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10th out of 236 books
—
184 voters
The Christmas Shoes (Christmas Hope #1)
Sometimes, the things that can change your life will cross your path in one instant-and then, in a fleeting moment, they're gone. But if you open your eyes, and watch carefully, you will believe....
Robert is a successful attorney who has everything in life-and nothing at all. Focused on professional achievement and material rewards, Robert is on the brink of losing his mar...more
Robert is a successful attorney who has everything in life-and nothing at all. Focused on professional achievement and material rewards, Robert is on the brink of losing his mar...more
Hardcover, 132 pages
Published
November 9th 2001
by St. Martin's Press
(first published 2001)
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Dec 21, 2009
Julie (Mom2lnb)
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone Looking for a Good Holiday Story or a Real Tear-Jerker
Reviewed for THC Reviews
I had recently been lamenting the fact that I hadn't read a true tear-jerker yet this year. I have been know to get a bit misty-eyed at certain scenes, but it is a rare book that makes me actually shed tears. The Christmas Shoes did exactly that and more. It made me cry buckets both while reading it and afterwards while merely thinking about it, and again while trying to write this review. There is a profound and beautiful message packed into this simple short story. It m...more
I had recently been lamenting the fact that I hadn't read a true tear-jerker yet this year. I have been know to get a bit misty-eyed at certain scenes, but it is a rare book that makes me actually shed tears. The Christmas Shoes did exactly that and more. It made me cry buckets both while reading it and afterwards while merely thinking about it, and again while trying to write this review. There is a profound and beautiful message packed into this simple short story. It m...more
I'm not sure why I'd start reading a book like this on the anniversary of the day my dad died, but I started it yesterday. After sobbing through the first half, I put it down to finish it this evening. It's one of those short, heartwarming stories where a hardened workaholic learns the true meaning of Christmas, someone dies (actually multiple people die), and you really wish it was snowing outside. In short, it was lovely, and I cried all the way through it.
The perspective change throughout was...more
The perspective change throughout was...more
3 likes · like · see review
So I'm hosting book club in December this year, and so I am reading some Christmas books to find a good one to pick. I know it's only September, but I wanted to have plenty of time to read a few books before I make my decision. I asked the librarian for some suggestions of unusual Christmas books. Because I really didn't want to read any of those trite, dripping with obvious message type books. So naturally she recommended The Christmas Shoes. Really? I am not totally mad at her because she did...more
Jan 01, 2013
Jintana
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
romance-audio-collection
ใครจะไปคิดว่ารองเท้าเพียงคู่เดียวจะเปลี่ยนชีวิตของครอบครัวหนึ่งไปอย่างสิ้นเชิง
Robert กำลังจะเสียภรรยาและลูกสาว 2 คนไปหลังเทศกาลคริสต์มาสเสร็จสิ้น Kate ต้องการหย่าขาดจากสามีที่ทำแต่งานไม่เคยมีเวลาให้ครอบครัว
ในขณะที่ทุกคนกำลังมีความสุขกับเทศกาลคริสต์มาส Nathan กำลังโศกเศร้าเพราะใกล้จะสูญเสียแม่ที่ป่วยเป็นโรคมะเร็ง
Robert และ Nathan มาที่ห้างในชั่วโมงสุดท้ายก่อนห้างปิดด้วยจุดประสงค์ที่ต่างกัน Robert มาหาของขวัญในนาทีสุดท้ายให้ภรรยาและลูกเพื่อกลบเกลื่อนความรู้สึกผิด ในขณะที่ Nathan มาหาของขวัญเพื่อใ...more
Robert กำลังจะเสียภรรยาและลูกสาว 2 คนไปหลังเทศกาลคริสต์มาสเสร็จสิ้น Kate ต้องการหย่าขาดจากสามีที่ทำแต่งานไม่เคยมีเวลาให้ครอบครัว
ในขณะที่ทุกคนกำลังมีความสุขกับเทศกาลคริสต์มาส Nathan กำลังโศกเศร้าเพราะใกล้จะสูญเสียแม่ที่ป่วยเป็นโรคมะเร็ง
Robert และ Nathan มาที่ห้างในชั่วโมงสุดท้ายก่อนห้างปิดด้วยจุดประสงค์ที่ต่างกัน Robert มาหาของขวัญในนาทีสุดท้ายให้ภรรยาและลูกเพื่อกลบเกลื่อนความรู้สึกผิด ในขณะที่ Nathan มาหาของขวัญเพื่อใ...more
1 like · like · see review
This was a perfect book to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon, the day before Christmas Eve. Which is exactly what I did. It's a short little Christmas novel, based on the popular Christian Christmas song "Christmas Shoes" from the early 2000s. Anyone who follows my reviews knows I am not really into those sweet feel good reads. (I am too cynical with a natural tendency towards depressing realistic fiction). However, I really liked this one. It was well written, with realistic characters and more s...more
So technically this is an adult book, but there is nothing in it that makes it unsuitable for a younger audience, the only difference is that the main characters are not teenagers.
