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Round About the Christmas Tree: A Miscellany of Festive Stories
Round About the Christmas Tree is the perfect Christmas gift for booklovers, as all facets of the festive season are represented here in one gorgeous volume. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition is introduced by Ned Halley and features the classic, charming illustrations of Alice Ercle Hunt.This anthology reveals the inspiration Christmas gives so many writers, whether as a time for celebration, for family, or as a chance to remember those in hardship. There are heart-warming stories from Charles Dickens and E. Nesbit, comic fun from G. K. Chesterton and Saki, touching whimsy from Hans Christian Andersen, and even crimes to solve from Arthur Conan Doyle.
360 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 6, 2018
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Various
455k books1,340 followersVarious is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).
If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
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If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 19, 2023
This Christmas “miscellany” comprises stories and novel extracts ranging from the 18th to the early 20th century. There were five I had read before, the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, O.Henry’s The Gift of the Magi and Dostoevesky’s A Christmas Tree and a Wedding. The collection also includes Hans Christian Andersen’s The Fir Tree, and The Little Match Girl. I remember when I first read that story, in my youth. I was quite shocked by it then, but on the other hand it taught me something about life in the past.
Even leaving those aside, there was plenty in here to keep me going. There are two other stories that can be called fairy tales, L.Frank Baum’s A Kidnapped Santa Claus and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Snow-Image. A number of the pieces could be classed as humorous. Anthony Trollope’s Christmas at Thomson Hall features a married couple travelling to be with the wife’s family, but the lady in question suffers a series of unfortunate mishaps en route. E. Nesbit’s The Conscience-Pudding has a group of middle class children who are effectively left on their own at Christmas, with comic results. Thomas Hardy contributes The Thieves Who Couldn’t Stop Sneezing, in which a teenage boy is robbed by footpads on Christmas Eve, but achieves an unexpected and farcical revenge. All of these are amusing without being side-splitting. There’s also Bertie’s Christmas Eve, by Saki, again amusing enough although I personally prefer another of Saki’s Christmas stories, not featured here. The title piece is from W.M. Thackery, and has a more subtle humour, with surface bonhomie disguising a bit of a takedown of Christmas.
There are pieces from Washington Irving and J.M. Barrie, that are extracts from longer novels. These didn’t work so well for me as the ones actually written as short stories, perhaps because the extracts were removed from the context of the novels. Dickens contributes two Christmas “memories” from a child’s perspective. One is supposed to be autobiographical, but the Introduction casts doubt on its reliability. G.K. Chesterton offers a Father Brown story. It’s the first I’ve read and I wasn’t bowled over by it, but it may not be typical. Inevitably there are a couple of other morality tales, from Harriet Beecher Stowe and William Dean Howells (they sure liked long names in the 19th century). Louisa May Alcott has an entry called A Country Christmas, in which some sophisticated city folk spend Christmas with an elderly relative in rural Vermont. Personally, that Christmas offering was a little too sweet for my taste. By contrast, L.M Montgomery contributes two stories, A Christmas Inspiration, and Christmas at Red Butte. Both are good old sentimental Christmas stories, that manage to avoid crossing the line into being twee.
I might do one more Christmas book for this year.
Even leaving those aside, there was plenty in here to keep me going. There are two other stories that can be called fairy tales, L.Frank Baum’s A Kidnapped Santa Claus and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Snow-Image. A number of the pieces could be classed as humorous. Anthony Trollope’s Christmas at Thomson Hall features a married couple travelling to be with the wife’s family, but the lady in question suffers a series of unfortunate mishaps en route. E. Nesbit’s The Conscience-Pudding has a group of middle class children who are effectively left on their own at Christmas, with comic results. Thomas Hardy contributes The Thieves Who Couldn’t Stop Sneezing, in which a teenage boy is robbed by footpads on Christmas Eve, but achieves an unexpected and farcical revenge. All of these are amusing without being side-splitting. There’s also Bertie’s Christmas Eve, by Saki, again amusing enough although I personally prefer another of Saki’s Christmas stories, not featured here. The title piece is from W.M. Thackery, and has a more subtle humour, with surface bonhomie disguising a bit of a takedown of Christmas.
There are pieces from Washington Irving and J.M. Barrie, that are extracts from longer novels. These didn’t work so well for me as the ones actually written as short stories, perhaps because the extracts were removed from the context of the novels. Dickens contributes two Christmas “memories” from a child’s perspective. One is supposed to be autobiographical, but the Introduction casts doubt on its reliability. G.K. Chesterton offers a Father Brown story. It’s the first I’ve read and I wasn’t bowled over by it, but it may not be typical. Inevitably there are a couple of other morality tales, from Harriet Beecher Stowe and William Dean Howells (they sure liked long names in the 19th century). Louisa May Alcott has an entry called A Country Christmas, in which some sophisticated city folk spend Christmas with an elderly relative in rural Vermont. Personally, that Christmas offering was a little too sweet for my taste. By contrast, L.M Montgomery contributes two stories, A Christmas Inspiration, and Christmas at Red Butte. Both are good old sentimental Christmas stories, that manage to avoid crossing the line into being twee.
I might do one more Christmas book for this year.
December 6, 2021
A nice collection of short stories to get you in the Christmas mood and written by some well known authors.
Most were 3/4 stars so as its Christmas I have rounded up.
Most were 3/4 stars so as its Christmas I have rounded up.
October 22, 2021
A lot of these stories were rereads for me and I enjoyed many of the ones I hadn't read quite a bit.
CN: these come mostly from the late 19th/early 20th century and there are flashes of the usual period-typical racism, sexism, imperialism, classism, etc throughout. Most unpleasantly there are two unredacted uses of the n-word slur at the end of the E. Nesbit story.
CN: these come mostly from the late 19th/early 20th century and there are flashes of the usual period-typical racism, sexism, imperialism, classism, etc throughout. Most unpleasantly there are two unredacted uses of the n-word slur at the end of the E. Nesbit story.
December 18, 2022
A nice little collection of traditional/classic Christmas stories. Like all collections, some were better than others but overall I enjoyed half and didn’t really care for the other half.
March 3, 2024
3.5- I was able to skip some of the stories as I had already read them before. While some of the stories just don’t seem to fit, the rest are very heartwarming and a fun read for the festive season.
January 15, 2022
A lovely little treasury of classic British and American Christmas stories. Some overlap with other anthologies that I’ve read but also some tales that were completely new to me. A beautiful little book.
December 21, 2022
There were a few ok stories, not very happy ones either or very festive.
December 31, 2023
Most enjoyable read at the appropriate time of year, this was a fine and varied collection of period festive stories. And a reminder of how much Dickens did go on....
It's not just the wordiness (however worthy) of Dickens that makes some of the collection less than uplifting but the worthy and often seemingly rather accepting depictions of poverty.
It's not just the wordiness (however worthy) of Dickens that makes some of the collection less than uplifting but the worthy and often seemingly rather accepting depictions of poverty.
December 24, 2024
Lovely little edition, as ever with short stories I found them mixed in terms of quality but as they are from a variety of authors that's to be expected. I read them through December and generally enjoyed them.
December 9, 2019
This is a lovely collection of stories that really gets you in a Christmas mood.
December 26, 2023
3.5 rounded up.
December 31, 2019
Christmas short stories by well known authors. I read half of the book and will finish next Christmas. Happy New Year.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews