Throwback Thursday - Christmas Stories

 

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never to fond of Books.

It's the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven't seen the "New Releases" shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may or not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don't have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don't have a blog at all you can use the comments to tell us about a book your remember fondly.

 

My Throwback this week is my two favorite Christmas stories. Neither should be a big surprise as they are both classics and both emphasize the spirit of the season in a relatively secular way. I am speaking, of course, about Dickens' A Christmas Carol and O Henry's Gift of the Magi.

Dickens story is everywhere this time of year - TV, theater, radio, etc. The story is justifiably a classic. However, to me, Henry's story is the stronger since it has no reliance on external forces (ghosts) to drive its message. The selfless giving is a lesson that is timeless.

Honorable mention goes to Jan Brett's The Mitten, a children's tale that also captures the spirit of the season.

What do you think?

Feature and Follow - Most Emotional Scene

Welllll, I don't rightly know.

There is the entire story of To Build a Fire by Jack London. I hung on every word, knowing the intensity of the environment and the direness of the predicament painted by London.

I remember crying, at about the age of 10, when I read The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, though I no longer remember the details of the story. I was a tough kid, didn't cry much but that story got to me.

Then there is the description by John Toland in Battle: the Story of the Bulge of the Malmedy Massacre. That just brings home the baseness that men can sink to during war.

Finally, there is the part of Dickens' Oliver Twist where Oliver finally learns of his heritage. For me, as one of the first adult-type fairy tale happy endings I read, it sticks in my mind with that warm fuzzy feeling one often hears about but too infrequently actually experiences.

What do you think?