vintage christmas books by Rebecca Sower on Flickr.
vintage christmas books by Rebecca Sower on Flickr.
barbarasangi
Christmas books!
Book Review: Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
Most children write letters to Father Christmas, but John, Michael, Christopher and Priscilla Tolkien were fortunate enough to receive many letters in return. Between 1920 and 1943, J.R.R. Tolkien would write letters to his children from Father Christmas. Father Christmas recounts stories to the children, including the misadventures of the North Polar Bear. From falling through Father Christmas’ roof, to setting off the Northern Lights that shatter the moon into four pieces, the North Polar Bear is always getting into trouble. Throughout the years, the North Pole goes through a goblin war and experiences some wartime difficulties all while preparing presents for children everywhere.
Tolkien was clearly a wonderful father as well as a genius. This book is a compilation of the letters he wrote over 23 years to his four children from Father Christmas, beginning when the eldest was 3. The letters and the artwork are creative and beautifully done. The stories and the characters Tolkien created were perfectly charming, especially the North Polar Bear. These letters captured the magic of Christmas and made me feel like I was nine again. I think this is a wonderful read for all ages at Christmas time. I loved hearing the different tales and mishaps that occurred that year at the North Pole, and reading the side notes from the Polar Bear. The drawings were lovely- I’m so jealous of the Tolkien children for receiving these letters in the mail. I wish I had read this book sooner; I don’t know how I didn’t hear about it before now. Letters from Father Christmas made me love Tolkien even more than I already did, which I didn’t think was possible.
5/5
Whether that means linking to flickr or deviantart or only posting their own pictures, as far as I know these blogs never use weheartit or post anything uncredited. I’m sure I missed a lot, but here’s some.
Read the things people think you shouldn’t, prove you have an open mind.
I’ve read 18 of these, but a lot of them I read while I was 21, not before.
"Books. People never really stop loving books. Fifty-first century. By now you’ve got holovids, direct-to-brain downloads, fiction mist. But you need the smell. The smell of books, Donna. Deep breath!"
— The Doctor, Doctor Who
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, in which book bloggers post about the books they’ve bought, borrowed or received in the past week.
Some new books! I ordered Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell and you can read the review here. I also bought some used books: The Colour Purple by Alice Walker, Atonement by Ian McEwan and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I already own Atonement, but this copy was 50 cents and I prefer it to my movie edition. My brother gave me some of his old books, which you can see here. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod and Restless Gods by Reginald W. Bibby.





Lately, I’ve loved books that reference different authors or books, and share themes, ideas or a plot with that classic.