Joyeux Noël – Merry Christmas! Stories to read by the Christmas Tree
Merry Christmas! Stories to read by the Christmas tree (2015) Original French title: Joyeux Noël ! Histoires à lire au pied du sapin.
This year my seasonal Christmas read was Merry Christmas! Stories to read by the Christmas tree. It’s a slim book that belongs to the Folio 2€ collection, a series of paperback books published by Gallimard with a length and price constraint. They aren’t longer than 120 pages and they cost 2€. I’ve bought several titles from this collection, I find it a good way to discover new writers.
This Joyeux Noël! opus is divided into three sections, Christmas Eve, Christmas day and a memory of Christmas past. Each part opens with a poem and continues with short stories from various authors.
I have to confess that I skipped A Christmas Tree by Dickens (1850) because of the lengthy description of a Christmas tree. There was no breather in the text, barely a paragraph here and there. I enjoyed Les fées by Sylvain Tesson (The Fairies), a short story set in Brittany and about a man whose views on the existence of fairies will be changed during a Christmas night.
Pat Hobby’s Christmas Wish by F-S. Fitzgerald (1940) is one of the Pat Hobby short stories that Fitzgerald wrote for Esquire in 1940-1941. In this one, Pat Hobby, a lowly screenwriter in Hollywood tries to blackmail his producer…As always Fitzgerald’s chiseled irony is a gem.
Our Christmas tour takes us to Russia with a poignant tale by Anton Chekov. Aging illiterate parents decide to ask someone in their village to send a letter to their estranged daughter who left to Petersburg with her husband. Then we’re back in France with Marcel Aymé who brought some magic in military barracks during Christmas night. Then Maupassant tells us a story of possession and exorcism that I didn’t enjoy despite his flawless prose.
My favorite one is A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote. We’re somewhere in the South of the United States in the 1930s. Buddy is seven and his parents don’t know how to relate to him and entertain him. He has a special friend for that, though. She’s a distant cousin who’s in her sixties. She and Buddy prepare Christmas together, scrapping money to make cakes for friends and people they admire (They always send one to Eleanor Roosevelt), decorating a Christmas tree with home-made decorations and making each other a kite as Christmas present. It’s the lovely story of the strong bond between a little boy and an older woman, someone who brings him the affection he needs. To know more about Truman Capote’s Christmas story, have a look at Ali’s post here.
This little book helped me transition from fast-paced work days to this festive time of year. I wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope you’ll have a good time with friends and family, that you’re doing well and enjoying the holidays.
I love to hear your thoughts, thanks for commenting. Comments in French are welcome Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Currently reading
- Miss Mole by E.H. Young
———————
Upcoming billets:
- Leaving Time by Jodie Picoult
- L’inspecteur Dalil à Paris by Soufiane Chakkouche
- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
My little boxes
Recent Posts
- Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell – Gordon and his pride and prejudices
- Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie – The #1936Club
- The #1936Club starts tomorrow – some reading suggestions
- Open Season by C.J. Box – my thoughts about Joe Pickett vs Walt Longmire
- Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym – meet Prudence, the Harriet spinster.
- Loyalties by Delphine de Vigan – excellent
- Death on Demand by Paul Thomas – #SouthernCrossCrime2021
- Ashes, Ashes by René Barjavel – stinking dystopia
- Saturday News – the conversation pie, Spring for Poets and Gibert Jeune
- Dirty Week-End by Helen Zahavi – And fear changes sides
Les copines d’abord are currently reading
- April: Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
- May: The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart
Join us if you want to.
Other readalongs:
- April: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
- May: The Signal by Ron Carlson
Recent Comments
Manifesto: I read, therefore I am
The 10 Inalienable Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac
1) The right to not read,
2) The right to skip pages
3) The right to not finish a book,
4) The right to reread,
5) The right to read anything,
6) The right to “Bovary-ism,” a textually-transmitted disease
7) The right to read anywhere,
8) The right to sample and steal,
9) The right to read out-loud,
10) The right to be silent.
EBOOKS AND AUDIO BOOKS
LIT BLOGS
- 1streading's Blog
- A Bag Full of Stories
- A Little Blog of Books
- A Work In Progress
- Andrew Blackman
- ANZ Lit Lovers
- Babbling Books
- Beauty Is a Sleeping Cat
- BookerTalk
- Bookish Ramblings
- Books I love and others I get stuck with
- By Hook of By Book
- Caravana de Recuerdos
- Cleopatra Loves Books
- David's Book World
- Dolce Bellezza
- Edith's Miscellany
- findingtimetowrite
- heavenali
- His Futile Preoccupations
- Interesting Literature
- Intermittencies of the Mind
- JacquiWine's Journal
- Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings
- Leaves & Pages
- Lizzy's Literary Life
- Melissa Beck
- Messenger's Booker (and more)
- Pechorin's Journal
- Reading Matters
- South of Paris Books
- The Argumentative Old Git
- The Australian Legend
- The Book Haven
- Time's Flow Stemmed
- Tony's Book World
- Tony's Reading List
- Tredynas Days
- Vauquer Boarding House
- Vishy's Blog
- Whispering Gums
- Winstonsdad's Blog
- Word by Word
- Wuthering Expectations
LIT BLOGS IN FRENCH
OTHER SITES
PUBLISHERS
Your favorite posts
- The Learned Ladies by Molière
- Silk by Alessandro Baricco
- Every human is an unknown island
- The Emperor's Tomb by Joseph Roth - German Lit Month - Wunderbar
- The Poor Man's Son by Mouloud Feraoun
- Distant Star by Roberto Bolaño
- Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel - Superb and surprising
- The Lettuce Nights by Vanessa Barbara - Is there something strange in Otto's neighborhood?
- Eldorado by Laurent Gaudé. Extremely powerful.
- Swami and friends by R.K. Narayan
Posts I Like
Contact
If you wish to contact me :
bookaroundthecornerATgmailDOTcom
Or Twitter: @BookAround
Can I use Book Around The Corner’s posts?
Using the texts I write is at your own risk since I have no competence of any kind in literature.
Although I’m a lousy photographer and my pictures have no monetary value, I’d appreciate that you ask permission before downloading the photos I insert in my posts.
Lovely post, some stories there I don’t know. I must get hold of that F Scott Fitzgerald story.
LikeLike
Fitzgerald was a wonderful author of short stories.
LikeLike
Joyeux noel to you too, Emma. And bonne année.
LikeLike
Thank you. Merry Christmas to you too.
LikeLike
I’m currently reading a short story collection: A very French Christmas., I skipped a couple of the stories because they are religious, but there are some good ones too that have a bit more of a non traditional twist on things.
Have a great holiday.
LikeLike
Merry Christmas to you too.
Looking forward to reading about these French short stories.
LikeLike
There’s some Maupassant in the mix
LikeLiked by 1 person
Joyeux Noel! Que vos voeux les plus chers soient exaucés!
LikeLike
Merci beaucoup.
Joyeux Noël également.
LikeLike
Nice…
LikeLike
Thank you and welcome to Book Around the Corner
LikeLike