Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Christmas books

64 replies

Triostar · 05/11/2022 18:26

Hi All

Can anyone recommend some good Christmas books please (for an adult)? From about December I get the urge to read festive books but haven't always been lucky with my choices! Over the last few years I read Call of the Pengiuns/Away with the Penguins which I really didn't like (not sure why I read both tbh) The Snow Child (quite liked) Christmas Carol, A Laurie Lee one and Red Bird Christmas by Fannie Flagg which I enjoyed. I am not a fan of spookiness or the Christmas-at-the -seaside-cafe/will they won't they type books. A Winter Solstice by Roasmund Pilcher is currently 99p on kindle so will buy that but I read a lot so would quite like a few to choose from....

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
HerReputationMadeItDifficultToProceed · 21/11/2022 08:17

Morning all!

The read along for Charles Dickens Yeultide classic A Christmas Carol starts today.

Please come and read with us; it's going to be fun to discuss this novella and get in the Christmas mood.

BaconAndAvocado · 19/11/2022 11:01

I’m currently reading A Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher. Very cosy, full of very middle class characters with no money worries!
Unchallenging but cosy, I’m loving it!

Decorhate · 19/11/2022 08:21

@CatChant Thanks, I’d not thought of searching there.

CatChant · 18/11/2022 18:48

Decorhate · 17/11/2022 18:50

I’ve been wanting to reread Come Back Lucy for a long time. It’s hard to find a copy.

Show quote history

@Decorhate if you look on Abe Books there are three paperback versions available in the UK for less than a fiver and all described as “very good”.

@tobee, yes! Cold Christmas would have been a marvellous one to televise, much in the style of the Come Back Lucy series. Phyllida Law was a wonderful Aunt Gwen and who can forget the beautiful Victorian house that Uncle Peter was giving a ‘70s style makeover vandalising.

@ArabeI oh yes, Come Back Lucy is very Christmassy. Carol singers, Lucy attending Christmas parties in different times (the Victorian one sounded a lot more fun) and the huge row over decorating the Christmas tree.

ArabeI · 17/11/2022 19:42

I’ve been wanting to reread Come Back Lucy for a long time. It’s hard to find a copy.

I hadn't thought of Come Back Lucy as a Christmas book! I'd like to revisit it. I couldn't place it then remembered it as the book about the ghost girl, and Lucy going back in time in the old house.

saltrock123 · 17/11/2022 19:03

Susan Hill, Lanterns across the snow. And for cat lovers Paw Tracks in the Moonlight.

Decorhate · 17/11/2022 18:50

CatChant · 10/11/2022 20:36

These are children’s books but are still loved by this adult and many others judging by the children’s classics thread:

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston
Come Back Lucy by Pamela Sykes
The Box of Delights by John Masefield
Cold Christmas by Nina Beachcroft

I’ve been wanting to reread Come Back Lucy for a long time. It’s hard to find a copy.

HerReputationMadeItDifficultToProceed · 17/11/2022 09:57

For anyone who was interested in the Christmas Carol readlong, I have started a thread here.

Retrievemysanity · 17/11/2022 07:14

Every year I re read Nigel Slater’s Christmas Chronicles. His descriptions of winter as a child and the sights, smells and food of Christmas and the season are wonderful. There are also some hilarious bits in there that I don’t think he means to be funny. It’s not the sort of book I’d ever think of getting myself but it was a present a few years ago and it’s ace!

Dijobengram · 17/11/2022 07:12

Thank you all very much indeed! Some wonderful books there - might read them myself before gift wrapping!!

lbnblbnb · 17/11/2022 06:20

Toby Jones! Harriet Walter! Two marks of quality. Thanks @tobee, will save that for December.

tobee · 17/11/2022 05:00

I always wanted Cold Christmas to be made into a tv serialisation (like they used to do decades ago) but worried they'd get the casting wrong @CatChant !

tobee · 17/11/2022 04:58

I put this on the thread about children's classics and repost here for Dark Rising fans:-

Christmas books
CatChant · 16/11/2022 22:38

tobee · 16/11/2022 20:14

I got a first edition from eBay! It was just the same as the library edition I borrowed as a child.

The bit at the beginning where Josephine arrived at the house feeling uncomfortably overdressed and having to mix with unknown children was quite a strong feeling of recognition on occasion for me as a child.

Oh lucky! My copy, also from eBay, is a paperback but it was (and still is) in very good condition.

Yes, I felt so much for poor Josephine thrust among all these strange children and expected to make friends with them at the drop of a hat when she had next to nothing in common with them.

I always thought there was scope for a sequel there. What if Josephine and Simon had met again when they were older somewhere where they couldn’t easily avoid each other (sixth form or university perhaps) and sparked off another haunting.

MaryasBible · 16/11/2022 22:32

caroleanboneparte · 16/11/2022 22:30

Anyone read Maeve Binchy's a week in winter or Ali Smith's winter?

Are they good?

I have got A Week in Winter to read in December. <no help sorry> @caroleanboneparte

caroleanboneparte · 16/11/2022 22:30

Anyone read Maeve Binchy's a week in winter or Ali Smith's winter?

Are they good?

RoseValleyRambles · 16/11/2022 22:23

If you've not read The Toymakers, it's amazing.

lbnblbnb · 16/11/2022 22:19

I must find a copy of The Dark is Rising and add it to my Christmas books pile. I loved that series when I was a kid, I can remember the atmosphere in The Dark is Rising so well. Great suggestion.

Petronus · 16/11/2022 22:17

CatChant · 10/11/2022 20:36

These are children’s books but are still loved by this adult and many others judging by the children’s classics thread:

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston
Come Back Lucy by Pamela Sykes
The Box of Delights by John Masefield
Cold Christmas by Nina Beachcroft

Oh I love ‘The Dark is Rising’ me and my sister re-read it every year. One of my favourite childrens books ever.

lbnblbnb · 16/11/2022 22:12

HerReputationMadeItDifficultToProceed · 16/11/2022 21:01

I'm joining for some suggestions. Always do a Christmas Carol reread every year for advent (or a bit longer than advent) but after some new stuff.

Also, if anyone else wants to do the ACC readalong this is the schedule I do it to. I might start a thread if anyone's interested.

ADVENT READALONG
SCHEDULE:

Stave 1: 21st Nov - 27th Nov

Stave 2 28th Nov - 4th Dec

Stave 3: 5th Dec - 11th Dec

Stave 4: 12th Dec - 18th Dec

Stave 5: 19th Dec - 25th Dec

Yes to a read along - I love A Christmas Carol.

MaryasBible · 16/11/2022 22:11

EnotheEmu · 16/11/2022 20:23

I really enjoyed this: www.amazon.co.uk/Mystery-White-Christmas-British-Classics/dp/071235770X?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=84f8e9c3-e085-4f86-96fc-255aa84a58ab

This is 99p on kindle at the moment. I’ve just bought it.

MaryasBible · 16/11/2022 22:08

HerReputationMadeItDifficultToProceed · 16/11/2022 21:01

I'm joining for some suggestions. Always do a Christmas Carol reread every year for advent (or a bit longer than advent) but after some new stuff.

Also, if anyone else wants to do the ACC readalong this is the schedule I do it to. I might start a thread if anyone's interested.

ADVENT READALONG
SCHEDULE:

Stave 1: 21st Nov - 27th Nov

Stave 2 28th Nov - 4th Dec

Stave 3: 5th Dec - 11th Dec

Stave 4: 12th Dec - 18th Dec

Stave 5: 19th Dec - 25th Dec

Yes @HerReputationMadeItDifficultToProceed I’d be up for that. I mean I have form for joining read alongs and then reading the threads rather than the book. But I have a Christmas Carol on my bookshelf and want 2022 to be the year I read it.

ApplePippa · 16/11/2022 22:04

I read Doomsday Book last year after seeing it recommended here. It was a really interesting read and I very much enjoyed it, but be warned, it is not a cosy christmasy book!

My all time favourites are The Dark is Rising and Children of Green Knowe. Would love to re-read End of Term, but sadly its out of print and second hand copies are £££.

(I think I must be the only person on Mumsnet who hates Winter Solstice. I found myself rolling my eyes at it all the way through.)

TheYearOfSmallThings · 16/11/2022 21:45

Miss Read wrote a few nice Christmas books - Village Christmas is my favourite. There's a description of the bus ride home from seeing the pantomime that reminds me of all the Christmas journeys down the country when I was a child.

Ecci · 16/11/2022 21:38

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, one of my all time favourite books. It's about a history student who is studying the 14th century in contemporary time i.e. time travel, ends up in the past at Christmas. It's brilliant!

Swipe left for the next trending thread