Christmas Books | Guy Portman's Blog

10 Books About Christmas

Dec 19 2014

I am not a Christmassy person. However, in the spirit of Christmas I am dedicating this week’s blog post to a Christmas related subject, namely Christmas books. Here are 10 books about Christmas from the last 170 years. They are presented in chronological order.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843) – This iconic novella is about a miser called Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge learns to embrace the joys of Christmas after being visited by the ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come.

The Admiral’s Caravan by Charles E. Carryl (1891) – This story’s protagonist is a girl called Dorothy. Dorothy goes on a journey with three wooden statues. On Christmas Eve the statues come alive. The book features pictures by Reginald Bathurst Birch.

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (1905) – This is a sentimental story with a moral lesson about giving presents. The subjects of the tale are an impoverished married couple who plan to buy secret Christmas gifts for each other.

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (1938) – Having invited his family for Christmas, millionaire Simeon Lee plays a sadistic game with them, which culminates in murder. It is left to Detective Hercule Poirot to sift through the evidence and solve the crime.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss (1957) – This illustrated children’s story written in rhyming verse is about a creature called The Grinch, who disguises himself as Santa in order to steal a family’s Christmas presents. The Grinch comes to embrace Christmas.

The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth (1975) – A De Havilland Vampire pilot is heading home on Christmas Eve when his aircraft suffers an electrical failure. He ends up being shepherded to a disused RAF dispersal field by a WWII fighter-bomber.

The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans (1993) – In this sentimental story a man called Richard finds a Christmas box in the attic of an elderly lady’s home. The letters in the box lead to Richard discovering the true meaning of Christmas.

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (2001) – This comedy novel features a couple called Luther and Nora Krank. The Kranks set out to ignore the Christmas furore. However a series of unforeseen events see their plans go awry.

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore (2004) – An angel called Raziel is sent to earth to grant the wish of a child. Raziel ends up accidentally raising zombies from their graves. The zombies attack the local town’s residents.

The Gift by Cecelia Ahern (2009) – This magical, fable-like Christmas story is about a successful executive who is frustrated that he has to spend more time at work than with his wife and two young children.

Happy Christmas.

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Christmas Book Stampede

Dec 20 2013

With approximately 14% of the year’s total book sales being made in the final four weeks of the year, the Christmas period is crucial for the publishing industry.

Today’s blog post looks at some of the titles expected to compete with my humorous tale of the unexpected, Charles Middleworth, for centre stage this festive period. Here in the UK, the bookies anticipate that the following three books will be found jammed into stockings and underneath Christmas trees in greater numbers than any other this year.

(Courtesy of Cogito Books)

In order they are:

1). Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

Comment: You know its Christmas when everywhere you turn a sport star/celebrity stares back at you from a shiny front cover, a beaming smile upon their countenance. This year the former Manchester United manager’s imaginatively titled memoir is expected to give the hairdryer treatment to all challengers (by mid-December it had already sold over 79,000 hardback copies).

2). Save With Jamie: Shop Smart, Cook Clever, Waste Less by Jamie Oliver

Comment: Middle age and an expanding girth has done nothing to dampen the nation’s appetite for everything Jamie. Could the pucker chef top the Christmas bestseller charts for the fourth year in a row?

3). Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy – Helen Fielding

Comment: Oh no not again, haven’t we all had enough Bridget Jones for one lifetime. Evidently I am in the minority on this.

The popularity of these three titles is not a big surprise, especially the inclusion of Jamie Oliver, whose annual Christmas cookbooks have become as predictable as a visit from Santa. Having featured in the top three Christmas bestsellers in the UK for seven of the last twelve years, to mention nothing of his endless festive period television exposure, it would come as no surprise in several thousand years time if historians studying early twenty-first century man concluded that Christmas was in fact a Jamie Oliver celebration day.

(Courtesy of ContentBox Blog)

Across the pond comedian and Twitter deity, Rob Delaney, is making headlines with the release of his first book, Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. The bizarre titled book is purportedly a comical account of the funny man’s struggles with alcoholism in his youth.

Whilst America has embraced Delaney with open arms, they have been less enamoured with former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin’s, Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas, in which the geography challenged hockey mom warns of the dangers to Christmas posed by seculars, whilst at the same time attempting to make a fortune out of it. The book could best be described as part theological statement, part recipe book. There is nothing I would less like to find in my stocking this year – with the possible exception of an incendiary device or David Hasselhoff’s album, The Night Before Christmas.

With some claiming that up to six million e-readers could be bought as presents this Christmas, vast quantities of ebooks will also be purchased. There seems little doubt that a surprise Christmas bestseller will be unearthed as a result. Here’s for hoping my humorous and insightful work of fiction, Charles Middleworth (£2.02/$3.29) will be one of them. Charles Middleworth is available from all regional Amazons in paperback and on Kindle.

Happy Christmas