The Faber Book of Christmas: with Liberty of London

by Simon Rae (Editor)

If the most wonderful time of year is enough to plunge you into a gloom, look no further. This collection of spirited stories and vibrant poetry will brighten your mood as it brings together Charles Dickens and Philip Larkin, W.H. Auden and Wendy Cope, Jilly Cooper, and Dylan Thomas. From tales of caroling and snatched mistletoe kisses to "The Worst Christmas Dinner, Ever", there's something here to amuse and interest Christmas lovers, grinches, and everyone in between.

Genres: Christmas, Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 3, 1998

About the author

Simon Rae is a British poet, broadcaster, biographer and playwright who runs the Top Edge Productions theatre company. He won the Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition in 1999 and has also been awarded an Eric Gregory Award and a Southern Arts Literature Bursary and held Royal Literary Fund fellowships at Oxford Brookes and Warwick Universities. His play Grass won a Fringe Highlight award in 2002.

Reviews

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of Christmas stories and poems. The book is divided in chapters that have a theme such as 'tree', 'presents', or 'family'. The stories and poems in every chapter are broadly centred on these themes.
The editor writes in the introduction that he tried to add stories and poems that celebrate Christmas and those that are less in favour of Christmas. I think the editor succeeded in this and created a balanced book with a wide variety of stories about Christmas. Some of the final chapters such as 'In Extremis' and 'Prison' contain quite heavy stories about Christmas under extreme or odd circumstances. Some left me feeling rather shaken. However, do not let this put you off picking up this book. The addition of these stories and others give a good representation of the different ways we celebrate Christmas, showing the feast as multifaceted and subject to change given the circumstances.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

As all compilations are, this is a pick and mix of variable quality and interest.
The editor has, under different themes for each chapter, selected passages, essays, poems, reports, fact and fiction from all sorts of writings from the distant past to the relative present.
Some will interest you, some will not. I found far more of interest than those that didn’t interest me, though I did find some selections an odd choice, especially as some numbered quite a few pages when the point here is to just give a flavour of themes.
It’s the sort of book you will pick up and read from over a period of weeks, which I did in December, but not one to sit down and read cover to cover.
Recommended for some festive spirit.

[Snorki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A broad collection of extracts from writing about Christmas, from the pre-Christmas origins of today’s festivals through more traditional topics (gospels and carols) and classic literature (A Christmas Carol, The Tailor of Gloucester) to more modern stories and poems. The material is collected into chapters of different subjects, again with some variety from the expected categories of food and presents to slightly less expected ones like Christmas at sea, or war. It is an interesting collection, but inevitably perhaps, some subjects and extracts are more interesting than others.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why I love books like this. There is just something about them that I relate to. I do wish the author would have put the dates next to the story. I like to know the time period I am reading about. It wouldn't have taken up as much space as he said.

[Susannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this anthology. It is a really good mix of poetry, fiction, memoirs, diaries, letters, songs. I would recommend this and the new cover of this Liberty edition is also beautiful.

[Jan Duthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely book to dip into over the festive period. A lovely mix with something for everyone to enjoy when you snatch a moment of peace.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not going to lie, some of these stories and extracts are very boring but the rest is full of wonderful gems and in such a beautiful package, who can argue?!

[Jean-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the one book that should sit squished next to the eggnog and the Christmas tchotchkes. I bought it at Hatchard's in London years ago, mostly because the cover (not the one you see here) was spare and beautiful, but I have ended up reading many of the stories in the book. This is not your typical Christmas tome: no forced march here through artificial gaiety and another recipe for fudge. The selections are divided into chapters that are as eclectic as the stories: carols, war, food, in extremis, etc. If you can, buy the hardcover on alibris or ebay; it's a keeper.