books/stories that conjure up CHRISTMAS ! what do you always read...

[MaryAnnSingleton]

inspired by another thread..
I love to read Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales and the Christmassy chapters in Alison Uttley's A Counntry Child - both gorgeously atmospheric...
what are your favourites ?

[Mercy]

lol, excellent choice

[MaryAnnSingleton]

Arf !

[MaryAnnSingleton]

oh,and the beginning of Little Women, of course

[procrastinatingparent]

I still love the beginning of A Christmas Carol:

'Marley was dead: to begin with.'

And I've just posted on the children's Christmas books thread about 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever' by Barbara Robinson which has lots of sly jokes directed at the adults.

[Mercy]

I love Little Women.

Haven't read it for many years but I liked one by Miss Read (probably called 'Village Christmas') and also the chapter in one of the Adrian Mole books (must look it up)

[barbarianoftheuniverse]

The Dark is Rising- Susan Cooper
Box of Delights- John Masefield

[Apollinare]

I love the Miss Read one as well and reread it every Christmas, especially after battling around M&S xmas shopping. 'Christmas at Fairacre has a few short stories in as well. How sad am I?

Also love Fannie Flagg's 'A Redbird Christmas'.

[KM1]

The Christmas Reader edited by Godfrey Smith (out of print but plenty of second hand copies listed on amazon) and The Faber Book of Christmas edited by Simon Rae. Both good collections of Chrsitmas extracts, poems etc.

[fluffles]

the dark is rising = christmas

i'm ashamed to admit that i didn't know the box of delights was a book - i remember the bbc series, it was ace. that's going to be my book this year

[Mercy]

Apollinare

[Habbibu]

Oh, dark is rising for me too! Have read it every year at Christmas since I was about 12.

[solidgoldbrass]

Oooh other people have read and love The Dark Is Rising!
My other recommendations are 101 Dalmations (the original Dodie Smith not the various disney versions)
Jo Of The Chalet School by Elinor Brent Dyer (classic depiction of a Tyrolean Xmas in the 1930s)

Actually I also have a soft spot for some of the Jilly Cooper megabooks depictions of Xmas - Rivals, Polo and Appassionata all feature fraught-but-fun episodes.

[barbarianoftheuniverse]

The Piper in the Wind- Anne Hepple
I love the Alison Uttley's Christmas chapters too, MAS.

Eleanor Estes wrote good Christmases too, and Rumer Godden in "In This House of Brede."

[PenelopePitstops]

the night before christmas, i know technically its a poem but we used to have a book of the poem and it was magic!

[MincePirate]

The Story of Holly and Ivy

Rummer Godden

[barbarianoftheuniverse]

That story is lovely, MPirate!

[NotSoRampantRabbit]

Oh the Box of Delights - I completely loved the TV adaptation when I was little.

Am going straight to Amazon to buy the book.

And agree re Little Women. Am going to seek out The Dark is Rising. Hadn't heard of it.

[MincePirate]

i remember choosing it form the school book club in about 1078!! I loved it, mind you i always liked books about kids that felt alone!!!

I stil have the same copy and i read it to my dd6, and she realy enjoyed it too.!!

[MincePirate]

i'd not heard of it either am thinking my sis would enjoy it? she loves kids books!!!

[TwoIfBySea]

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder, especially as the chapters unfold like an advent calendar so you follow one each day.

[solidgoldbrass]

I also love reading the middle bit of Mist Over Pendle at Xmas - there's a couple of chapters devoted to describing a 17th century Christmas party in Lancashire. Actually the whole book is fab, though I think I heard somewhere that it's historically more than a little suspect.

[BobtheWoodmouse]

'The Birds of the Air' by Alice Thomas Ellis

Widowed mum in small neat bungalow has one grown-up daughter living with her (daughter unable to cope following the death of her son) and her other daughter plus husband/family and sundry others all descend for Christmas. Bitter sweet and very funny.

I think it was a pice of cathartic writing for A T Ellis after her own son died in an accident.

[HaveYourselfAJammyLittleXmas]

The Woman in Black - Susan Hill
The only Christmas thing about it is that the story starts with a family telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, and the main part of the book is the father of the family remembering what happened to him when he was younger. But I love this book, and it is easy enough reading to fit in on Christmas Eve.

[RaggedRobin]

wow... i haven't read 'the dark is rising' since i was at school, but i LOVED susan cooper's books. i'm off to check if there's a box set available.

[AlderTree]

Love The dark is rising. I have the whole set in one book ISBN 0-14-031688-4