As my mom called it, this was a 52-handkerchief book. I had to keep putting the book down to go grab a tissue, that is until about my fifth time up when I finally just grabbed the box. Although this story is a tearjerker, it is also very uplifting, and heart warming at the same time.
The story is centered around two dif...more
As my mom called it, this was a 52-handkerchief book. I had to keep putting the book down to go grab a tissue, that is until about my fifth time up when I finally just grabbed the box. Although this story is a tearjerker, it is also very uplifting, and heart warming at the same time.
The story is centered around two dif...more
After reading the Christmas Shoes, I thought it was such a nice book and well written. I loved how it had so many expressions and emotions such as sadness, happiness, and even some nervous parts. The book was about a little boy who was waiting in line and was very happy yet in a hurry to buy his mom some Red High Heels for Christmas because he wanted her to look beautiful when she was going to see God that night. Thinking about how he was just a little boy, he understood that his mother had canc...more
Okay, I'm a Christmas freak. There really is no other way to put it. I just love everything about Christmas: the ambience, the decorations, the nice, cold winters, the food, the music (that I start to listen to in September), the movies (that I tend to watch all year round), and so much more. Except for the Christmas books. For some reason, I have yet to find a Christmas book that I truly love (in the interest of full disclosure I will say that I have yet to read A Christmas Carol. I know...). U...more
1 like · like · see review
A few weeks ago, some of you might remember me complaining about a book that I was reading. Oh those reverberate words, " How is this book going to get me into the Christmas Spirit...Why do I feel like I have to finish this book." Yet, I am now literally eating my words! The Christmas Shoes written by Donna Vanliere warmed my heart. Amazingly this simple read truly draws you into the story with compassion, love, judgment, and forgiveness. I also enjoyed the various quotes at the beginning of eac...more
Continuing with holiday reading, and my quest to read books on my shelves, this was a book given to me a few years ago by a neighbor and I finally got around to reading it. Get out the syrup, the gooiest candy you can find, the sweetest chocolate, the sugary icing on the cake, add a large heaping of corny triteness, blend with a peppermint stick, and there you have it...The Christmas Shoes!
I'm not sure I can recommend this wholeheartedly, but, I'll say "guardedly recommended". If you like schmal...more
I'm not sure I can recommend this wholeheartedly, but, I'll say "guardedly recommended". If you like schmal...more
During the past Christmas season, I had decided to read all those books on my shelves relating to the holidays. I had seen "The Christmas Shoes" as a TV movie starring Rob Lowe and thought that would be a good place to start. After reading the book, I can now report that the TV movie was much better than the book. I think had I read the book before seeing the movie, I might have felt differently. There were things that were added to the movie that weren't in the book and I kept waiting for these...more
The beginning of a great Christmas series. The narrator alternates between two stories that soon cross each other. Robert is a successsful attorney who is losing his family in the process of trying to get a better job. Nathan on the other hand has adifferent problem. Just only eight years old and he is going to lose his mother. Maggie, his mother, was diagnosed with cancer and it seems as she is not going to make it. Nathan desperate to make his mother happy before she goes to God, goes to the s...more
Feb 10, 2009
Nathan
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who own tables that have one leg shorter than the others.
