10 best Christmas books of all time

November 30, 5:45 PMBook ExaminerMichelle Kerns

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As if Christmas weren't fun enough already with parties, decorations, presents, and special music, Christmas also offers a chance to read some of the most touching and inspirational books ever written. Celebrate the season this year by sharing some of these incredible holiday stories with your family and friends.

 

1. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Not only do I think that this book is the best thing Charles Dickens ever wrote, I think it is one of the greatest novels of all time as well as being the definitive story of Christmas. Dickens manages in less than one hundred pages to encapsulate one of the most powerful stories of mankind -- the ability of anyone, no matter how bad, to change their life if they really want to. It's thought-provoking, well-written, emotional, and humorous: an absolute gem of a novel. If you're familiar with the story but have never read it, I would really encourage you to give it a go this Christmas season. I read it, listen to an audiobook production, and watch the movie starring Patrick Stewart every year and cry my eyes out each time. 

 

2. The Gift of the Magi - O. Henry

Short and sweet, this little story about a husband and wife who sacrifice their most beloved possessions to buy each other a Christmas gift is absolute perfection. I warn you, however, if you've never read it before, have a box of tissues on hand.

 

3. The Night Before Christmas - Clement Clarke Moore, illustrated by Tasha Tudor

While there are more book versions of this classic holiday poem than candy canes at Walmart, this version delicately illustrated by Tasha Tudor is, in my opinion, the very best.  

 

4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Dr. Seuss

What a classic! Don't let this holiday season go by without reading this book to the young ones in your family. It never ceases to amaze me how Dr. Seuss was able to so perfectly capture an emotion with his quirky rhymes and whimsical drawings. The real meaning of Christmas shines through the pages as loud and clear as the Whos singing in Whoville without any presents at all.

 

 5. Village Christmas - Miss Read

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2009 is to introduce as many American readers as I can to the delightful British author Miss Read and her series of books about the small English villages of Thrush Green and Fairacre. Talk about comfort reading! I read these books whenever I feel like life is getting a little too much and they are better than medicine. Village Christmas focuses on a modern young family who moves to the village of Fairacre shortly before Christmas. They don't exactly fit in, but when they need help on Christmas day, the members of the village are reminded of what Christmas -- and the Christmas spirit -- is really all about. Well-written, funny, and as cozy as a cup of tea in bed.

 

6. The Tailor of Gloucestor - Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter wrote a whole lot more than The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and this delightful little tale of a tailor who becomes too ill to complete the mayor's wedding coat by Christmas morning and receives assistance from some unexpected helpers is a gem. The movie version of The Tailor of Gloucestor (a Good Times Video production) is simply outstanding.

 

7. A Child's Christmas in Wales - Dylan Thomas

A lyrical look at Christmas past. Everything Dylan Thomas wrote sounds as beautiful as his poetry.

 

8. E.T.A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker

What is Christmas without the Nutcracker?! There are a million and one versions of this tale, but E.T.A. Hoffmann's, with illustrations by the great Maurice Sendak, is the best.

 

9. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus - Francis P. Church

Mr. Church's response to eight-year old Virginia O'Hanlon in 1897 is still as fresh and meaningful today as it was then. A must read every Christmas.

 

10. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - Barbara Robinson

What a book! A great read and more than a little humbling -- and isn't that what Christmas is all about?