If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were ever in danger of decay, this is the book that would give them a new lease.Thomas Hood on A Christmas Carol. In one of the most beloved Christmas tales of all time, Charles Dickens beautifully captures the mood and humanity of…
The Nutcracker
E.T.A.Hoffman, "the unrivalled master of the uncanny in literature", as Freud calls him, wrote a dark and grim fairy tale about a young girl and her Nutcracker prince in 1816. The story was adapted famously, by Alexander Dumas and later to stage by Tchaikovsky. The allure of the story is still resplendent, yet the darkness…
The Gift of the Magi
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.Matthew 2:11 The gifts of Magi were essentially the anointing of Christ as the King, God…
AK reads 