Top 5 Books – Christmas

Christmas seems to be coming earlier every year, it was the beginning of September when my local supermarket started displaying their mince pies and Christmas puddings on the shelves and one shop even had their tree up just a few days after that, and even though I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas, with only 15 days to go until Santa tries to squeeze his big fat drunken arse down everyone’s chimneys, I thought that it was about time that I made this post, and posted my favourite top 5 Christmas books.

I can never remember a time where I have particularly enjoyed Christmas, even when Christmas wasn’t the big commercial holiday that it has turned into now, where people run them selves into extreme debt just to buy the biggest and best presents for their loved one’s, and where we feel that we have to buy everyone we know a gift so that they don’t think we’re not generous or a scrooge, usually something cheap and useless like socks with a photo of your dog’s face on (yes believe it or not that is actually are real gift) or something that you will never use or look at like those awful bath sets you can pick up from the bargain store.

Does anybody remember when Christmas was a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus and wasn’t about the small mountain of presents that sits under the tree, and where the only thing that you gave to people was a small card that you were guilt tripped into buying by a young girl who was door to door selling for charity, anyone remember that time? where an orange and a piece of coal where your only gifts, Being only 22 and spoilt rotten as a child I don’t, and I think that’s why I dislike Christmas so much now, because I have been brought up with all this commercial nonsense, and that’s also probably why I have ranted on for ages here about it, but even with all it’s flaws and faults there are some parts of Christmas that I do enjoy. One of the best things about the holiday period for me is that I have the time to sit down and read some of the books that have been sitting on my shelf since the last Christmas, there is nothing better than sitting down on Christmas Day in front of the fire with a book and a whiskey, for me that really is the best part of Christmas, that and the re-runs of Home Alone and Elf of course, so it’s probably time I stop ranting about Christmas and get around to what I actually came to post about, below are my top 5 Christmas books that I will be reading in the coming weeks and one’s that I am sure most people here will also enjoy too, unless you don’t celebrate Christmas that is.

5. Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien 

J. R. R. Tolkien is probably not the first name that comes to your head when you think of Christmas books, but the creator of the Lord of the Rings series didn’t just write books about Hobbit’s and Wizards, he also wrote a number of other great books and this is one of them. The book is a collection of whimsical letters written by J. R. R. Tolkien to his four children from Santa, and of course with the letters having been written by one of the greatest fantasy writers ever, they feature a whole host of creatures such as elves and goblins that all live at the North Pole with Father Christmas. These enchanting and funny letters along with the outstanding illustrations make it a great book to read this Christmas.

4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

A book that I am sure that many people have already heard about and have read a loved it but how could you have a Christmas book list without the Grinch. Although it is a children’s book it is impossible to read it and not love it, and for anyone that has lived under a rock for the last 50 odd years and doesn’t know who the Grinch is, he is a creature that lives on the edge of who-ville watching and despising the who’s down below preparing for Christmas, which aggravates and annoys him, but he has a great plan that involves a Santa suit, a pair on antlers and his dog Max that could stop all of the festive cheer for good.

  3. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham 

Another writer that you wouldn’t expect to be writing a Christmas book, but in a turn from his usual Legal thrillers John Grisham writes about a couple who decide to avoid the stress and fuss of Christmas all together and instead on December the 25th they sail away on a Caribbean cruise, but they soon find out that skipping Christmas can bring some great consequences.

 

2. NOS4R2 by Joe Hill

If you are looking for a Christmas book that is a bit different from everything else then this is the book that you should be reading this Christmas, the fourth book by Joe Hill follows Vic McQueen who has a special gift, using her pushbike she is able to travel to places beyond our own world, but she is not the only one who can travel to other realms. The other world’s are also roamed by other people many who are evil, such as Charlie Manx a kidnapper who picks up children and promises them a visit to christmasland, a place where every night is Christmas eve and every day is Christmas.

1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 

It’s probably the most popular Christmas story ever, and I am sure that there is nobody who hasn’t heard of A Christmas Carol and the main character Ebeneezer Scrooge, with the name even becoming synonymous with somebody who doesn’t like Christmas. It is the story of a miserable old man who hates Christmas but after a visit from the three ghosts who show him his ways, he soon changes and finds as he celebrates Christmas with his clerk Bob Cratchit and his family that being cheerful does have it’s advantages.

 

 

Thanks for reading this post, if you enjoyed please share it with anyone else that you might think will enjoy it too, and please do like this post or leave a comment, it does mean a lot to me, and I hope that everyone has a safe and merry Christmas.  AJ