Take your imagination on a festive season journey this year – Ultimate Library has curated the perfect selection of Christmas reads for you to settle down to as you’re digesting that Christmas pudding with the help of a fortifying brandy… from Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol to Jeanette Winterson’s latest Christmas Days and Valentine Davies’ Miracle on 34th Street – these offer surefire ways to get into the Christmas spirit.
1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
No Christmas list would be complete without Charles Dickens’ beloved classic. Cruel Ebenezer Scrooge journeys through his own past, present and future at the hands of three ghosts. Throughout these travels readers are presented with various visions of Christmas alongside whimsey and imagination. This novel contains all the perfect ingredients for a Christmas tale.
2. Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies
Generations of believers in hope and goodwill have made this classic novel by Valentine Davies part of their holiday traditions. Miracle on 34th Street follows the story of a busy mother, a sceptical little girl, and one very special old man, Kris Kringle, forced from a retirement home where no one believes he is Santa Claus. A heart-warming classic about generosity, imagination, and the spirit of Christmas.
3. Village Christmas by Laurie Lee
A moving and lyrical portrait of England through the changing years and seasons. Laurie Lee left his childhood home when he was nineteen, not returning until many years later. This collection brings together the sights, sounds and traditions of his home – from centuries-old May Day rituals to carol singing in crunching snow on Christmas Eve. Told with a warm sense of humour and a powerful sense of history, Village Christmas brings us a picture of a vanished world.
4. Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford
The formidable fox-hunter Lady Bobbin is holding a Christmas party. Attendees include her rebellious daughter Philadelphia, a pompous suitor, a couple of children poring over newspapers, and a dejected writer whose first serious novel has been declared the funniest book of the year. Add to the mix beautiful ex-courtesan Amabelle Fortescue and her guests staying in a neighbouring cottage and you have a ribald tale of true love and false fidelity, hijinks, and low morals, not to mention the consumption of a considerable quantity of Christmas spirit.
5. Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson
The tradition of the Twelve Days of Christmas is one of celebration,
sharing and giving. And what better way to do that than with a story? For years beloved children’s author Jeanette Winterson has written a new story at Christmas time, and here she brings together twelve of her favourites. Blending fiction, recipes, and anecdotes these stories celebrate togetherness and the traditions that make Christmas special.
