BOOK: Christmas With Anne by LM Montgomery

Christmas With Anne and Other Holiday Stories by LM Montgomery, 220 pages

Canadian Book Challenge; Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

LM Montgomery was a very prolific author. Twenty novels, and tons of short stories; there have been eleven collections of her short stories published. Many are themed, like this collection of Christmas tales. LM wrote for the masses, selling her short stories where she could, often at the magazines request including a moral or lesson in her holiday stories. This makes some of her stories a tad predictable or sentimental, but readers do like these themes in their Christmas stories (see The Christmas Shoes), so if you are looking for Christmas stories, you can't go wrong with LM and her optimistic view and outlook, amidst the sad and downtrodden.

Christmas with Anne doesn't disappoint, including "Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves", and "Katherine Brooke Comes to Green Gables," chapters from the Anne series. Both bring tears when fans of the series read them, knowing all the back stories of Anne. When Katherine complains to Anne that [Anne] couldn't know what it was like to not be wanted, as Anne is ensconced in Green Gables full of love, fans know that Anne could very easily have turned out to be like Katherine. And Matthew buying Anne the puffed sleeves? Well, every mention of Matthew and his adoration of Anne does me in.

The other stories vary in success, but as a whole, they work. Collected  together, plot themes develop - feuds forgiven after accidental apologies, and awareness of the blessings in your life.Other than the Anne stories, my favorite was "The Unforgotten One", about not judging what others are thinking or feeling, or who they might be missing.

All in all, they are perfect for Christmas. Short, fluffy, full of love and pathos and Christmas spirit.As an added bonus, my edition was lovely. Nice sizing, with a sturdy cover - a cross between a mass market paperback and a trade paperback. It will become a new Christmas tradition.

ETC: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Three things have happened in the last couple days to get me thinking about Christmas already.


1. These Lindt peppermint chocolates truffles, with 60% dark cocoa! If I was Oprah, I'd be giving them out on My Favorites Things episode. Oh, my.

I bought a bag, and I keep them in my underwear drawer, and every now and then I go to my room and pop one in my mouth. One will fit perfectly and no one else can see what I'm eating. They are my own special treat and I do not share with my family, hence the hiding place

I've noticed that they are a limited time offer. I'll have to stock up.




2. It's the Blogging Advent Tour! Sign ups at Marg's and Kaliana's went fast and furious. It was fun last year to see other traditions about Christmas.

There were music posts, and movie posts, and trivia, plays, family traditions, and lots of cookie recipes. mmmm.







3. The Book Blogger Christmas Swap is being organized by Dewey and Nymeth. I always like Secret Santa at work, getting that little treat in your mailbox just makes your day. This will be my real mailbox, so even better.

Think how much fun it will be with fellow readers sharing their love of books, or just a little treat.

Check at dewey's or nymeth's for more details, but the important thing is to send an email by November 18.



Looks like lots of interesting blogging activity going on in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

UPDATE: Christmas Challenge Completed

Great challenge and I really enjoyed reading these books. I had a few very short stories, but they fit the season, so I included them. I will do this every year - read a few Chritstmas stories leading into December.

Here's the final tally:


Irish Stories for Christmas by John B Keane
The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens
The Christmas Thief by Mary Higgins Clark

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas (short story)
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote (short story)
Christmas Tree by David Adam Richards (two short stories)

And it had very little to do with Christmas, but I was perfectly at the point in the series in December to read Shakespeare's Christmas by Charlaine Harris.

BOOK: The Christmas Thief by Mary Higgins Clark

The Christmas Thief by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark

the Christmas book challenge

Perfect book to read the day before Christmas. Nothing heavy, very easy read. I can't even remember the characters names now - this story is all about the plot. A con artist is released from prison; the Rockefeller tree is being cut down; the van Trapp family farm; a duped investor; a few private eyes; a rival neighbour; bumbling twin accomplices; and a broke poet. The plot twists and turns, but they are wide turns and easy to see. I'll look for the next book, The Christmas Cruise, next year.

BOOK: The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

Christmas Book Challenge, book #2

Fiction or non-fiction? Genre?
fiction, genre would be classic novel, and Christmas!

What led you to pick up this book?
I saw booklogged and 3M chose it for the Christmas Book Challenge and I know they pick great books. Also, a person should read Dickens at Chrismas, right?

Summarize the plot, but don't give away the ending!
John, the Carrier, brings home a stranger to his little cottage, of wife, Dot and Baby. The grumpy owner of a toy factory is planning to marry a pretty young thing.

