Books to Read in December / A Cosy Christmas Reading List
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- čas přidán 5. 07. 2024
- Hello! In today's video, I'm sharing a recommended reading list for December, with lots of fabulous festive reads. What are you planning to read in December? Do you have a favourite Christmas read?
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LINKS:
(Affiliate links used for Blackwells)
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis: tinyurl.com/3p7rmx3v
The King and the Christmas Tree by A N Wilson: tinyurl.com/2p8438mu
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan: tinyurl.com/2fzrztx4
A Snowfall of Silver by Laura Wood: tinyurl.com/53ay3spj
Fifty Words for Snow by Nancy Campbell (press copy); tinyurl.com/55n8ues6
Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh: tinyurl.com/2p9bk9c4
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle: tinyurl.com/4h3tfb45
At Christmas We Feast by Annie Gray: tinyurl.com/ycx68p7e
The Country Child by Alison Uttley: tinyurl.com/568xyxxv
Stories for Christmas by Alison Uttley (out of print):
Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
Christmas at Nettleford by Malcolm Saville (out of print)
No Holly for Miss Quinn by Miss Read (out of print)
A Village Christmas by Miss Read (out of print)
The Christmas Mouse by Miss Read (out of print)
I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge (out of print)
The Thirteen Days of Christmas of Jenny Overton: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
Christmas Poems by Carol Ann Duffy: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...
OTHER VIDEOS MENTIONED:
Christmas in Narnia at Castle Howard: • #Vlogmas ~ Christmas a...
Winter Solstice Book Club Discussion: • December Book Club | W...
Cosy Christmas Books, Part 1: • My Cosy Book Recommend...
Cosy Christmas Books, Part 2: • My Cosy Book Recommend...
Cosy Christmas Anthologies: • Cosy Christmas Books: ... - Zábava
With all the difficulties we are currently facing in our world, I've been feeling the need to make all my reading and movie viewing comforting and uplifting. I'm finding that is just what my heart and my soul have been craving. "Winter Solstice" is a gem! I recently read it for the first time. Thank you for today's recommendations - there are several I will be looking for in the library.
Nancy, that is exactly how I feel, too ! I also decided to only spend my time with things, that calm me down and give me a positive outlook on life. I finished Winter Solstice yesterday and can't emphasize enough, what a wonderful soul- soothing read it is. Now it's Hercule Poroit's turn :o). Miranda and Donna, thank you for making these chaotic crazy times so much more cozy with your beautiful videos and thoughtful book recommendations. Seasonal reading totally changed my reading life and I love it so much! Greetings from Stuttgart / Germany
I completely agree
Thanks so much for your lovely comment, Nancy! I’m so glad you enjoyed Winter Solstice ❤️
There is no video of yours in which I do not add one or more books of your recommendations in my notebook, thank you for discovering so many fantastic readings so close to my own taste Miranda xxx
I have just finished Small Things Like These and I can agree it is a fantastic christmas book
Lovely video! The Christmas Mouse by Miss Read is one of my all time favorites to read at Christmas as well as No Holly for Miss Quinn! My mother and I watch your videos together as we both love books and reading. Merry Christmas from Missouri USA!
🇸🇯 Started reading "Winter solstice". A good winter read. In front of the fire with a cup of tea in the norse winter. Tusen takk!
Lovely recommendations, I really like the look of the larger format Carol Ann Duffy Christmas poems. I have often given the small books as gifts, and they are very cute, but for actual reading pleasure I like the thought of the larger edition.
I am also currently reading Stories for Christmas as a companion read with The Country Child, for the CBC, and I think the stories are quite enchanting.
You and your lovely Mum introduced me to Rosamunde Pilcher with Winter Solstice last year, and I hope to re-read it again this December. It is such an evocative and as you say, hopeful book.
Love the audiobooks of Miss Read's Christmas stories too.
So many wonderful festive reads, there are not enough hours in the day to read all I would wish to!
Thank you for another informative and very enjoyable video Miranda x
Wonderful selection Miranda. I'm also re-reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. My favourite scene is the one in the beavers home. Such a cosy scene. Always makes me hungry! I'm hoping to get a copy of the Carol Ann Duffy Christmas poetry book. Have a lovely week ❤️.
I am giving the book The King and the Christmas Tree to my Norwegian American Mom and plan to read it to her while we share tea. I knew nothing of this incident described in the book and quite sure my Mom did not know as well, so looking forward to sharing this book. My Mom is in an assisted living home with limited physical abilities but still is alert and oruented. I likely will need to get several of your book recommendations even though the books coming from Blackwell are arriving daily! Still, so many beautiful books🌲🌲
I have downloaded Winter Solstice as an addition to my seasonal reads alongside Miss Read and Little Women. I have just re read Jan Karon’s “Shepherds Abiding” from her Mitford series. I discovered her on a visit to the States in 2004 and love these gentle and funny books.
Miranda, are you aware of Enya's two songs based on Miss Read? One of them is No Holly for Miss Quinn, so I thought it'd be worth a mention. The other is Miss Clare Remembers, which is even better IMO. Her music is ideal for relaxing or writing, so give them a shot sometime if you haven't heard them before! 🙂
Yes, I like those too! Thank you!
Ohhh, didn't know that !! Thank you for the informations.
Thank you, this is very inspiring! I love to read Swedish author Astrid Lindgren's book "Brenda Brave Helps Grandmother", (Kajsa Kavat Hjälper Mormor" 1950, beautifully illustrated by Ilon Wikland) about an orphan girl in some little Swedish town in the late 1800s who lives with a kind old lady she calls her grandmother and what happens when that grandmother becomes ill just before Christmas. Little Kajsa/Brenda has to do all the cooking and cleaning in their small house and many other things. It is absolutely adorable! I often reread "The Blue Carbuncle" too this time of year and a lovely little children's book I had for ages about a little gray bunny by Alison Uttley (illustrated by Margaret Tempest. I love the illustrations!!!). And several more rereads as well. And the Holy Bible, Luke 2.
Your Christmas videos have become my go-to for festive reading - thank you so much for the effort you put in to compiling these recommendations, it is really appreciated!
I'm listening to the sound recording of The Christmas Mouse and No Holly for Miss Quinn. I do each year and they are so well done. Gwen Watford is the best narrator.
What a beautiful collection. I was scribbling the titles in my notebook as you were speaking. I collect American childrens series books and always turn to my faithful copy of Nancy Drew, Mystery at the Ski Jump, when the weather turns snowy. I've also just spent quarter of an hour with Milly Molly Mandy goes Sledging. Love a vintage sleuth, so The Christmas Card Crime is just my cup of tea.
I don't read many Christmas-themed books, but you may have changed my mind! Small Things Like These and A Snowfall of Silver sound so lovely, added them to my TBR.
Thank you for your recommendations, as always! I love a bit of Sherlock Holmes at Christmas too... I also quite like to pick up The Wolves of Willoughby Chase because I always associate it with snow and winter :) That cover of 'Stories for Christmas' is adorable
Thank you for the recommendation of "No Holly for Miss Quinn". It was comforting to read it this Christmas. It was special to have a heroine like Miss Quinn. Having no own children by choice, I could really feel with this "spinster" and "aunt", who loves her life.
Greetings from the north of Germany.
Thank you for all your recommendations. I usually begin my reading with A Christmas Carol, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Little Women. Your background is very festive!! xo
Lovely choices!
I like The Willows in Winter, that is, the winter adventures of The Wind in the Willows. It’s quite a while since I read it so I can’t remember what happens apart from that it begins with Mole going out in the snow to look for someone and not making it back himself.
My favorites seem to be your favorites, Miranda...Winter Solstice, Miss Read, Alison Uttley. I'm looking forward to your discussion of The Country Child on her birthday next week. I do also love Lanterns in the Snow by Susan Hill and Becky's Christmas by Tasha Tudor, amongst others too numerous to mention! I've been sharing your videos with my online community and we are all so warmed by them. Thank you. xo
Your channel is one of my favorite and my goto for literary fiction
That’s very kind! Thank you! 😊❤️
Mnay thanks Miranda for the joy that your insight into the world of bibliography and literature has given me .Your channel really cheers me up in this strangest of times.If I don't mention it in time, may I wish both you and your Mother the very best for Christmas.
Thank you Miranda for lovely recommendations. I might reread A Christmas Carol. 🎄
I went secondhand book shopping today and got A Treasury of Christmas Stories which includes The Fairy Ship by Alison Uttley so I'm going to read a couple of stories each day.
I'm loving watching your Christmas videos (both new and old) 🎄
I read Little Grey Men and Down The Bright Stream to my child and now that she’s grown we read them to each other. Probably they are not Christmas books as such but they are definitely a part of our days leading up to the holidays. Thank you so much for more lovely books to read!
So many great recommendations.