Recommended to Nathan by:
Dagny
This was given to me as a gag gift, and (spoiler alert!) it sucks. I suppose you could say that it is somewhat capably written, much in the same way that a high school essay takes a few scattered facts and stretches them out into a full research page paper. That's where the positives end. The book is filled with enough sugary schmaltz and false sentimentality to send cookie monster into a diabetic coma. The character development (if you could call it that) of secondary characters serves little p...more
3 likes · like · see review
A short but beautiful read. The author will make you realize how magical Christmases could be and how we should not take for granted what we have because we won't know what happens next. We should tell people we love them while we can and we should always remember that the little things are the big things and that none of the material things we want will be important in our deathbed. The love given by our family does matter, on the other hand. We should fix things while we still can because alth...more
This beautiful story is about a family who believes. Not only through Christmas but through life and tragedy. I cried many times. The family bond in this story reminded me of home and of holidays with my family as a little girl. There are many powerful quotes in this book, but the one that impacted me the most was one from a mother to her young son a few days before Christmas:
"It's spectacular that God would want to leave the beauty of heaven to come to live here as a man. And you'd think that s...more
"It's spectacular that God would want to leave the beauty of heaven to come to live here as a man. And you'd think that s...more
2 likes · like · see review
Based upon the song by the same name, Donna VanLiere tells the story of attorney Robert Layton who has lost his way with his family & his wife as they prepare to separate post holiday season & Nathan Andrews who is about to lose his mother to cancer. VanLiere carefully weaves the 2 separate plotlines of saying good-bye, wishing for miracles & good will toward men to a chance meeting between the 2 when little Nathan can't afford to buy shoes for his mother for Christmas. The story rem...more
I had heard the song before this so I knew what it would be about and I love Christmas stories. It's a heart breaker about a little boy and how he helps his sick mom.
Just a little something with a Christmas theme while I take a breather from decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, etc.
I cried but it was a good cry.
I really want to give it 3.5 stars, but as that is still not possible on here (get it together Goodreads), I'll go with 4. Having heard the song AND watched to movie, there wasn't much here that was a surprise (probably would have given it 4 had I read it first). The writing is pretty good, and the story is easy to follow. It's one in a long line of sentimental Christmas/Holiday stories that has a moral at the end. Again, I already knew this one, so no surprise, but I wanted to read it just the...more
This book is pure schmaltz and I learned nothing from it. It is contrived and unmoving. I cannot imagine how the characters developed, as they magically appeared with different/changed circumstances without any plot development to get them there. The peripheral characters may as well have been fashioned from cardboard. All characters were stereotypes and had little impact on the meaning of Christmas. I think, to get to the end of this, one just has know that people die, sometimes on Christmas, a...more
FINISHED THE BOOK. It was awesome!! I don't remember the last time I cried while reading a book, but I certainly did during this one. It is so well written I felt I was there among the characters and experiencing what they were. A touching, heart-warming story. If you have ever heard the song, it will give deeper meaning to it, if that's possible. The song is already a tear-jerker, but now with this look into the lives of the people in the song, it is now going to bring the song more to life tha...more
As I was listening to an interview with the author on the Christmas Surprise CD the other night I learned that the author for this book got the idea through a conversation with the songwriter who wrote the song "Christmas Shoes." The songwriter had the idea and was talking to her about her opinions about it being a successful song. She said she thought it would make a good book. They challenged eachother to get writing. We know the song was a hit, now it will be interesting to see how the book c...more
I love happy little Christmas stories. Ones that let me escape reality and enjoy all the best parts of the holiday season. The "Christmas Shoes" is not one of those books.
Not that I didn't like "The Christmas Shoes". I liked it for the sappy, "drop me into the well of reality" book that it is. Someone dies, someone else learns a lesson. The lesson is more poignant because there are Christmas trees and gifts involved.
Teach me a lesson at Christmastime if you want. Teach me about hope, or joy, or...more
Not that I didn't like "The Christmas Shoes". I liked it for the sappy, "drop me into the well of reality" book that it is. Someone dies, someone else learns a lesson. The lesson is more poignant because there are Christmas trees and gifts involved.
Teach me a lesson at Christmastime if you want. Teach me about hope, or joy, or...more
Dec 17, 2011
Odetta
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Odetta by:
My daughter
We started listening to this later in the evening. I thought I'd start listening to it, find out if I liked it & stop it & go to bed, like I have done with every other book I've listened to. Finally, at 11:30 p.m., the book was over & I could go to bed, way past my bedtime. For that reason, I am glad it is a short book.
