Monday 11 November 2013

Winter and Festive Reading


If you've seen my post on my Personal Blog then you'll know that to me, it's pretty much Christmas now! To some of you this might seem really strange if you are still counting down to Thanksgiving or Hanukkah for example but here in the UK we don't celebrate Thanksgiving and I'm personally not religious so for a lot of people, including myself after Bonfire Night- It's Christmas! Commence the battle of "I really want to sing insert Christmas song here but is that allowed yet? Will I get three years of bad luck?" Pretty much everyday from November 5th. So in that interest, clearly I need to get my act together and get started on reading or re-reading some festive or wintery books!


The Winter Ghosts- Kate Moss

"In the winter of 1928, still seeking some kind of resolution to the horrors of World War I, Freddie is traveling through the beautiful but forbidding French Pyrenees. During a snowstorm, his car spins off the mountain road. Dazed, he stumbles through the woods, emerging in a tiny village, where he finds an inn to wait out the blizzard. There he meets Fabrissa, a lovely young woman also mourning a lost generation.
Over the course of one night, Fabrissa and Freddie share their stories. By the time dawn breaks, Freddie will have unearthed a tragic, centuries-old mystery, and discovered his own role in the life of this remote town."

I read this last year in July (I know guys I know) its a really beautiful book set in the winter of 1928 following a young man called Freddie who has returned from war and is traveling through the forbidding French Pyrenees. The best thing about the book in my memory was the illustrations! They are so pretty and make you think of being little and reading picture books *reminisces*. The story also has beautiful descriptions it really is lovely. Even if you're not a massive fan of ghost stories I would give this a go it's really wonderful winter reading. I would really love to give her Languedoc series a read too.

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Dash and Lilly's Book of Dares- Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions
?
Someone recommended this too me as a winter/ Christmassy book (once again I was going to read it in July) and it's been under by radar for a little while now because of it being said to be similar to the style and genre of John Green's writing which naturally appealed to me straight away! Also it sounds like a really cute winter romance and everyone wants to share the love at Christmas right?

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Let it Snow- John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle
"An ill-timed storm on Christmas Eve
buries the residents of Gracetown under multiple feet of snow and causes quite a bit of chaos. One brave soul ventures out into the storm from her stranded train and sets off a chain of events that will change quite a few lives. Over the next three days one girl takes a risky shortcut with an adorable stranger, three friends set out to win a race to the Waffle House ( and the hash brown spoils), and the fate of a teacup pig falls into the hands of a lovesick barista."

It's a series of Christmas short stories and one of which is by John Green- what more is there to say here?

Peter Pan
Peter Pan- J.M. Barrie
"The boy who refuses to grow up teaches Wendy and her younger brothers how to fly. Then it's off to magical Neverneverland for adventures with mermaids, Indians, and wicked Captain Hook and his pirate crew.  "

Because its nearly Panto season and Peter pan is a Pantomime classic. Then of course there's the whole London element and the idea of cold winters and of course the fact that when I last went to London it was with school near Christmas and the decorations in Covent Garden and the tree in Trafalgar square  next to the Olympic countdown (it was 2011) it was all so beautiful! Of course Christmas in Nottingham is lovely too with the German Market and Victoria Centre tree and the Shop window displays but there's something about seeing Christmas somewhere new- this year I'm going to Belgium in December which is supposed to be beautiful if a bit nippy. Peter Pan is of course a children's classic that I've been wanting to read for a while now!

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Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
"Cathy is a beautiful and willful young woman torn between her soft-hearted husband and Heathcliff, the passionate and resentful man who has loved her since childhood. The power of their bond creates a maelstrom of cruelty and violence which will leave one of them dead and cast a shadow over the lives of their children. Emily BrontĂ«’s novel is a stunningly original and shocking exploration of obsessive passion."

Now I've heard that this can be a bit of a killer in terms of length and pace but its a classic set in "ye cold moors of Yorkshire" so now seems like the time of year to give this classic a go!

What do you want to read in the run up to Christmas? Leave your Top 5 in the comments!

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