SO! Now that I've got you here, I must have some interesting things to say, right?
Actually, I've just remembered. It was watching half of The Muppet's Christmas Carol yesterday. That's what really did it.
Along these lines, then, I wanted to ask you about Christmas reading, mostly, do you do anything special? And also, please tell me about some awesome Christmas books? The deal is this- I finished a measly three books in November (I know. I don't even know what) and I feel like I'm just starting to get some reading mojo back, and I really really want to do some seasonal reading. Last year for most of the Christmas period I was reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography, which was actually a really good read but possibly not the most seasonally appropriate one ever. But then, I also read The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder which was totally seasonally appropriate and it made me feel happy inside.
So. Seasonal reading, what can you recommend? I'm going to go ahead and tell YOU all to read Little Women, even though I'm probably not going to read it myself (well... maybe just the Christmas chapters...) I am going to reread A Christmas Carol and the other Dickens Christmas stories in my edition of it, and also Nos4r2 by Joe Hill which says it's about Christmas on the cover... But what else should I be reading? Any recommendations would be appreciated, and if there's a Christmas film I should be watching, then you can totally tell me about that too (although if it's Elf, I'm waaay ahead of you).
After all, tis the season and whatnot.
I just wrote you this fantastically long comment about how I'm not in the holiday spirit yet but I usually peak early so maybe that's okay and how I'm kinda over the materialistic present buying of it all and just want to do fun holiday activities. Then I wrote all about how I don't really read holiday themed books, but I *do* give myself the gift of reading some old(er) well-loved YA, which for some reason is festive for me even if the book itself isn't festive. This year's selection is The Book Thief which is definitely not festive but is very good reading. Then that comment disappeared and now you get this one instead. Blogs hate me today, but enough about me - hope you enjoy your Christmas reading!
ReplyDeleteAh, I see- you give yourself a little present as Christmas reading! That's a pretty solid plan, actually... Hmmm... (I won't bore you with my opinion of The Book Thief- all that matters is that YOU like it!) I'm sorry my blog lost your comment though! I will punish it properly later :)
DeleteOh yay! My constant refreshing of Bloglovin because it's 00:03am and I can't be bothered to go to sleep has paid off... SOMETHING TO READ! :D
ReplyDeleteIs that Jennifer Lawrence? What's wrong with her hair? Why has it gone? :s
Christmas reads.... hmm. I reread A Christmas Carol almost every Christmas because I love it SO MUCH. It an instant happiness kind of thing for me. The Night Circus is a Christmas book for me, although I'm not really sure why... I did read it on Boxing Day for the first time, so maybe that's it. I want to read Santa: A Life this year, and that's definitely Christmassy!
Oh wait, we should both read that Joe Hill book we bought in Leeds - the Christmas one with the name I can't type?
Actually, I can see it from here - it's N0S4R2. See? Not lazy AT ALL.
Delete*butts in* No you should not both read that Joe Hill book that you bought in Leeds because you two stole the last copies and if you're both reading it and telling me how amazing it is, I will feel the loss of the book with the stupid name even more!
DeleteHahaha, I'm so glad to facilitate your unhealthy sleeping patterns!
DeleteThat is indeed Jennifer Lawrence and what has happened to her hair is that it's AWESOME and I love it. END OF DISCUSSION.
I'm definitely reading A Christmas Carol (I read it for the first time ever last year and definitely forgot to review it before Christmas, and then after Christmas I couldn't be bothered) AND Yes I am going to read NOS4R2 LIKE I SAID IN MY POST HANNA!! We should definitely do it as a joint thing so we can support each other over text when it gets scary (I'm assuming it gets scary because, you know. King child.)
ALSO (long ass comment, right?) I feel like The Night Circus and more generally anything involving magic is pretty Christmassy, tbh. I read The Night Circus I think in October and it still definitely makes me think of Christmas. So maybe I should just read magical books..? Hmmmmm!
