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Christmas reading
Dec. 24th, 2020 07:47 pmFinal checks on my Yuletide fics are done! Not long now...
Besides that, today I have made slightly haphazard plans for the dinner I'm cooking tomorrow, listened to the carols from King's College on the radio (beautiful as ever) and I've been reading some festive books from favourite authors.
Christ Legends by Selma Lagerlöf (1904; translated by Velma Swanston Howard, 1908). A collection of short folktale-style stories about the life of Jesus—the first few stories are set around the Nativity, then there are some from later on. They're written with the same lovely fairytale-ish style as much of Lagerlöf's writing, and it works really well here—the imagery and style of folk-Christianity can be so interesting, and there were moments in these stories that reminded me of the folk song-Christmas carols I like. Favourite detail: at the Creation when God was making birds, ...the colours in our Lord’s paint pot gave out, and the goldfinch would have been without colour if our Lord had not wiped all His paint brushes on its feathers.
Village Christmas by Miss Read (1966). A charming little Christmas story! Miss Read herself doesn't appear in this one—instead it's about two spinster sisters, long-time residents of the village of Fairacre, who have to deal with unconventional new neighbours and eventually discover the value of neighbourly friendship during a crisis at Christmas.
And now, hopefully, my reading for the next few days will be Yuletide fic :D
Besides that, today I have made slightly haphazard plans for the dinner I'm cooking tomorrow, listened to the carols from King's College on the radio (beautiful as ever) and I've been reading some festive books from favourite authors.
Christ Legends by Selma Lagerlöf (1904; translated by Velma Swanston Howard, 1908). A collection of short folktale-style stories about the life of Jesus—the first few stories are set around the Nativity, then there are some from later on. They're written with the same lovely fairytale-ish style as much of Lagerlöf's writing, and it works really well here—the imagery and style of folk-Christianity can be so interesting, and there were moments in these stories that reminded me of the folk song-Christmas carols I like. Favourite detail: at the Creation when God was making birds, ...the colours in our Lord’s paint pot gave out, and the goldfinch would have been without colour if our Lord had not wiped all His paint brushes on its feathers.
Village Christmas by Miss Read (1966). A charming little Christmas story! Miss Read herself doesn't appear in this one—instead it's about two spinster sisters, long-time residents of the village of Fairacre, who have to deal with unconventional new neighbours and eventually discover the value of neighbourly friendship during a crisis at Christmas.
And now, hopefully, my reading for the next few days will be Yuletide fic :D
