Book Club Christmas
The Christmas season has often times been described as the most wonderful time of the year.
Strangers become friends, smiles grower wider and warmer as all of God’s creatures prepare to celebrate once again the birth of the Christ Child in a Bethlehem stable.
There’s no better way to observe this most joyous season than by sharing a warm and wonderful book from one of the following authors:
Richard Paul Evans
The Christmas Box Collection: The Christmas Box, Timepiece, and The Letter
In The Christmas Box, we meet an elderly widow, MaryAnne Parkin.
Her advertisement for a live-in couple answers the prayers of a struggling young family crammed into a drafty one-bedroom apartment in the foothills of the snow-clad Wasatch mountain range.
The Evans gain as much or more than MaryAnne from their living arrangement and almost 4-year-old Jenna finds a grandmother in residence.
TimePiece, the prequel to The Christmas Box, chronicles five years in the life of David Parkin, through his marriage to MaryAnne and the birth of their daughter, Andrea.
The Letter finds the Parkins 20 years later as they struggle to cope with the tragic loss of their daughter and the slow deterioration of their once happy marriage.
Although Evans did not compose these three books as a trilogy, each book relates to the other two but does not have to be read in any certain order.
Some readers characterized the stories as syrupy while other lauded their refreshing innocence.
Fannie Flagg
Searching for a milder climate in which to live out his final days, Oswald T. Campbell (named for the soup) lands in a small town located somewhere near Elberta, Lillian and Mobile.
Maybe his life-long streak of bad luck has finally turned as Oswald settles in and interacts with the citizens of the fictional town of Lost River, Alabama. Jack, the red bird residing at the neighborhood grocery, and Patsy, the young crippled child, figure prominently in this character’s new chance on life.
Discussion questions can be found here.
Kate Jacobs
In this feel-good holiday novel, Jacobs reconnects the reader with the characters from her two previous novels in the hustle and bustle of New York at Christmas time.
To fully appreciate this yuletide offering, The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two should be read first for the back story and character development.
As a gift to faithful readers, knitting patterns and some delicious recipes have been added by the author.
But don’t forget two of my timeless favorites:
Charles Dickens
Discussion questions for A Christmas Carol can be found here.
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)
Click here for reflection questions for Gift of the Magi.
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