Book Review: A Merry Christmas & Other Christmas Stories

A Merry Christmas & Other Christmas Stories

By: Louisa May Alcott

Published By: Penguin Classics

Publication Date: October 8, 2014

Page Count: 160

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound

Source: Kindly Provided by Publisher

Audience: Adult, Young Adult - Classics

I adore Louisa May Alcott. She has always been one of my favorite writers. The first time I read Little Women was like pulling up the blinds in a dark room - I was finally able to see into a fictional world that I wanted to live in and return to over and over. Little Women was perhaps the first novel that I reread on multiple occasions. I was lucky enough to receive the newly released Christmas Classics from Penguin. While all of them are visually appealing with their red birds, I chose to dive into this one first.

This is a collection of holiday themed short stories that are perfect for all the Louisa May Alcott lovers out there. The first segment, "A Merry Christmas", is the Christmas scene from Little Women. I loved watching the March girls celebrate Christmas so this was a perfect way for me to celebrate the holiday season. It's also nice to have that portion in a separate place so I can find it easily. I plan to make reading "A Merry Christmas" a yearly holiday tradition. 

The other stories are also gems, but nothing can trump "A Merry Christmas" for me. I loved learning more about holiday traditions in the 1800's by reading these lovely little tales. I highly recommend this one!

One Last Gripe: I don't have one. This is the perfect holiday collection for Louisa May Alcott fans.

Favorite Thing About This Book: I love the book itself. The cover and the details are beautiful.

First Sentence: Jo was the first to wake in the gray dawn of Christmas morning.

Summary:

One of five beloved Christmas classics in collectible hardcover editions

A Merry Christmas collects the treasured holiday tales of Louisa May Alcott, from the dearly familiar Yuletide benevolence of Marmee and her “little women” to the timeless “What Love Can Do,” wherein the residents of a boarding house come together to make a lovely Christmas for two poor girls. Wildly popular at the time of their publication—readers deluged Alcott with letters demanding sequels—and drawing on Alcott’s family and experiences in the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements, these stories have the authentic texture and detail of Christmas in nineteenth-century America, while their emphasis on generosity and charity make them timeless embodiments of the Christmas spirit.