What's fun for me this time is that I have so many of these books mentioned. I love Miss Reads books so much. Also E. Goudge and C.S. Lewis. But I still can add some more to my list. I read Paul Gallico's book Miracle in the Wilderness and The Snow Goose every year. Right now I'm reading Christmas by the Books by Anne Marie Ryan. It's set in a bookstore in an English village. Just started it. Again, thank you Miranda for your recommendations. Looking forward to next week's discussion on The Country Child. My best holiday wishes to you and your mother. 👍💕🎄📚
Hello Miranda, what a fun and cosy December reading list you have curated. Thank you so much for your recommendation in a previous video to visit Kemps in beautiful Malton, it was absolutely delightful and I managed to pick up a fresh, new copy of one of my favourite Christmas reads, Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester, because I am knitting a beautiful pair of socks in a yarn called 'no more twist' which came with a matching project bag and it feels so festive to have the book alongside to read. Enjoy your Christmas reading, Teresa 📚🌲
So glad you enjoyed Kemps too, Teresa!
Lovely recommendations as usual, Miranda! I'm currently reading Winter Solstice and looking forward to Miss Read's Christmas at Fairacre, which I just borrowed from the library. Your sweater is beautiful. It looks like it could be Shetland cockleshell lace, but I could be wrong, either way, it's gorgeous! ❤️
Thanks so much! Enjoy your festive reading ❤️📚
Great recommedation beautiful books👌🏾❤️
So many awesome things recommendations here, they all sound good. I didn’t know about the Christmas tree from Norway until this month when I read a book called A Day in December which is a fiction book about journalists going on a promotional tour for the choosing of the tree. My favourite Christmas books to re read are of course A Christmas Carol and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
I love how Christmas books add to the seasonal build up, especially reading with tea near the tree, with the fairy lights on a dark afternoon. I am really enjoying A Country Child by Alison Uttley, such beautiful writing covering such breadth if experience with realism and imagination entwined so skilfully. I look forward to the discussion. I'm also reading Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford and the Folio Christmas anthology.
Thank you for this video!
Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher and A Week in Winter by Marcia Willett are my favorite December rereads.
Hi Miranda! Great recommendations for December! Have a great week!
I live in the US and look to England for Christmas books that go beyond the mushy romances that American writers churn out endlessly. I just ordered a copy of The Lion, Witch and a Wardrobe after listening to Once Upon a Wardrobe. I have given my copy away. I just read Small Things Like These. I just started The King and the Christmas Tree which I ordered from Blackwells. I've read a few on your list but have spotted several that I will try to track down. Thank you!
I always find so many books from these videos that I want to read, so many I haven’t heard of before but now can’t imagine not having them in my life. And I also enjoyed the peeks of your beautifully decorated book shelf. Thank you Miranda❤️💚🎄
Lovely recommendations. My favourite Christmas reads are Winter Solstice (which I've just finished reading again), and thinking I really must get a new copy as mine is falling apart! A Christmas Carol. I also LOVE watching the DVD of Muppets Christmas Carol. Other books are Poirot and I've also just finished, 13 Days of Christmas which really made me laugh plus Little Grey Rabbit's Christmas (for my inner child), Village Christmas by Miss Read and any and all Christmas related cookery and crafting books! Wonderful.
Thank you Miranda, I did find a copy of I Saw Three Ships online and ordered it as I am a fan of Elizabeth Goudge. I ordered A Snowfall of Silver for a Christmas gift. I loved reading Winter Solstice with you and your mom last year and am enjoying the Country Child this year. Thanks again!
Another great list! Thank you! You’ve reminded me to revisit my Miss Read Christmas books and check out some new titles as well.
I just discovered this channel, it’s fantastic! As an avid reader, I am definitely looking forward to try some of the book recommendations.
Hey Miranda, 😊 I love all of these recommendations ESPECIALLY......”Winter Solstice” it quickly became one of my favorite books I’ve ever read (so far) The Whole concept of it makes me feel cozy and ready for Christmas minus the sad beginning....tell Donna I said hello 🥰 and that Sweater is Beautiful 💕
Wonderful recommendations ...find some for my wishlist 📚🎄📚
Hello Miranda. What a nice list of books!!! I've just finished reading 84 Charing Cross Road and I had such a lovely time. Thank you soooo much for recommending it. Can't thank you enough. Hope you make more Christmas videos like this one because they make me so well ❤
I loved your selections Miranda! Winter Solstice is also a favourite of mine to read this month, and I also loved Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child when I read it a couple of years ago and keep wanting to read it again.... If only I had the time and could read as quickly as you!!
