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Monday, November 26, 2018

All I Want for Christmas is…Reading!


It’s near that time of the year again…. Christmas—the jolliest and merriest of all time of the year! It’s also the only time I regret of being born in Indonesia. Here, Christmas is not celebrated much in public (except in malls—with huge discount, or in Hotels). I can do decorating at home, of course; however, living in an apartment has its limitation. To compensate, I always try to fill my Decembers with Christmas-themed readings. Maybe I can’t see much of Christmas trees or lights around me, but I can certainly experience it through books! :) So, this is my Christmas reading plan through the coming December:

Dombey and Son
I am now in one third of the book (p. 277) and plan to finish it through December. This will also be my last entry for my 2018 reading challenges.

A Christmas Carol
What is Christmas without A Christmas Carol? We are indebted too much to it to not reading it every year (or two)! A bookstagrammer @dickens.and.docks is hosting an interesting event: #DickensDecember with readalongs and photo challenge. I am interested mostly in A Christmas Carol readalong, which begins at December 3rd, one chapter a day, and ends with Discussion Day at December 8th. It looks really fun; but I have not decided my participation yet. Should I??



Dickens at Christmas
This beautiful book has been my Christmas “bible” (along with A Christmas Carol, of course) since last year. I have enjoyed reading slowly The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth, and planned to read some (or all – but maybe I better leave some for next years) of the rest after finishing A Christmas Carol:

The Battle of Life
The Haunted Man & The Ghost’s Bargain

From Household Words:
A Christmas Tree
A Christmas Dinner
What Christmas is, as We Grow Older – hey, this must be interesting!
The Seven Poor Travelers

From A Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire:
The Poor Relation’s Story
The Child Story

Form Another Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire:
The Schoolboy’s Story
Nobody’s Story

Anthony Trollope
I have yet to get acquainted with Trollope. His Christmas stories should be the best way to begin. Plus the edition is so lovely!

It consists of:

Christmas at Thompson Hall
Christmas Day at Kirkby Cottage
The Mistletoe Bough
The Two Generals
Not If I Know It

Have you read any of them? And how will YOUR Christmas reading be?

8 comments:

  1. How fun, Fanda, that you can experience Christmas through books. Here in America...well, you may not agree...but some people go overboard with Christmas. But being so far removed from it, you'd probably appreciate it. It can be such a joyous time, I agree.

    I am planning to read A Christmas Carol w/ my kids again -- one chapter a day. That sounds like a good plan b/c there are only 4 major chapters anyway. But that Dec. 3 date is too early or else I'd join you (if you decide to join). I'm starting mine December 17th.

    Anyway, enjoy your reading!

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    1. I know, Ruth, but still, you can "feel" Christmas in the air almost everywhere. That's what I miss here. Anyway, thanks to Dickens, I can at least imagine it from afar. And I am almost sure I'd join the A Christmas Carol readalong anyway.

      Have fun in the readalong with your kids too! :)

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  2. I didn't know about those Trollope books so thanks for the heads-up! I'm going to check them out. It looks like you have lots of fun reading ahead. Enjoy yourself!

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    1. Penguin Classics have that Christmas series (six books, I think) from different authors: Trollope, Dickens (obviously), Alcott, Gogol, and 2 others (Baum?). They have really gorgeous covers! But I have read someone's review that Gogol's is quite dry and the least Christmas-y.

      Enjoy your Christmas readings too, Cleo!

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  3. I read the Trollope collection a few years ago and enjoyed it. Hope you do as well.

    Dickens at Christmas is a must—I still think the Christmas chapter in Pickwick is one of his best Christmas works. I read Dombey and Son a few years ago and thought it good but frustrating—elder Dombey is so narrow minded and misogynistic!

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    1. You're right, Jane, about the Christmas chapter in Pickwick. Apart from A Christmas Carol, of course! ;)

      Agree, too, with Mr. Dombey; also Carker the senior, and Mrs. Skewton. Dickens is never half-hearted when creating his antagonists (and his protagonists too, in that matter).

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  4. I should do some more holiday themed reading. Dickens is such a good writer to be reading for the season.

    I love Anthony Trollope yet I have not read his Christmas stories. I really need to give them a try. Maybe I can sneak them into my reading before the holidays.,

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    1. Yes, indeed. I always read Dickens on December. And his Christmas stories is treasure!

      Have fun, Brian, and happy holiday! :)

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