Thank you to The Coffee Addicted Writer for sponsoring Book Blogger Hop.
There is one Christmas book I always go to, and it’s an oldie. Grace Livingston Hill wrote Christian romances from the early 1900s until she died in 1947. Her book The Substitute Guest is a favorite of mine. It’s about a lawyer who is supposed to go to a house party at Christmas, but instead finds himself bringing medicine to a very sick woman way out in the country as a favor to a friend. His car stalls out in front of the Devereaux home, and he eventually ends up replacing a guest who had just canceled. As a result of this, he gains more than he could have ever imagined. Grace’s books are definitely old fashioned, but her love of God shines through, and I just adore this book. It is a visit to a different era. The Substitute Guest was originally published in 1936 and has been reprinted many times.
Question of the Day: What book or books do you like to read during the holidays?
I would say Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol and O.Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi.” They were favorites of my dad.
I love those!
😊
Thanks, Liz. I think I’ll get those to read. I’ve read A Christmas Carol, but this is a good time to read it again.
You’re welcome, Tim. Christmas is a good time to read the classics.
Yes, it is.
I love a little illustrated book of A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas that my daughter gave to me many years ago. It is such a sweet tale and I read it every Christmas.
That sounds interesting.
Catching Christmas by Terri Blackstock!
She’s such a great author!
Thus one isn’t like her others. Not what I expected but sich a treat!
I’ll have to check it out!
i discovered The Christmas Jars by by Jason N. Wright a few years ago and I try to read it once every holiday season It’s a lovely reminder of the joy that comes from giving!!
I love that message. I’ll have to read it.
The Guest at Livingston Hill sounds like a real winner. Fun, too.
I always reach for a family favorite: THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER. It always makes me feel good.
I miss you over at Friday56. Hop on over and share your excerpts! Thanks.
https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2024/12/review-how-to-be-both-friday56-linkup.html
Have a wonderful weekend.
-Anne
I don’t think I’ve read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Wonderful ♥️
[…] This is another review I did for The Historical Novel Society. You can see it on their website here. As mentioned above, it is very loosely based on the life of Grace Livingston Hill, an early 20th Century Christian romance writer. My grandmother started reading Grace’s books to her kids in the 1930’s and 40s, and my Mom passed them on to me. They are very old fashioned–Grace frowned on makeup, for example. But they’re wonderful Christian stories for their time period. My favorite is The Substitute Guest, which I talk about a little bit here. […]