A Country House Christmas by Phyllis Elinor Sandeman
On That Night by Elizabeth Yates and A Long Christmas by Ruth Sawyer are my favorites for Christmas among many oth
I just finished the Claire Keegan novel - it is absolute perfection.
Christmas on Jane Street....based on true folks/story of VT Christmas tree seller setting up in Greenwich village in NYC every year, camping streetside with his family in a van. This year his tomboy sidekick daughter wants to break the mold go to the Nutcracker. Small comfy sized book, very readable and full of poignant wisdom.
I have quite a few of the books that you also like to re-read e.g Miss Quinn and Nettleford. Always a delight listening to your review of seasonal books 📚 🥰
I’m still catching up on all your lovely vlogs and I can’t wait. So happy to say I have been reading Winter Solstice and I’m savouring every page, it’s so heartwarming and I love the way Rosamunde Pilcher writes. Thank you for all the recommendations. Amazing as usual :-)
It seems the Christmas tree sent by Norway for some reason wasn’t in good shape this year. I saw on Twitter lots of jokes if Norway is upset with Britain for some reason 😃
The Vanderbeekers of 141St sounds quite interesting. I am currently enjoying The Country Child, the fertile imagination of a child!
This is a delightful list. I love the Vanderbeekers! It's a wonderful series. I forgot the first one is set at Christmas. I love No Holly For Miss Quinn, too! I am so looking forward to my re-read of it. At Christmas We Feast sounds like so much fun!
Hi Miranda. I love the way you describe scenes and or characters from the books you read. It makes me want to pick them all up even if they are not always my style. One of the books I love to re-read each year is one I found at a library sale. It is A Christmas Card by Paul Theroux. "Lost in a New England snowstorm as they journey toward their new home, two small boys, and their parents find shelter with a mysterious old man. By morning he has vanished, leaving behind only a card, which in it's magical way guides the family to a Christmas celebration of a very special meaning for them all." I just love it! It's so scenic, wintery, and magical. It's a very short read at 84 pages. It is also illustrated by John Lawrence.
That is a lovely one too!
I will definitely reread The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe this Christmas, also already have several of your other recommendations from other vlogs waiting on the shelf, Georgette Heyer's Snowdrift and other stories, Christmas at Fairacre and Dickens at Christmas. Last year I tracked down a copy of Christmas at Nettleford and will reread that again this year. Plus, I always like to reread Jo of the Chalet School where they spend Christmas in Innsbruck. I have A Sky Painted Gold aslo waiting to be read but I think that A Snowfall of Silver will have to wait until next year - I have ordered far too many books recently! I'm currently reading Mistletoe and Murder, another of your recommendations, which I am enjoying. I'm sure some of the others on this list will find their way into my Abe Books / Blackwells shopping carts!
Fantastic recommendations, one can see how much you like the holiday season 🎅 thank you for a very relaxing half hour !
Ah! You just made me buy 5 books! And I can’t wait to delve in this holiday season! 🎄
I`ve just listened to Winter Solstice as an audio book, sadly there were numbered chapters rather than dates which would of made it even more enjoyable !
Miranda- This is such a lovely selection! How can I choose just one?😂 I was wondering if you had any videos that were focused on just poetry? I checked the playlists hoping there would be one. I love lyrical style writing and poems and I'm hoping to find a new treasure. 💗 I hope you and your Mom are having a wonderful Holiday season🍷🍪
Thanks so much! I did do a video on some favourite poetry anthologies here: czcams.com/video/pDAfvxPHkSE/video.html There is also a Christmas specific one here: czcams.com/video/zvsnqyLya1o/video.html xxx
@@MirandaMills I must have missed them 😅 during my search. Thank you so much for linking these! ❤️🎄
Hi Miranda. Does one need to read the Miss Read Fairacre books in order? Thank you.
Not if you wish to dip into the Christmas books seasonally, but, for the rest, I think they’re far more enjoyable read in order.
wow, you wallpaper is stunning! what is it? I would love to get it for my studio... can you please help with the name of it?
It was hand painted many years ago so not available I’m afraid.
@@MirandaMills ah, it's mural, thank you for answer. I love yellow background color choice. So warm.
Вкуснотища подъехала :)
I have downloaded Winter Solstice as an addition to my seasonal reads alongside Miss Read and Little Women. I have just re read Jan Karon’s “Shepherds Abiding” from her Mitford series. I discovered her on a visit to the States in 2004 and love these gentle and funny books.