*JENNIFER LAWRENCE SEGUE* Since Ellie Bookworm found it so hilarious, would this be a good time to tell you that I'm developing the worst kind of crush on Haymitch Abernathy?! Well, when he's glowering and being sarcastic anyway. When he smiles he just looks weird. (Sorry Harrelson, it's true.) In my head he's sort of mixed a bit with Sawyer from Lost (I think it's the hair) and between that and the whole whisky-swigging pirate look... WILL YOU STOP ROLLING AROUND ON THE FLOOR IN HYSTERICS PLEASE?! :D
DeleteI don't find that hilarious because it's PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE to have a crush on Woody Harrelson! Is this an admission of some kind? Yes.
DeleteI'm not very good at festive reading for reasons that I do not know BUT I did read a book called Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett a couple of years ago and that was super good. It's basically a kind of prequel to A Chritsmas Carol from the perspective of Jacob Marley, which sounds like it might be a bit naff but is actually very festive and nice. Plus, it's only 202 pages in paperback so it's a quick festive win!
ReplyDeleteOOH, also, if you haven't read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and...someone else (oops...) then you should read that. It's a bit (a lot) cheesy but it's really cute and I loved it and bought a copy for my younger sister as an advent present last year so that she could read it and get in the Christmas mood.
I think I'll try and get to Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe because it has Christmas and cupcakes in the title.
See, I've definitely never been good at festive reading, hence why I'm having to ask what I should actually read! I think with having done RIP for the last three (!) years, I'm like 'oooh, seasonal reading!' and also, you know, having a place where I write about the things I read doesn't hurt either. Reviewing Christmas books will be like the equivalent of putting up Christmas lights around here!
DeleteI have not read any of these things of which you speak, so they have all been duly noted. And you've got some solid reasoning there with your Christmas and Cupcakes plan, I approve!
I've opted for the Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens, which includes A Christmas Carol. October is always good for ghosts, but I think the Christmas period is even better! :)
ReplyDeleteAh! See, I've got the Clothbound Classics version of A Christmas Carol, which apparently has other Christmas tales in it. So yeah, that's me sorted!
DeleteTHIS IS GOING TO BE A NUMBERED COMMENT AGAIN.
ReplyDelete1) Jennifer Lawrence is getting higher and higher on my list of people to fangirl over. That girl ROCKS.
2) Despite the fact that I've spent the weekend wearing a Santa hat for the town Christmas weekend, I still don't feel that festive yet. I DO, however, feel way more relaxed than last year, because I've nearly finished the main bulk of my Christmas shopping. Including an alarming number of presents for MYSELF, because Amazon had those Black Friday deals and they had the same addictive feel as winning stuff on eBay. I think I have a problem. (Just in case you didn't notice in Leeds.) :P
2) Christmas reading! I'm going for The Christmas Mystery (the appropriate mini chapter to be read every day with my advent chocolate), probably Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan (since I read the original earlier this year, and I'll possibly also read Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (which is apparently hilarious) and The Atheist's Guide to Christmas, which is a bunch of little essays by funny people about Christmas WITHOUT the religious thing. Which is perfect for me. I'm more about music and Christmas movies and being with family and eating mince pies than following stars and babies in mangers. :)
3) I was literally JUST saying to Mum that I needed to find Elf. I'm not sure where it is since we moved, but the moment that sleigh takes off in the park with all the people singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town is ALWAYS the moment my festive spirit goes from 'meh, work' to 'YAY, CHRISTMAS!' When I was a kid the Santa Claus movie (the one with Dudley Moore as Patch the elf) did the same job. Unfortunately it's always on at about lunchtime when I'm at work these days, so I haven't seen it for years! :(
4) Any of the above Festive Stuff is always nicely supplemented by Christmas snacks, of course. This year I have Baileys Chocolat Luxe (to mix into my drinks), copious amounts of chai tea, chocolate orange shortbread stars, Cadbury's mini cake thingies (the ones with the white chocolate stars on the top) and mince pies. FOR STARTERS. :D
Okay, I think I've managed to talk MYSELF into feeling Christmassy now. Yay!
