On Inky's Christmas Reading Recommendations

A little late in getting this up as eye strain has kept me mostly off the computer the past few days, but it's not Christmas yet, so there's still a little time yet! 

Way back in 2014, I complied a list of Summer Reading Recommendations and rather than do a book review this month, I thought it would be fun to make a list of Christmas books and stories.

Story Collections, Novellas, & Novels

 A Vintage Christmas, A Classic Christmas, & A Timeless Christmas 

Three books in this set so far! Looking for a collection of Christmas stories that weren't the traditional ones included in every collection and by literary authors in 2018, I serendipitously happened upon the collection A Vintage Christmas and have been delighted that a new collection seems to be eminent each year! 

Each collection includes a section of stories and poems by classic authors including Louisa May Alcott, Harriett Beecher Stowe, L. M. Montgomery, Mark Twain, and Christina Rossetti among others. Longer works are included in the two later books with A Classic Christmas including Dickens' A Christmas Carol and A Timeless Christmas including, a new read for me, L. Frank Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. These are perfect for reading through a little at a time or having the intention to do so and getting completely sucked in. As a warning, many of the stories and poems are somewhat maudlin in nature given that most were written in the 1800's or early 1900's, so not always the happiest, but still lovely none-the-less.

I also have to mention how beautifully bound these are! 

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Moving on to something more contemporary, we have one of my all time favorite time travel books. This isn't exactly a warm and cozy Christmas read, since it involves Medieval Europe and the plague, but it takes place at Christmas and seems particularly appropriate this year. You can read my full review here.

Told After Supper by Jerome K. Jerome  

Okay, so this is kind of a stretch to be considered a Christmas story, but it's Jerome poking fun at the British tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, so I'm including it because, in all fairness, it does take place on Christmas Eve ("There is too much 'Christmas Eve' about this book. I can see that myself. It is beginning to get monotonous even to me.")! Anyway, this story recounts the narrator's evening at his uncle's house taking some of the "more traditional" Christmas and ghost story elements to a level of light-hearted silliness in a way that only Jerome can.

This one is available to read for free on Project Gutenberg (here), since it's in public domain and as it's short (my copy with a larger print is only 50 pages), it's nice to read when you only have a short break.  

Children's Books

The Story of Holly & Ivy by Rumer Godden

One of my most favorite holiday stories from the 1950's! I started watching the cartoon of this every Christmas at a young age and was thrilled when I found the book when I was in elementary school. This story can also be found in Godden's book Four Dolls, which comes with the added bonus of one of her other Christmas stories, "The Fairy Doll".  You can read my full review here.

Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies 

Based off the movie (yes, that's the right order of those words), the classic story of a little girl, her mother, and Santa Claus. Read my full review here.

The Coat-Hanger Christmas Tree by Eleanor Estes 

Marianna and Kenny have never had a Christmas tree, their mother won't allow it because they don't need to be like everyone else. They know if they bring one home, though, she'll just have to say yes and the two of them go to work trying to find a way to change her mind. A sweet Christmas story that has an unexpected twist. (Thank you Phyl for the recommendation a few years ago!)

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! by Barbara Robinson

Originally published as a story in McCall's magazine in the 70's, I read this a few times when I was younger and was very happy upon revisiting it this year to find out it still holds up to my childhood memory of it. When the horrible Herdman children show up at church (the one place everyone normally gets a break from them) and volunteer for the annual Christmas pageant without any knowledge of the Christmas story, things become hilariously disordered.  

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

What do you do when your Christmas tree is too tall? You cut the top off! And then you give that top to someone else or throw it out the door for someone else to find and then they too can repeat the process! The illustrations in this are delightful and only add to the fun of this story first published in 1963!

This is another book that my love for stems from a tv special, in this case courtesy the Muppets, which, unfortunately, has never been released on vhs or dvd, so I continue to watch my fuzzy taped off tv version each year.

Tiny Stocking-Stuffer Books 

I wasn't quite sure what to refer to these as, but as they are all small and slim enough to fit in a stocking, tiny stocking-stuffers are what I'm referring to them as.

A Century of Christmas Memories: 1900-1999

A lovely glossy page book that chronicles seasonal happenings, fads, and favorite holiday traditions over a century. This one is fun to flip through at random just to see what you learn!    

The Night Before Christmas: A Classic Illustrated Edition
(chronicle books)

This fun tiny edition of the classic poem uses illustrations from antique books from late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Christmas: A Season of Traditions

A 39 page book that touches ever so briefly on the history of some beloved Christmas traditions in the US and accompanied by quotations both fictional and historical!

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Merry Christmas Readings! 

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