Christmas Readings

Every December I try to read a book that is either set during Christmas or has something to do with the holiday season. This year, I picked up a non-fiction title, Christmas: a biography by Judith Flanders. Overall, this was a very interesting read and I learned a lot about the history of various Christmas time rituals and traditions observed in the Western world. The book is fairly short (245 pages) and is very easy to get through. I did have a couple minor issues with it:

1 - the book is almost entirely focused on Northern European traditions: English, German, Dutch Scandinavian and then by extension, North American.

2 - even though the book is divided into 13 chapters, the chapters have no titles and it is thus sometimes difficult to figure out the theme/subject of every chapter. The book is written in a roughly chronological order starting from the earliest known pre-Christian celebrations of the winter solstice to the present day. However, the author does not always follow a strictly linear timeline which makes it confusing. In addition, some chapters have a very clear theme: Christmas trees, Santa Claus or caroling. Thus, I do feel this book would benefit from chapter headings that would outline a clear structure of the book.

Overall, the book started out a bit slow, but then got markedly more interesting and entertaining. By the end, I was sure I will be keeping it in my home library and will probably revisit it at some later day.

I also recommend reading it alongside A Literary Christmas by British Library which is an anthology of poems, short stories and excerpts from famous literary classics. Flanders refers to many of them in her book, and I found this combination highly informative. A Literary Christmas also has beautiful illustrations that make the stories come alive for the reader. I highly enjoyed both books. 4 out of 5 stars.