Faith, hope and Angela
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FRANK McCourt’s mother — Angela of the Ashes — used to gamble for a leg of ham at Christmas. Meat was a luxury in Depression-era Limerick. To leaven her family’s bleak existence, to assuage their miserable poverty, she would pay to play cards at the local Mechanics Institute. More often than not, she’d win.
“My Ma […]

Christmas Books


‘A tale of what Christmas is supposed to mean’
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With her silver hair pulled back with colorful Native-American clasps and gold-glitter polish adorning her fingernails, Joan Knott sits in a comfortable recliner in a home filled floor to ceiling with art and collectibles.
At 79, Knott has begun a new adventure.
She has published her first book, a children’s story called “Merry Christmas, Marushka,” subtitled in […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News


Dave Barry’s new book spins Christmas
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US humorist Dave Barry has tried to deck the pages of his first Christmas book with more belly laughs than April Fool’s Day.
A “manger war” between neighbourhood churches; a wise man with a rubber cigar; red ants stinging children in a station wagon; a “Betsy Wets Jesus” and a near-fatal pile of frozen bat dung […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News


Capturing the essence Christmas
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The spirit of Christmas is alive and well.
That’s the message Amy Whorf McGuiggan delivers in her hot-off-the-presses new book about Christmas traditions in New England, which captures the magic, mystery, miracle, and joy of the season.
“Christmas in New England: A Treasury of Traditions from the Yule Log and The Christmas Tree to Flying Santa and […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News, Christmas Traditions


Nicky’s Jazz Christmas
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Rockin’ around this year’s Christmas tree is everyone’s favorite jazz cat. Nicky’s Jazz Christmas is a charming musical story that is sure to become an enduring family favorite. The book features more wonderful photographs of Nicky—this time in his holiday finest—along with the rhyming, syncopated text that has been the hallmark of the award-winning “Nicky […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News


The Last Christmas #1
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’Twas the night before Christmas, and World War III broke out — or something like that. Most of humanity mutated because of the radiation, and those that didn’t became Marauders — like you do. But Santa, safe with his missus at the North Pole, tried to keep the spirit of Christmas alive. At least, until […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News


New book explores small screen’s treatment of Christmas
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Every year, sometimes starting as early as October, eager-beaver viewers start calling TV critics nationwide, wanting to know when their annual list of holiday-themed TV shows will be published.
So I think Newsday TV critic Diane Werts is onto something with her new book, “Christmas on Television“, which explores “the nakedly visceral emotions stirred by Christmas […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News


Christmas Carol gets free podcast
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Author Charles Dickens’ classic novel A Christmas Carol is being made available on a free podcast.
Penguin Books is offering the unabridged audiobook of the novel, read by actor Geoffrey Palmer.
The entire text has been divided into five instalments for MP3 players in one of the first free complete podcasts of a world famous novel.
First published […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News


Christmas illustrated
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Illustrator/muralist Wendy Popko confesses “my mother told me I always had a wild imagination.”
Growing up, she says, she was encouraged to use it in a family that was always “making a lot of things. Both my parents were very creative.”
So no wonder the Sterling Heights resident developed the colorful, richly detailed and whimsical world inside […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News

If you only buy one book this year …
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As a child, I looked forward to the glossy, hardback Beano Annual I would receive each Christmas and relished the smell of the newly minted pages when it was unwrapped. It was my first taste of the Christmas book. Today, this seasonal beast is big business; booksellers expect to shift around half of the year’s […]

Christmas Books, Christmas News