Guilty pleasure: Christmas novels

marielle

last year

Any good ones you read lately or in previous years?

Thank you for the suggestions!

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Phyllis Leritz

last year

I just finished David Balldacci's (sp) The Christmas Train. It was absolutely the worst book I've ever read. As Dorothy Parker would have said: It's a novel not to be taken lightly but heaved across the room with great force"

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stacey_mb
last year
I'm looking forward to reading A Christmas Party by Georgette Heyer that I have on hold at the library. Her books are a fun romp and pure entertainment that are guilty pleasures. This particular novel is a murder mystery.
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maifleur03
last year
last modified: last year
Not many are actually Christmas ones but I love the Joe Grey mystery's. Sadly there will be no additional ones. I kept a lot of them but not certain I have all 21 plus Catswold Portal.
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Elmer J Fudd
last year
Always happy to learn about new mysteries, I looked up Joe Grey only to find they're about a cat detective.
cat_mom
last year
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham.

They changed the name for the movie to Christmas with the Kranks.

I enjoyed both the book and the movie. 😊
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amylou321
last year
I still love to read and listen to A Christmas Carol.
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yoyobon_gw
last year
last modified: last year
I recently watched the Hallmark movie, The Christmas Train, inspired by the book and it was fairly enjoyable if you keep in mind that you are watching Hallmark ! There were many well-known actors which gave it a wee bit of gravitas.
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vee_new
last year
There is a Christmassy chapter in Wind in the Willows in which the homesick Mole accompanied by Ratty go back to Mole's rather humble cottage on Christmas Eve. Mole realises how shabby and down-at-heel everything seems and can only find a tin of sardines to eat. Then the field mice carol-singers arrive, Ratty sends one off to the village shop for supplies and jollity and good cheer abound.
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nickel_kg
last year
vee_new, thanks for the memory. I *love* Wind in the Willows.
vee_new
last year
last modified: last year
Yoyo, every day from late November we get Hallmark movies on one of our TV channels. Easy to watch and undemanding and with virtually the same 'plot'. Girl moves to small country town, often with a small cute child in tow. Girl either sets up a sudden and very successful Christmas business or befriends a bearded old-timer the grandfather of a good looking clean-cut younger man, perhaps with a cute kid. They get along fine, they have a misunderstanding, one of them does something unselfish/brave, their eyes meet across a skating pond . . . fade to happy festive fun and Deck the Halls
Alisande
last year
I just finished Robert B. Parker's last book, Silent Night. He died before it was finished, so his agent completed it. I don't know how much of the book she wrote, but I think she did a good job. I'm a Robert B. Parker fan, so I enjoyed the book. Spenser and Hawk, I'll miss you.
Sherry8aNorthAL
last year
maifleur03, Thanks, I am going to order these. Joe Grey mystery's.
maifleur03
last year
As a long time mystery and true crime reader I realized a long time ago that a character did not have to be human in a book to enjoy how it was written. While not dark fiction the Joe Grey series are more of the type that was written to pass some time reading enjoyable fiction. I have wondered if like her other books they could be safely read to younger children.
Sherry8aNorthAL
last year
Most of the mystery novels I have read have been Agatha Christie. While not a mystery I very much enjoy "Tailchaser's Song" and "Watership Down".
Rosefolly
last year
Connie Willis, my favorite living writer, is a huge fan of Christmas. She has written a number of short stories and novellas about the holiday. I read some of them every year. She has two collections out, A Lot Like Christmas being the newer, expanded version of her earlier Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. She is also the editor of American Christmas Stories pubished by Library of America. I have purchased that one as well, but have not yet read it.

Having written this, I think I will go and finish decorating the tree!
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kathy_t
last year
I'm currently reading A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flag. It's lightweight, amusing, and uplifting - a bit like a Hallmark movie, I suppose (wouldn't really know as I don't watch them). I'm enjoying it.

