Ridiculous. I'm sure it seems ridiculous. I've just read A Very French Christmas: The Greatest French Holiday Stories of All Time. I'm not in France. And it most certainly isn't December.
What's going on?
There are some people who always send you to the good books. Emma, of the blog, Words and Peace, and the organizer of France Book Tours, always sends me to the good books. I just couldn't resist a book of French Christmas stories. Even in August.
So why should you hear about A Very French Christmas? You, especially you, who are not a fan of stories about France or (even) Christmas?
That's easy to answer. A Very French Christmas is really about France or Christmas. Yes, there's a definite French-ish feel to the stories, and all of them have a little dash of Christmas in them. But these aren't baked-potato-loaded-with-French-Christmas-fixings stories. No one really likes those sorts of stories, do they? These are not French stories. These are not Christmas stories. They are just good stories.
(Spoiler alert)
The first story in the book, for example, is a story of a man who really doesn't like Christmas. It's his wife who likes it, his wife who makes him get together with the family every year, to celebrate with food he doesn't care for and gifts he doesn't want. And he does so every year, even after his wife is long passed away. Until the Christmas comes where his wife gives him one last Christmas gift, a gift he is very happy about.
Yes, these are good stories. More than that, they are remarkably good stories. So good that I think I'll go back and read them again.
Would you like your own copy of this book? A Very French Christmas won't be published until October, but you can throw your name in the hat below and you may win a free copy now.
A continuation of the very popular Very Christmas Series from New Vessel Press, this collection brings together the best French Christmas stories of all time in an elegant and vibrant collection featuring classics by Guy de Maupassant and Alphonse Daudet, plus stories by the esteemed twentieth century author Irène Némirovsky and contemporary writers Dominique Fabre and Jean-Philippe Blondel. With a holiday spirit conveyed through sparkling Paris streets, opulent feasts, wandering orphans, kindly monks, homesick soldiers, oysters, crayfish, ham, bonbons, flickering desire, and more than a little wine, this collection encapsulates the holiday spirit and proves that the French have mastered Christmas. This is Christmas à la française—delicious, intense and unexpected, proving that nobody does Christmas like the French.
THE AUTHORS
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Review + Giveaway at Reading for the Stars and Moon
Thursday, August 10Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views
Review + Giveaway at Readerbuzz
Review + Giveaway at Words And Peace
Review + Giveaway at Locks, Hooks and Books
thanks for your quirky review, just as quirky and French as the book!
ReplyDeleteIt's a great book!
DeleteIt was very fresh and surprising.
DeleteMy daughter is spending Christmas in France! She may need to read this one!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your review. I love reading stories set in France and love Christmas stories. I will be looking to read this and the previous Christmas boom.
ReplyDeleteCarol L
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