Holiday books: A few Christmas treats worth opening up and savouringChristmas: A Biography, Judith Flanders, St. Martin’s PressWe all have our feelings about Christmas, but what we actually know about the event is a hodgepodge of legend and cultural appropriation, gaily wrapped in nostalgia. In her biography, British social historian Judith Flanders takes us from the celebration’s earliest iteration, the pre-Christian Roman Saturnalia, right through to the present day, where Christmas brazenly shape shifts through various cultures. She begins with this arresting sentence: “The Bible is reticent on the birth of Christ.”A Very French Christmas: The Greatest French Holiday Stories of all Time, New Vessel PressLast year, New Vessel Press released A Very Russian Christmas. This year brings 14 yuletide yarns from France. Jean-Philippe Blondel, author of the bestselling The 6:41 to Paris, gets things off to a merry start with The Gift, which begins: “To be honest, I’ve always loathed Christmas.”

Source: thestar December 22, 2017 11:26 UTC