Unfortunately, perhaps, I am next on the library hold list for David Baldacci's Christmas Train. I wonder if I'll feel the same about it as Phyllis. I will report back.
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yoyobon_gw
last year
last modified: last year
How about Old Christmas by Washington Irving ? I have a beautiful 1977 edition which is dark green with gold designs and lettering. it is a repro of his original. Delightful illustrations are scattered throughout. I am finding it charming and informative !!
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Elmer J Fudd
last year
" I just finished David Balldacci's (sp) The Christmas Train. It was absolutely the worst book I've ever read "

Baldacci's success in the popular fiction category with his other books is a mystery to me. He's gotta be one of the most mediocre of best selling writers currently active.
abbisgram
last year
Elin Hildebran has a Christmas series of 4. I borrowed from the library on my Kindle.
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wishiwereintheup
last year
last modified: last year
My AP English teacher in high school (RIP, that was over 50 years ago) had a tradition of reading a Dickens novel (something other than A Christmas Carol) during Christmas break and suggested we try it. It's something I've done off and on since. Some years, I don't have the time.
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nickel_kg
last year
For pleasure, I read light "cozy" mysteries. Just about every one that becomes a series will include a Christmas book at some point -- too many to mention.
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yoyobon_gw
last year
Vee......Hallmark movies : Yes, they are certainly formulaic. I appreciate that no one is murdered, dies or otherwise harmed. The romance is cookie cutter as are the actors.

I actually enjoy the poor editing.....and sappy dialogue as a source of entertainment!
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roxanna
last year
last modified: last year
Try Jenny Colgan's many books. Quite a few Christmas ones...
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sheri_z6
last year
Wally Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin' is a very cute Christmas story.
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Rosefolly
last year
I just read Envious Casca (the other title of the Georgette Heyer novel mentioned previously). Not one of Heyer's best efforts, I think, but with a satisfying ending.
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annpanagain
last year
We also get those Hallmark type of movies at noon. All about Christmas at present, of course.

I usually watch the UK and US news programs then but there was a Sports broadcast instead the other day, so I did watch the movie with my lunch.

It was quite interesting with the two actors having to learn about Christian and Jewish Christmas and Hanukkah traditions for plot reasons. I learned too. Not too sloppy and only one kiss under the mistletoe.
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yoyobon_gw
last year
I am reading Old Christmas by Washington Irving ( 1875) as I mentioned above, and I am finding it a delight ! I would never have guessed that. I've had the book for years and never read it.
netla
last year
last modified: last year
I have a small collection of Christmas novels and novels taking place on or close to Christmas. I am currently (re)reading Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh, a mystery that takes place at Christmas time. I will probably listen to Tim Curry reading Dickens' Christmas Carol, and then read one or two of Connie Willis' short Christmas stories. I may delve into one of my Christmas romance novellas if I'm in the mood (can't remember any of the titles) and I also think it might be time to finally read the history of Christmas that has been sitting unread on my bookshelf for about 10 years.
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Rosefolly
last year
I also love listening to A Christmas Carol being read aloud. I heard it on public radio some years ago and will look for it this year.

Googling around on the internet, I found a list of Christmas novels from Oprah a couple of years ago. Hey, why not? Most I have not read, but I was reminded that Little Women is a Christmas novel. The original part one begins and ends with Christmas. I loved that book, and have read it several times over my life. Perhaps it is time for yet once more.

Oprah's list:

https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/g28737773/best-christmas-books/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=arb_ga_opr_md_pmx_us_urlx&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkMGcBhCSARIsAIW6d0B5IHBZmMdGQgsPQS2rQ3CiVzD2Yot_7w47Qd6P1GwI1aY5kJnYcmQaAn75EALw_wcB

