library Thing... one never knows where a journey will take us.

how are you with reading trade paperbacks in bed? I'm okay with them, but prefer mass market size.. which seem to be getting larger.

>47 rhinemaiden: as long as they're not too thick, I can do the trade size lying down. There's no way I can read a chunkster of 500 pages, though. Some of the mass market omnibus editions are a tad difficult to handle, too.