Christmas Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

I started this challenge determined to read two Christmas novels, but I ended up reading five Christmas novels, none of which were on my original list. I am not very good at sticking to lists . . . but I already knew that!

The Christmas novels that I read for this challenge are as follows:

1. The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber

2. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

3. Christmas Classics: Stories for the Whole Family (audio) by Charles Dickens, etc.

4. Once Upon a Christmas by Diane Farr

5. Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs

I enjoyed all of the books, but I think my favorite was the light and entertaining Once Upon a Christmas by Diane Farr. I enjoyed Knit the Season as a third addition to the Friday Night Knitting Club series and I really enjoyed listening to Christmas Classics. I may need to listen to Christmas Classics again next year!

Thank-you to Michelle at The True Book Addict for hosting the Christmas Reading Challenge. I hope you host it again next year!

Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs

Knit the Season is the third novel in the Friday Night Knitting Club series by Kate Jacobs. I first read the Friday Night Knitting Club this past spring for my book club. I quickly read Knit 2 to find out what would happen next. I was very excited to read on Suko’s Notebook that there was a new third novel in the series and it was a Christmas book. I love Christmas books!

Knit the Season picks up right after Knit 2 ends. Dakota Walker is becoming quite the young woman and is trying to determine what direction her life should take. Should she spend this Christmas with her family or take a wonderful intern opportunity at a great restaurant? Peri, Darwin, Lucie, KC, Catherine, and Dakota all help Anita plan her third wedding to her beloved Marty. Anita’s putz of a son, Nathan, has managed to thwart the previous attempts at a wedding. James tries to put away the memory of Georgia and move on with his life, while Catherine must decides whether to risk it all for love with Marco. The novel runs from Thanksgiving until New Year’s, therefore it is the perfect holiday novel!

I loved this novel as I love all of the characters and really enjoyed learning more about them. My only hope is that there will be more future novels. I wish that the novel would have been longer as characters such as Darwin, Lucie, and KC were very much relegated to the background. Also I like how the characters reflected on favorite past memories of Georgia, but I hope that future novels will move on from Georgia.

I’m not sure I would recommend this novel to someone who has not read the previous two books. I don’t think you would get the same amount out of the book if you didn’t have their background from the previous novels.

Overall, this was a great addition to the Friday Night Knitting Club series. This is my fifth and final book in the Christmas Reading Challenge.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Once Upon a Christmas by Diane Farr

I love Christmas Regency Romances. They are my favorite Christmas books that I turn to year after year. I love the Regency setting, and the nice romance stories set during the Christmas Season. Ana from Aneca’s World had a list of suggestions on her blog and I chose Once Upon a Christmas by Diane Farr.

After suffering the devastating loss of her family, Celia Delacourt finds herself suddenly swept away to the Delacourt estate by her distant relation the Duchess of Arnsford. The Duchess would prefer Celia refer to her as Aunt Gladys. The Duchess takes her under her wing determined to train her to be a proper lady. Celia begins to wonder what motivates the Duchess as she has four unmarried daughters of her own.

Jack Delacourt is the only son of the Duchess. He becomes suspicious when his mother summons him home for Christmas. He devises a plan to show up and act insane to scare away whoever his mother has waiting for him as a future bride. His act soon works on Celia, convincing her that he is insane. Jack is unsure whether he wants this as he soon finds himself falling in love with Celia.

Overall it was a great, light, Christmas regency romance. I found it to be very enjoyable. The characters were great. I only wish it would have been a little longer to find out what happened to the Duchess.

This is my fourth novel for the Christmas Reading Challenge.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Christmas Classics: Stories for the Whole Family by Charles Dickens, etc. (Audio)

A Christmas can not go by it seems where I don’t read or watch A Christmas Carol. I’ve seen the play numerous times and love the old versions of the movie. This year I decided to try something new and listen to an audiobook version of A Christmas Carol. I selected Christmas Classics: Stories for the Whole Family at the library as it not only had A Christmas Carol on it, but several other Christmas favorites.

