Christmas Recommendations

I meant to be read by us during Christmas, but gift giving (the other idea that came to mind when I saw the title in print) might not be a bad idea either:)

So here goes my 'off the top of my head' contributions:

to read: Grisham's Skipping Christmas. Absolutely hysterical. One phrase in the book has become a standard in our home. Not your typical Grisham and well worth the time. We tried it as a read aloud but it didn't catch.

to give: The China Study by Campbell. My dad, like the author, is a recently retired biochemist (PhD Berkeley) who worked in pharmaceutical research. He says this guy's science is right on. Absolutely essential for anyone with a family history of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The wife likes Skipping Christmas, but I've not read it yet. My traditional Christmas read is the obvious...A Christmas Carol. Read it every year for the last, oh, twenty at least.

I'll probably get the son a book or two for Christmas, but I haven't decided what yet.

Our favorite Christmas read is a children's book - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. I still love that book.

As for books to give, I'm likely to give a few copies of Dewey. I haven't read it yet, but have heard good things from some of you. And since I'm from Iowa (which was also home to Dewey), it seems appropriate. I'm also giving (and asking for) several books that I've learned about from you guys - including The Wasted Vigil and The Sewing Circles of Herat. My four-year-old is asking for Mo Willems books - he writes the Pigeon books and the Piggie and Gerald books (for those of you with young kids), which are hilarious. My seven-year-old is asking for Cam Jansen, Ready Freddy, and Black Lagoon chapter books. It will be another reading Christmas here at our house!

My dad always read The Littlest Angel every Christmas eve. I love to read some of the short stories from The Lost Angel by Elizabeth Goudge, especially "The Two Caves". My guilty pleasure is that, although I have given up reading Regency romances except for reading Georgette Heyer (they just don't measure up), at Christmas I pull down my volumes of A Regency Christmas and read through them every year.

While I often ask for books for Christmas, no one else in my family really wants books for a present. I think the last one I gave was a copy of The Christmas Box to my mom the year that was popular.

Our family reads Luke 2 every Christmas but I hadn't heard of The Littlest Angel or The Best Christmas Pageant Ever -- my thanks.

We're going to be reading The Nutcracker in one (possibly more than one) of its various incarnations a lot this year, as the middle son's class is doing a production of it for Christmas (they're saving the Nativity for the littlest kids this year for some reason).

One of my favourite Christmas books is not so much a book as almost a decoration - Jan Pienkowski's The First Noel. Really beautiful book - you tie the covers together and hang it up. In the same vein, Robert Sabuda's Twelve Days of Christmas is an absolute delight.

I still have a very soft spot for Charles Schultz's Peanuts Christmas book (I can't remember the title!).

As for giving books, I need to opt out of answering this question as the list is too long. Everyone I know is basically getting books this Christmas, even my husband who never reads them....

The Littlest Angel is one of my favorite books from childhood. I still have the ratty copy given to me oh.... 50 years ago or so. It has a special place on my shelves.

I read Christmas Carol every several years or so, but don't read too many other Christmas-themed books.

I also have my ratty childhood copy of The Littlest Angel, one of the best books, imo. I even fall for the sappy Bing Crosby version done as a carol.

Another Christmas book I enjoy is Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter by Edward Streeter (of Father of the Bride fame). It's out of print, I believe, but can still be found in second-hand shops.

Auggie Wren's Christmas Story by Paul Auster
No Room at the Inn by Edna Ferber
The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke
The Sad Shepherd by Henry Van Dyke
The First Christmas Tree by Henry Van Dyke

The Van Dyke stories available through Project Gutenberg.

And I always watch Amahl and the Night Visitors.

No Room at the Inn by Edna Ferber!! I didn't know about this one. Ferber is a local author, famous in New Mexico for her writing. One of our main libraries is named for her. I just picked up a New Mexico Old West history written by her and published in the '40's. The book didn't have any descriptions on its page. Tell me more!

Touchstone not working

BDB, are you a Wisconsinite? I land at Outagamie Airport in Appleton every time I visit my son at Ripon College.

In any event, No Room at the Inn is a very slender book, retelling the Nativity story from the point of view that (as we know), there was no room at the inn. Very charming, and for me, reminded me of Henry Van Dyke's books (#9) which my grandmother passed on to me.

No, not a Wisconsinite. I meant famous in New Mexico. Re-reading the post, I see it seemed a bit confusing. I don't know anything about Ferber other than her connection to New Mexico.

Ah! Well, that makes sense. I do want to stop by the museum in Appleton, Wisconsin though, to see what they have about her life there.

I recommend all the books I listed--they are all feel good about the season fare.

Okay, I had one of those 'duh' moments. I confused Edna Ferber with Erna Ferguson. There is no good reason to have done so. You were probably thinking I had lost my mind. In any case, the Wisonsin reference wasn't enough to shake me out of my fog. Upon looking at these posts, I realized my mistake. So, don't mind me!

For a few years my mother and I used to read the Christmas chapter from The Wind In The Willows. These days I usually have a particular book that I intend to read in December. This year it's Mossflower by Brian Jacques. Last year when I was reading one of the fight scenes from Redwall my cat, Willie chased a mouse into the living room and under the couch (where I was). It was kind of strange reading about hero mice when Willie was throwing that mouse around.

Msg 4/ Hey Roni -- just found a mess of regencies in the pile, including several Christmas volumes. So i'll be joining you this year :)

Brain candy for the holidays!
B^D

I'm inputting a ton of books that I received recently. Today I found "Historical Christmas Stories " and I thought -- way cool. Old stories, passed down generation to generation. I'm gonna pull that out to read next month. Then I got here to the computer to input: totally wrong! Historial Christmas Romances ... Nora Roberts et al. kinda disappointing!

>16 Fourpawz2:: Another book not specifically about Christmas, but which has some great Christmas scenes in it is the first book of Lucy Boston's series, The Children of Green Knowe. I put it up there with C. S. Lewis and E. Nesbit as some of the best of magical books written for children.

There's also "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry and the Christmas scene from Little Women where Jo sells her hair.

A Child's Christmas in Wales is a must for me every year. I'm also very fond of A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote.

I just read "The Gift of the Magi" to the kids last night.

that's such a great story.

We just watched a partial copy of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales. Rich poetry, beautiful story. Made us wonderful if this fellow inspired Suess and the Christmas film about the kid who wanted a bb gun for Christmas.

I've wishlisted this book and will look for it while I'm here in the States.

suslyn
I hope you are having a wonderful holiday in the States.