A Quick Query

While I know I should be in panic mode, finishing up Christmas, I was sitting here, looking through the stack of Christmas books I've assembled from my shelves. Some are short story collections; others would almost pass for children's books or novellas. I have plans to read Gregory Macguire's new one, Matchless, a retelling of the little match girl story.

For me, Christmas isn't Christmas without at least one reading of Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory," preferably with a audience willing to let me read it aloud. I enjoy "The Gift of the Magi," and for a laugh, Steve Martin's parody, "The Gift of the Magi Indian Giver," in his collection Cruel Shoes. At some point, someone will read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke.

I'd love other suggestions of favorite Christmas books and poems, particularly some that would be perfect to share around the family holiday table. I can't pass up a captive audience in a holiday mood.

A Quick Query