YOU ARE THE BEST AT COMMENTS!
Delete1) JLaw is the actual best human in the world. Basically.
2) ELLIE! Nice work being nearly done with your Christmas shopping! I have also been alarmingly prepared this year, I've sent out international presents already, have sort of kind of finished shopping for my family... It's all going so well!
2) (the second 2... Someone got overexcited!) You are doing well with Christmas reading! I honestly don't even know what I want to read AT ALL at the moment, so I think I'm just going to play it by ear. But I sort of have an urge to reread I Capture The Castle that I might just go with...
3) You really really REALLY need to find Elf because OMG it's the actual best Christmas movie. ACTUAL BEST. Oh, apart from A Muppet's Christmas Carol, BUT I SUPPOSE YOU WOULDN'T KNOW ABOUT THAT, WOULD YOU?!
4) I have already eaten so much Terry's Chocolate Orange this year. Like, genuinely about 3 chocolate oranges and a couple of bags of the mini segments. But Terry's Chocolate Orange IS Christmas! Also I need to make some gingerbread cupcakes because they are the BOMB.
DON'T FIGHT THE CHRISTMASSYNESS!
Yay, baking! I have a feeling that I will be making some Lebkuchen this weekend, wouldn't be Christmas without them.
ReplyDeleteOh, and me & Riv from Bookish Realm are going to be reading Christmas Carol later in the month. You should join us!
Mmmmm, ginger things... As I said above, I definitely need to make some gingerbread cupcakes because they are about the best thing I can make. Ugh, so goooood!
DeleteI may in fact join you to read A Christmas Carol! Or at least we'll probably post about it at the same time-ish anyway cause, you know, Christmas! (I am soooo exclaimy today...)
OH MAN, I want to read NOS4A2 for Christmastime! I AM feeling grumpy about Christmas this year, so it would be perfect... except I won a copy from the Deweys readathon and it hasn't come yet. Maybe I should just get it from the library.
ReplyDeleteOH and you need to read The Grinch! It's a kid's book, you can totally fit that in.
But YAY for baking and for having your Christmas mojo happening. High fives.
Oh man, I hate when you're waiting for books that would be PERFECT for right now but they don't show up :( I kind of support getting it from the library, tbh!
DeleteOooooh, The Grinch! You know, I've never seen the film either? Dr Seuss is way less of a thing over here than in the US, which is TRAGIC, if you ask me!
*total high five for Christmas mojo*
I really, really don't need to be adding to my to-read piles at the moment; I was very good this weekend, when I went up to London, and only bought ONE book for myself, and that was because I'd nearly finished my train reading... then just before I was due to travel back, I had half an hour to kill and ended up buying 3 more in the Oxfam bookshop in Kingston. But with you guys all talking about Nos4R2 and I'm thinking maybe I'm not patient enough to wait for the small paperback, especially if it's Christmassy.
ReplyDeleteMy Christmas reading tends to include The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and A Christmas Carol, and this year I'm rereading Harry Potter because although the books take place over a whole year each, the Christmassy scenes are so vivid and memorable, and it's so magical.
Must-see films are The Muppets' Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, Love Actually and Hogfather.
See, see, I REALLY don't want to buy any new books because, firstly Christmas, secondly money, and thirdly, I really do want to read the books I own! So the kind of Christmas recommendations I wanted were basically books I already had and didn't realise were Christmassy, preferably lol! So yeah, Nos4R2! I say, either read it with the cool kids OR wait til we're done with it and then decide whether or not to read it hahaha!
DeleteHARRY POTTER! I did just read them for, you know, six months of this year, but the Christmas bits ARE so good. I approve of your choice.
But OMG Kingston Oxfam bookshop!!! I was literally in there today! Do you have someone who lives in Kingston? Cause that is SO CLOSE to me!