The audiobook included the following stories:
1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
2. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
3. Is There a Santa Claus? (Yes, Virginia . . . ) by Frank P. Church
4. A Visit from Saint Nicholas (‘Twas the Night Before Christmas) by Clement C. Moore
5. A Winter Walk by Henry David Thoreau
6. The Seven Poor Travelers by Charles Dickens
7. The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Anderson
8. Santa Claus at Simpson’s Bar by Bret Harte
9. What Christmas is As We Grow Older by Charles Dickens

There are various readers during the course of the audiobook. I thought they did a great job, particularly the eerie reading of the ghosts in A Christmas Carol. My only complaint is that I really would have loved a reader with a great British accent for A Christmas Carol.

A Christmas Carol is a striking story each time I read, listen, or watch it. The story of a man getting to see the effects of his miserly ways on others and how he is perceived is riveting. I love that he is able to change his entire lifestyle and become a force for good. It’s a relatively simple tale, but it is wonderfully infused with the Christmas spirit. The only thing I don’t like about the story is the very beginning. It goes on and on about how Marley is as dead as a doornail. I think I understood he was dead from line one, but I know how Victorian authors needed to give you ten times the description that you really needed on occasion. Does anyone else feel this way about page one, or am I the one that is being a Scrooge here?

I love The Gift of the Magi. It’s been a few years since I’ve read it, but it still had its charm. Two people in love who in turn give up their prized possessions to give each other a good Christmas gift is such a touching story. I love the twist at the end.

I hadn’t read The Fir Tree since I was a kid. It was nice to listen to it again even though it is a bittersweet tale of a tree that always wants more than it can be and doesn’t enjoy life as he has it. It’s a good moral story.

I’ll admit that I skipped The Seven Poor Travelers. I listened to it for awhile and grew quite bored and skipped the rest. Truthfully, I haven’t been very keen on any of Dickens’s other Christmas tales besides A Christmas Carol and I love Charles Dickens.

Overall this was a great audiobook collection of favorite Christmas stories. This is my third item for the Christmas Reading Challenge.

Audiobook Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

Holidays on Ice is a collection of Holiday themed humorous short stories by David Sedaris. I’ve heard Sedaris previously on NPR.

The first story, “SantaLand Diaries,” is hilarious. It is Sedaris’ experience of being an elf at Macy’s in New York City. I laughed out loud several times as I read this story and read the highlights to my husband as we traveled home from Thanksgiving in Michigan. It is amazing the way that people treat their children and the way that they treat the people who work as Santa and the elves.

Unfortunately, after this first story, the book went downhill. The other Sedaris stories of holiday experiences during his life were pretty good, although none lived up to “SantaLand Diaries.” The stories where Sedaris veered off into fiction were quite terrible in my opinion. I understand that Sedaris was trying to be sarcastic about different human tendacies (such as greed at Christmas), but the death of children is never funny. And it kept popping up throughout the fictional stories. I found myself quite disgusted.

Overall, I really enjoyed the first story, but I could have skipped the middle section of the book and been quite happy.

This is the second book for the Christmas Reading Challenge and also the second book club selection for my FLICKS Book and Movie Club.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber

What is a “perfect Christmas?” Cassie Beaumont thinks that her perfect Christmas would be to meet her very own “Mr. Right,” get married, have adorable children and a future of perfect Christmases together. Cassie has tried everything to meet her perfect match, but it all has failed. She finally decides to take drastic measures and use a professional matchmaker to find him.

Simon Dodson is a very opinionated and very expensive matchmaker. Simon and Cassie clash as they get to know one another. Simon makes Cassie fulfill three tasks in order to prove that she is the correct chose for the perfect match he has selected for her. Hilarity ensues and there is a heartwarming ending.

While this book was a cheerful holiday story, it held no mystery. It was very obvious from the beginning of the book what was going to happen. It is a quick, happy story, but overall it was not fulfilling.

The Perfect Christmas is the first book for the Christmas Reading Challenge list and is also a book club selection for my FLICKS Book and Movie Club.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Christmas Reading Challenge

Michelle of the True Book Addict is hosting a Christmas Reading Challenge. I love to read Christmas novels during the season! You can pick 1-3 books to read from November 26th to December 31st.

I love Christmas books, but am pretty booked on books I need to read in the next couple of months. I'm going to aim for two books, and if I read over this, it will be good, and it not, I'm still good!

The two books I have on my night stand that I would love to read are:

1. War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card

2. Silver Bells by Fern Michaels, JoAnn Ross, Mary Burton, and Judy Duarte

Thank-you for hosting such a great challenge Michelle!