The Magazine

The Books of Christmas

Joseph Bottum's literary Christmas

Dec 24, 2007, Vol. 13, No. 15 • By JOSEPH BOTTUM
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The Christmas Almanac and The Little Big Book of Christmas. Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Christmas Collection and The Kingfisher Book of Classic Christmas Stories. A Child's Christmas in Wales and Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens, for that matter: I've never quite understood why people give Christmas books for Christmas.

I mean, by the time you've actually gotten the book--and gone to church, and drunk the eggnog, and eaten the dinner, and cleaned up the wrapping paper, and squabbled with your sister, and blown out the candle stubs--Christmas is pretty much done for the year. All those endless seasonal volumes piled up like the Step Pyramid of Djoser down at the local Barnes & Noble: They really exist to gin up Christmas spirits of their givers, rather than their receivers.

Of course, since gift-givers tend to be the actual purchasers of Christmas presents, it makes a certain financial sense for publishers to concentrate on what inspires them, rather than what the incidental gift-getter might want to read. Which is probably why Amazon.com lists 1,271 books printed this year with the word Christmas in the title. From An Affair Before Christmas (a bodice-ripper in which the devilishly attractive Duke of Fletcher is determined to win back his beguiling bride's delectable affections) to Shall I Knit You a Hat? (a Christmas yarn in which Mother Rabbit knits Little Rabbit a hat to show off his long, beautiful ears), there's something in print for even the most jaded giver.

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