What did you like most about the book?
Dickens is remarkably readable, and humorous. There was a lot of emotions, and interesting characters, including the secondary ones, and there was some supernatural/fairies and recognizing the values of home. (and it wasn't too long)

Have you read any other books by this author? What did you think of those books?
I read a short story by Dickens, and I really don't know if I've ever read A Christmas Carol, because it is so ubiquitous, but that story is also in my collection from the library, so I might get around to it as well. Dickens wrote some huge-ass books that scare me in their volume.

What did you think of the main character?
I liked John the Carrier. I guess he's the main character. He was an older man who married a young girl and he adored her. He may not have been educated, but he was a solid, good man who appreciated what he had in life, and faced everything with a very good nature.

Any other particularly interesting characters?
Tons. Dickens had the best imagination for names: Tilly Slowpoke, the nanny; Baby; the Cricket; Gruff and Tackleton, the toy owner; and the narrator! Who was that guy?

Share a quote from the book:
I never remember to write those down.

Share a favorite scene from the book.
The scene with John and Gruff and Tackleton after John had his eventful night with the Cricket. John makes all the right decisions, for all the right reasons, and it is why this book is so heartwarming and famous.

What about the ending?
Excellent. It's a Christmas book, and famous for being heartwarming, so it's all about the ending. Dicknes comes through, for sure.

Anything else?
Don't read wikipedia before you read this book, because I accidentally found out the plot and what happens before I read it. Don't do that. I still enjoyed it, because it was still enjoyable to read how Dickens would get us there, but I think I missed out a bit on the revelation.

BOOK: Irish Stories for Christmas by John B Keane

Irish Stories for Christmas by John B Keane
Christmas Book Challenge

I should have known that a book of Irish stories would not necessarily be an uplifting set of Christmas stories. I thought they would be more like Maeve Binchy - modern, happy, heartwarming stories. These were good, but more in the vein of Angela's Ashes, set during or around the wars. So, a tad more depressing, but still interesting. More stereotypical Irish, poor, drinking stories. Keane can turn a phrase and some passages had me chuckling. There was even a page at the back of the book to decipher terms.


My favorite story was the one with two wren-boys (mummers who go singing and entertaining on St Stephen Day, or the day after Christmas) but who are so geared up, preparing to go, planning from the last year with anticipation, that they drink too much and fall asleep and don't wake up until the next day, and miss all the fun.

SHORT STORY MONDAY: Two Tales For the Holidays

The Christmas Tree by David Adams Richards
Two Tales for the Holidays

I recently read Richards book Hockey Dreams and really enjoyed the writing of his reminiscence of life playing hockey on the Miramichi River. This slim little volume is more of the same, but fictional, thoughts of Christmases from ago.

Carmichael's Dog tells the story of two little boys, who find a dog on Christmas Eve, which is, of course, the perfect present for their widowed mother. But the story is more about what life used to be like, when kids ran the neighbourhood, outside all the time, with nothing more than a 'be home by dinner' as they live. It is also about the rules of the street, being confronted by another kid when you are doing something you aren't supposed to do. And Richards has a way of writing, that brings you right back there.

The Christmas Tree is the story with the miracle of sorts. Two brothers, again, in their twenties go looking to chop down a tree, because in those days, nobody buys a tree. My husband was like this when I met him - they always chopped down a tree from the woods, he could not understand buying a tree. So these boys, and a neighbourhood urchin whom they don't know, go to the woods looking for a tree. But like most university age kids, the trip was afoot before any real plan, like an axe, was thought of.

Both stories had plenty of humor, and were perfectly touching for Christmas. And because they are memories, just like all Christmas memories can be, are looked at through the rose coloured glasses. But this is just the kind of story to read to get in the mood for Christmas. I am becoming quite a fan of Mr Richards' writing. My only problem here was that these were fiction, and the last book of his I read was nonfiction, and I felt like these was his real stories, so that distracted me a bit. Christmas stories are perfect for short stories, so I'll have to look for some more.

CHALLENGE: Christmas Books

There was talk of a Christmas challenge a while ago, and then no one knew whether it was on or not, and then, voila!, it appeared at this site. Susan is hosting this nice little lead into Christmas. She challenges us to read two books with a Christmas theme during November and December. That sounds easy and fun. I was surfing around the blogging world last night, getting all kinds of great ideas.

Here's a list of books that I will read two from:

• Irish Stories for Christmas by John B Keane
• Christmas Tree by David Adam Richards
• The Cricket on the Hearth by Dickens (I don't think I've read much Dickens ever)
• something by Debbie Macomber that I saw at the school library
• A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
• A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
• or something that catches my eye The Christmas Thief by Mary Higgins Clark

A few of these are very short, and I picked up two at the library tonight, so it might not take very long.