A Literary Christmas 2018

In the Bookcase is hosting A Literary Christmas challenge and since I’ve been so neglectful of many of my other challenges this year, I wanted to try to finish on a high note.  Therefore, I’m joining!

All I have to do is to make a list of Christmas books I’d like to read and then finish as many of them as I can on or before December 31, 2018.  I should have some time off this Christmas so I have high hopes of doing well with this challenge.  Plus, I can slot in some wonderful (shorter) children’s Christmas classics, which will make it a little easier on me.

Cleo’s Christmas Reading List

A Christmas Carol Charles DickensChristmas at Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons

High Rising Angela Thirkell

And there’s my list!  I doubt I’ll finish the 4 full length books but I’ll be happy with one or two and a number of the children’s stories.  Ooooh, I’m looking so forward to this!  It will be fun!  Thanks for hosting, Tarissa!

22 thoughts on “A Literary Christmas 2018

  1. i remember laughing so hard i fell out of the chair when reading Jean Shepherd when i was a teen… very funny guy…

    • I’ve just seen the movie so I can’t wait to read the book. It sounds just as good if not better. I thought Jean was a woman so thanks for correcting my error. A-hem! 😉

      • I remember when the movie came out. It is my all time favorite Christmas movie! I, too, touched a metal post with my tongue. (Should I even be admitting that?)

        • My favourite Christmas movie is A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim but A Christmas Story is a close second. It doesn’t hurt to admit it; you’re in good company! 😉

    • If I remember correctly, it’s a collection of stories and I’m not sure if they’re all Christmas-y. I hope to find out!

      I love A Christmas Story too and watch it every year. I’ve started A Christmas Carol and absolutely love it! I’m going to try to read it each year!

  2. Welcome to your new home! Looks great & I agree that Blogger is a bit of a pain. I wouldn’t know where to start if I moved though. I might join in with the Christmas linkup if I finish my last Back to the Classics this week.

    • Thanks, Carol! If you ever want to move, let me know and I can help out. I do hope you can join this challenge. Christmas is such a wonderful time of year and reading books about it just adds to the pleasant feeling it gives. My Back to the Classics was a wash this year but I have hope for next. Happy reading!

  3. Ok, just saw your reply on your initial post, so I’m testing out the comments here. Are you using wordpress.com or .org to host? And do you have the jetpack plugin installed? that allows the comments to show up on peoples notification bar if they’re using dotcom.

    Anyway….

    I’ve got A Christmas Carol on tap. My whole family is going to be up at my brothers for Christmas so I’m wondering about trying to read the whole thing on Christmas Eve. I should probably do a test run to see how long it takes me to read it. If it’s too long, I won’t bother…

    • I’m using .org and I am using Jetpack but I installed it a little later so perhaps that was the problem. It should work now. Please let me know if it doesn’t. By your comments, I think I could learn some computer literacy from you! 😉

      I’ve read A Christmas Carol aloud a couple of times. It is rather long. An evening read would be a marathon but it is nice reading it over a couple of weeks. If I remember correctly, I read about half a stave per night to my daughter and even that was quite a bit of reading. For me at least. You’ve reminded me how much I miss reading aloud to her.

      • Excellent, it is working! Your comment showed up here in my wordpress notification.

        And good to know about just how long Carol takes to read aloud. I was thinking if it was maybe 90min I’d go for it, but if it is longer than that, then I’ll have to default to the old standbye, A Muppets Christmas Carol movie 😀

        • Great! Finally!

          You could always act out A Christmas Carol ….. that would take less time than reading it (and somehow I think that isn’t going to be happening ….. ) 😉

          • Hahahahaahaaaa.
            * wipes a tear from his eye *

            Not happening. Half of the family would love to do that but the other half would rather pull out their own eyes. You can guess which camp I’m in .-)

  4. I have only read a couple of the books on your pile. Have you tried any of the Dickens’ Christmas ghost stories? Besides A Christmas Carol, there’s the Cricket Beside the Hearth and some others.

    • I did start The Cricket but it didn’t draw me in. I would like to read them though one day. It’s just difficult to get anything to measure up to A Christmas Carol.

  5. Hi Cleo,
    Welcome to “A Literary Christmas” reading challenge! You’ve chosen some wonderful titles to read this month. “A Christmas Carol” and “Miracle on 34th Street” are definitely among some of my favorite books.

    I love your blog already; this is my first time here, but I’m excited to check everything else out. 🙂

    Thanks for linking up. Merry reading!

    Tarissa
    http://inthebookcase.blogspot.com

    • Thanks for the kind words about my blog. I’ve been blogging for 5 years now and still really enjoy it. And it’s great to connect with other bloggers like you. I was so glad to find your challenge and can’t wait to start!

  6. Yours is the second list I’ve seen Truman Capote on for Christmas. Makes me wonder… Interesting looking list. I hope you do get to finish on a high note! Happy Holiday Reading!! 🙂

    • Me too! I read such good reviews of Capote’s book that I just had to read it! Thanks for the wishes and happy reading to you too!

  7. Oh, sounds fun! I hadn’t planned on reading any Christmas themed books this year as I’m trying very hard to finish out the books already underway before the end of the year. But I somehow found myself going down a rabbit hole and have started a Christmas-themed short story collection by PD James and placed Hercule Poirot’s Christmas on hold at the library. Whoops!

    I didn’t realize A Christmas Story was based on a book – I’m not a terribly big fan of the movie, but since it does have local connections, I almost feel I should look into the book. (I live about an hour from Cleveland, where the movie was filmed – did you know there’s a museum at the house that was use for the film? Apparently it’s quite revitalized the local neighborhood!)

    • I’m glad to hear you’re doing some Christmas reading. Hopefully it gets you more in the spirit!

      I did know the house was still there but I didn’t know it was a museum. The movie does make me laugh but I don’t think I would have wanted to be part of their family. Well, maybe for that Christmas but not permanently. 😛

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