The Ultimate Christmas Collection

by Louisa May Alcott, James Allen, Hans Christian Andersen

If you were looking for the definitive Christmas anthology, consider yourself lucky, because you just found it!

This book is everything you want Christmas to be — loving, warm and celebratory. Timeless and adorable, beautifully designed, "The Big Book of Christmas" is a great big stocky book — stuffed with novels, novellas, short stories, poems, carols and songs.

Inside you'll find:

· Novels, novellas and short stories from Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Hans Christian Andersen, O. Henry, Lucy Maud Montgomery, E. T. A. Hoffmann, L. Frank Baum, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Henry Van Dyke, Oscar Wilde, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anton Chekhov and many more!
· Poems, carols and songs from John Milton, Clement Clarke Moore, William Blake, W. B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, H. P. Lovecraft, George MacDonald, Emily Dickinson and many more!

Genres: Christmas, Anthologies, Fiction, Holiday, Poetry

3089 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 29, 2020

About the author

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May Alcott and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many well-known intellectuals of the day, including Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Alcott's family suffered from financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used pen names such as A.M. Barnard, under which she wrote lurid short stories and sensation novels for adults that focused on passion and revenge.
Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. It has been adapted for stage plays, films, and television many times.
Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She also spent her life active in reform movements such as temperance and women's suffrage. She died from a stroke in Boston on March 6, 1888, just two days after her father's death.

Reviews

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂]

With a rare (for me!) bit of forethought I picked this Kindle up in August when it was free.

Looks like it has all the titles I need for Christmas Reads with the Retro Reads group - & I may read a couple of extras!

Christmas by Injunction by O. Henry
Looked like this tale would be sweet & sentimental, but Henry put his own twist on it! Clever writing. 3★

The Set of Poe by George Ade The collection is alphabetical & this was the first one. A little predictable but still very sweet & charming. 4★

The Dead by James Joyce I have never read any James Joyce and this was recommended as one of his most accessible pieces of writing. In Retro Reads, Tadiana has linked to some studies for all of the symbolism. I didn't notice any of the symbolism, but still found this a very engaging story and the conclusion quite shattered me. I will reread this story looking for more depth. 5★

The Romance of the Christmas Card by Kate Douglas Wiggin Isn't this cover charming and wholesome and Oh So Christmassy? What a lovely satisfying read this was, even though the villagers' values are from a different galaxy than mine. I was totally enchanted, although I do feel that David was luckier than he deserved. I'm going to go with the feels and give this one 5★!

I'm sure I can sneak in a Louisa May Alcott before Christmas as well!

Which I did.

A Country Christmas by Louisa May Alcott I liked the letter at the start and some of descriptions were beautiful and all, but this didn't totally click for me. Maybe because I found The Romance of the Christmas Card so perfect - maybe it is one too many of these stories with old values - Louisa May Alcott certainly isn't subtle! 3★

December 2022. We are having our annual Christmas Short Story read over at Retro Reads. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... Do come and join us! 🎅🤶😊

This week's read is A Christmas Mistake by the wonderful L.M. Montgomery. It has been too long since I have read any of her works.

I had tears in my eyes, this story was so sweet & touching! This sweet, old fashioned story is exactly what I was in the mood for! 5★

I am going to read a few stories by myself.

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, was first published in 1845, so to old for Retro Reads. Sweetly touching, but with a strong vein of reality running through it. Tears in my eyes again. 5★

At Christmas Time by Anton Chekhov (1900) A Retro Reads selection. This is indeed a quick read - took me two minutes at the most.

& this was indeed wonderful & moved me to tears (view spoiler)

Chekhov does indeed remind me strongly of Katherine Mansfield (or others may say Katherine Mansfield reminds them of Chekov!) Wonderful way with words. 5★

Little Bun Rabbit by L. Frank Baum (1897) Aimed at very small children & none the worse for that! True Christmas magic & I would recommend it for a family Christmas Eve read. 4★

& now for some poetry!

Starting with two by William Blake.

First A Cradle Song (1789) Is this about Baby Jesus? Just appears to be about a sleeping baby. Lovely poem. 5★
The Lamb Religious, but again not particularly about Christmas. Pleasant enough 3.5★

& finally, a poem definitely about Christmas.

Music on Christmas Morning by Anne Brontë. So beautiful & inspiring. 5★

Little Roger's Night in the Church by Susan Coolidge (1874) This was such a sweet, old fashioned tale about a young boy's Christmas adventure that could have gone horribly wrong. Pure magic.5★

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle. As always, I just love reading Holmes showing off showing his powers of deduction to a bewildered Watson! This was for me quite a bewildering mystery, but it all becomes clear in the end. 4★

Little Becky's Christmas by Louisa May Alcott (1895) LMA died in 1888, so either the date is wrong or this short story was published posthumously. Sweet, sentimental & a little weird - but so are fairytales 3★

& this ends this year's Christmas reads!

We aren't doing Christmas Short Stories at Retro Reads this year, but I thought I would put this Christmas Chunkster back on my Kindle & sample one or two. I'm most likely to read ones pre 1900, which would be too early for the Retro Reads Group.

Master Sandy's Snapdragon by Elbridge S. Brooks. A historical short story. Glad to have the game of Snapdragon explained to me (sounds very painful!) but I'm confused by the history. Tudor? Stuart? Honestly not sure. I liked the two young princes though so 3★

[Rebecca Hutchinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christmas story books

Ok book lots of Christmas stories and poems enjoy able to read downside they all from 1900s but I enjoyed reading the stories

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

What can I say? If you like Louisa May Alcott you will like this book. She has an easy going style. I thought it was going to be a Christmas book by her, and although she does her share of story telling, there are other authors telling their tales too. It's a big book. There are poems, songs, novellas (not my favorite) and selections from maybe 100 or more authors. Some were good and some were just Ok but still, it was an enjoyable book. I did not finish though. It was too long for me.

[Monical · Rating 2 out of 5]

I though this would be an interesting holiday book. The only interesting thing I got from it was that Louisa May Alcott re-used some of her Christmas themes. Many of the other writings from famous people were disappointingly boring. Too bad; I re-read "A Christmas Carol" last year and enjoyed it a lot. Guess I'll go watch "Its a Wonderful Life" instead!

[Peni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please see individual stories for review.

[Sarah]

some lovely stories by many famous authors really got me into the mood for christmas - and so many i didnt manage them all in one christmas so plenty to return to year after year

[Tracy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This collection is huge. So many shorts to choose from.

[Barbara Baldwin]

Christmas storirs

A variety of Christmas stories from times past. A great, entertaining , collection of stories and poems. I enjoyed the stories most of all.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one you will Love with all the storys.

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only read The Story of the Year by Hans Christian Andersent so far.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cuppa