Rosefolly
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Carolyn Newlen
last year
I have only read four of the Oprah books--A Christmas Carol, Little Women, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Gift of the Magi, and have seen the movie It's a Wonderful Life, all of them numerous times. My daughter was two the year that Redbook Magazine published the Grinch, and I must have read it to her a hundred times. I still have the original pages cut from the magazine and put into plastic sleeves and a binder. Wonder if it's worth anything?
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grapefruit1_ar
last year
Sometimes you just have to read something purely for fun. I feel that way about Cleveland Amory’s ( sp ?) ” The Cat Who Came to Christmas”.
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ginny12
last year
I also have a small collection of Christmas mysteries, mostly from the Golden Age. The former Poisoned Pen Press, now British Library Crime Classics, I think, has produced a number of these books, often collections of short stories. I prefer longer books but these are pretty good. My favorite in this genre is Hercule Poirot's Christmas. You just can't beat Agatha Christie, in my opinion. How I wish she had written a Miss Marple Christmas.
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Rosefolly
last year
last modified: last year
I just finished listening to Tim Curry reading A Christmas Carol. Thank you for the idea, Netla. I enjoyed it so much I just downloaded the recording of Connie Willis's later Christmas collection. Now I have begun to listen to it.
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Carolyn Newlen
last year
I have requested A Christmas Deliverance by Anne Perry from the library but haven't received it yet. She writes a Christmas book every year, and I have a lot of them, but she is another author I've stopped buying.
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pdg777
last year
Christmas mysteries are my FAVORITE! I also loved the movie and book, Skipping Christmas/Christmas with the Kranks.

I LOVE the Hallmark Christmas movies as well. They are all alike to the point that I can fall asleep on one, wake up to another, and it seems like the same movie!
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annpanagain
last year
pdg777, Too true!

However I did like the "Christmas Ever After" story with the wheelchair bound actress Ali Stroker playing the heroine. I recorded the second hour for later viewing, as like you, I fall asleep. The movies are shown at noon and I nap after I have eaten lunch then.
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netla
last year
Rosefolly, I'm glad you liked it. Tim Curry has the perfect voice for this book. I used to read A Christmas Carol every Christmas, but since discovering this audio book version, I have twice enjoyed just pottering about the house, doing Christmas things while listening to it. I may never go back to reading it off the page.
merryworld
last year
I really enjoyed Jeanette Winterson's Christmas Days 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days.

A very short book, but one I love is John Julius Norwich's The Twelve Days of Christmas (Correspondence). It's a book of thank you notes for the presents from the carol. It also has wonderful illustrations by Quentin Blake. It starts out "My Dearest Darling - That partridge in that lovely little pear tree! What an enchanting, romatic poetic present! Bless you and thank you. Your deeply loving Emily." It ends with a letter from Emily's solicitor.
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stacey_mb
last year
I finished reading Georgette Heyer's A Christmas Party, originally titled Envious Casca, as noted above. The dramatic events took a little while to commence, but once they did, I quite enjoyed the murder mystery. It was the kind of cozy mystery that was an easy, yet absorbing read for this time of year. I liked the humor in the book as well, one being the character of the butler who spoke some words In Capital Letters, for example, in expressing his Displeasure at Certain Events.

The humorous butler reminded me of one of the most interesting characters in the 1945 movie And Then There Were None. Here the butler is also very comedic and has the most entertaining responses to the mysterious deaths.
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ginny12
last year
The Twelve Days of Christmas (Correspondence) sounds hilarious. I have put it on my wish list. Thank you for the recommendation as I had never heard of it.
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vee_new
last year
merryworld, you can listen to John Julius Norwich's Twelve Days of Christmas below.

Very amusing

The Twelve Days of Christmas
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yoyobon_gw
last year
last modified: last year
This is the Boston Pops version of The Twelve Days of Christmas.....very clever and talented group which features the Tanglewood chorus :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhKShmvHnec&ab_channel=TomMcCauley
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marielle
Original Author
last year
@merryworld Thank you! I love Jeanette Winterson and never heard of thiat book. She is a fabulous writer1
merryworld
last year
Vee, thank so much for that link! That's the exact book.
Carolyn Newlen
last year
I have read A Christmas Deliverance by Anne Perry today. She does a novelette each year at Christmas that features one of her main characters or a family member thereof. This year's is William Monk of the Thames River Police and his adopted mudlark son.

Guilty pleasure: Christmas novels

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