Reviews

Big Book of Christmas - Novels, Tales, Legends & Carols by Florence L. Barclay, Frank Samuel Child, Henry Van Dyke, Elbridge S. Brooks, George Wither, J.M. Barrie, Armando Palacio Valdés, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, William Makepeace Thackeray, Ellis Parker Butler, John Addington Symonds, Antonio Maré, Isabel Cecilia Williams, Elizabeth Gaskell, Ruth McEnery Stuart, Alphonse Daudet, Aunt Hede, Raymond McAlden, L.M. Montgomery, William Drummond, Richard Watson Gilder, Harrison S. Morris, Alice Hale Burnett, Laura Elizabeth Richards, F.E. Mann, Isaac Watts, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Susan Anne Livingston, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Tudor Jenks, Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing, Selma Lagerlöf, W.B. Yeats, O. Henry, Christian Burke, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Henry Vaughan, Robert Southwell, Robert Louis Stevenson, Amanda M. Douglas, C.N. Williamson, Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, Jacob Grimm, C.S. Stone, John Punnett Peters, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Mrs. Molesworth, Katherine Pyle, A.M. Williamson, André Theuriet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Dickens, George MacDonald, Eleanor H. Porter, Edmund Bolton, James Weber Linn, Eliza Cook, F.L. Stealey, Willis Boyd Allen, L. Frank Baum, Washington Irving, Robert E. Howard, Winifred M. Kirkland, Mary Austin, Edward A. Rand, Booker T. Washington, Willa Cather, Alfred Domett, Meredith Nicholson, Harriet F. Blodgett, Clement C. Moore, Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, Oliver Bell Bunce, Margaret Sidney, Sophie May, James Selwin Tait, Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, James Whitcomb Riley, Walter Scott, Grace Margaret Gallaher, Marion Clifford, Louisa May Alcott, Jacob A. Riis, Jay T. Stocking, Christopher North, William Wordsworth, Mark Twain, Mary Hartwell Catherwood, Sarah P. Doughty, Elizabeth Harkison, Ridley Sedgwick, John Greenleaf Whittier, Arnold Bennett, Lucas Malet, Andrew Lang, Thomas Nelson Page, F. Arnstein, Robert Herrick, Hans Christian Andersen, Lucy Wheelock, Edmund Hamilton Sears, John Leighton, W.H.H. Murray, Maxime Du Camp, Martin Luther, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Evaleen Stein, Georgianna M. Bishop, William Shakespeare, Cecil Frances Alexander, William Francis Dawson, Walter Crane, Ben Jonson, Anna Robinson, Nellie C. King, Frederick E. Dewhurst, Elia W. Peattie, Maud Lindsay, Beatrix Potter, M.A.L. Lane, James S. Park, Nora Archibald Smith, Marjorie L.C. Pickthall, Ralph Henry Barbour, François Coppée, Anthony Trollope, James Russell Lowell, Ernest Ingersoll, Vernon Lee, Phillips Brooks, Edward Thring, Angelo J. Lewis, Carolyn Wells, Matilda Betham-Edwards, William Douglas O'Connor, Max Brand, Bret Harte, Marcel Prévost, Booth Tarkington, Olive Thorne Miller, William John Locke, Edgar Wallace, Charles Mackay, A.S. Boyd, Georg Schuster, Arthur Conan Doyle, Emily Huntington Miller, Jules Simon, Saki, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Samuel McChord Crothers, Emily Dickinson, Amy Ella Blanchard, Rudyard Kipling, Guy de Maupassant, Annie Fellows Johnston, Reginald Heber, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mary Stewart Cutting, Anton Chekhov, Sarah Orne Jewett, Frances Ridley Havergal, Cyril Winterbotham, Nell Speed, Leo Tolstoy, Phebe A. Curtiss, Florence M. Kingsley, Wilhelm Grimm, Alice Duer Miller, Benito Pérez Galdós, E.E. Hale, Cyrus Townsend Brady, William Morris, Susan Coolidge, Margaret Deland, Kate Upson Clark, S. Weir Mitchell, Alfred Tennyson, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Harriet Beecher Stowe

maplessence's review against another edition

With a rare (for me!) bit of forethought I picked this Kindle up in August when it was free.

Looks like it has all the titles I need for Christmas Reads with the Retro Reads group - & I may read a couple of extras!

Christmas by Injunction by [a:O. Henry|8993|O. Henry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1183238892p2/8993.jpg]
Looked like this tale would be sweet & sentimental, but Henry put his own twist on it! Clever writing. 3★

The Set of Poe by [a:George Ade|386495|George Ade|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1441898618p2/386495.jpg] The collection is alphabetical & this was the first one. A little predictable but still very sweet & charming. 4★

The Dead by [a:James Joyce|5144|James Joyce|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1615569948p2/5144.jpg] I have never read any James Joyce and this was recommended as one of his most accessible pieces of writing. In Retro Reads, Tadiana has linked to some studies for all of the symbolism. I didn't notice any of the symbolism, but still found this a very engaging story and the conclusion quite shattered me. I will reread this story looking for more depth. 5★

The Romance of the Christmas Card by [a:Kate Douglas Wiggin|8105|Kate Douglas Wiggin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1201031156p2/8105.jpg] Isn't this cover [bc:The Romance of a Christmas Card|7165537|The Romance of a Christmas Card|Kate Douglas Wiggin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348707757l/7165537._SY75_.jpg|1817946] charming and wholesome and Oh So Christmassy? What a lovely satisfying read this was, even though the villagers' values are from a different galaxy than mine. I was totally enchanted, although I do feel that David

Spoiler

was luckier than he deserved.

I'm going to go with the feels and give this one 5★!

I'm sure I can sneak in a [a:Louisa May Alcott|1315|Louisa May Alcott|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1200326665p2/1315.jpg] before Christmas as well!

Which I did.

A Country Christmas by [a:Louisa May Alcott|1315|Louisa May Alcott|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1200326665p2/1315.jpg] I liked the letter at the start and some of descriptions were beautiful and all, but this didn't totally click for me. Maybe because I found The Romance of the Christmas Card so perfect - maybe it is one too many of these stories with old values - Louisa May Alcott certainly isn't subtle! 3★

December 2022. We are having our annual Christmas Short Story read over at Retro Reads. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/22366081-december-2022---christmas-short-stories Do come and join us!