It was sad. I have lost both my mother & my daughter at Thanksgiving time. I appreciated the fact that even though the book was sad, VanLiere taught Maggie was goi...more
It was sad. I have lost both my mother & my daughter at Thanksgiving time. I appreciated the fact that even though the book was sad, VanLiere taught Maggie was goi...more
I was in the mood for a Christmas read, so I finally picked up The Christmas Shoes after seeing it for years at Costco and other bookstores. The cover art and small-size of the book drew me into picking up the book and I'm glad I finally figured out what the fuss was all about with the "Christmas" books.
I loved this story. It was a very quick read and just what I wanted in a Christmas book - full of love, family and redemption. However, I think the deeper parts of the story were a bit unexpected...more
I loved this story. It was a very quick read and just what I wanted in a Christmas book - full of love, family and redemption. However, I think the deeper parts of the story were a bit unexpected...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Oct 11, 2010
Seamus
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like christmas stories
Shelves:
7th-and-8th-grade
A book inspired by the song "Christmas Shoes" by NewSong. A book with two stories that intertwine with eachother. The first story is about a man named Robert, he has two kids and a struggling marriage. the second story is about a little boy named Nathan. His mom has Ovarian Cancer and is dying, and he is very sad during the holidays when everyone else is happy. This book collides when Robert is doing some last minute christmas shopping on christmas eve and Nathan is buying some "christmas shoes"...more
Cepet banget baca buku ini. Selain karena tipis, isinya juga gampang dicerna. Tapi makna ceritanya dalem banget. Cukup buat bikin nangis bombay.
Sepanjang cerita kita dibikin nahan napas dan berharap akabn terjadi keajaiban (kalo ngga ngintip2 bagian akhirnya ya), supaya akhir ceritanya bisa hepi ending. Tapi ternyata si Pengarang ga mau begitu. Dia tetep ngaduk2 emosi kita dgn berbagai pertemuan 'kebetulan' yang ternyata --tidak seperti yang kita harapkan-- bisa menciptakan ending yang lebih man...more
Sepanjang cerita kita dibikin nahan napas dan berharap akabn terjadi keajaiban (kalo ngga ngintip2 bagian akhirnya ya), supaya akhir ceritanya bisa hepi ending. Tapi ternyata si Pengarang ga mau begitu. Dia tetep ngaduk2 emosi kita dgn berbagai pertemuan 'kebetulan' yang ternyata --tidak seperti yang kita harapkan-- bisa menciptakan ending yang lebih man...more
Blech.
Again, the author is strongly lacking in character development. The insensitive jerk turned great guy based on a single heartwarming event is a device she has used before with the same unsatisfactory result. It's just not believeable. It comes off as trite and utterly contrived.
I know it's supposed to be a tearjerker, but I can't help but roll my eyes.
It was a nice sentiment, but a poorly written/performed song, and now a lame attempt to fill out the story.
I hear the movie is better.
Again, the author is strongly lacking in character development. The insensitive jerk turned great guy based on a single heartwarming event is a device she has used before with the same unsatisfactory result. It's just not believeable. It comes off as trite and utterly contrived.
I know it's supposed to be a tearjerker, but I can't help but roll my eyes.
It was a nice sentiment, but a poorly written/performed song, and now a lame attempt to fill out the story.
I hear the movie is better.
every person cant live without a mother i know for sure i cant i love my mother in this book tells the sadness about a boy losing his mother on christmas. i watch the movie each year with my mommy and reading the book was better. i recomment this book to my friends because i think they would really like and enjoy this book!
the song tells it all: sir im gonna buy these shoes, for my mama please its christmas and my mama is going, to heavan tonight....
the book changes your feelings towards the sto...more
the song tells it all: sir im gonna buy these shoes, for my mama please its christmas and my mama is going, to heavan tonight....
the book changes your feelings towards the sto...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| how does this little boy help Robet with his life? | 3 | 20 | Jan 26, 2012 05:10am |
Donna VanLiere is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author and gifted conference speaker. She has published ten titles including The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing, both of which were adapted into movies (starring Rob Lowe, Kimberly Williams-Perry and Neil Patrick Harris) and garnered big ratings for CBS television. LifetimeTelevision adapted The Christmas Hope (starring Made...more
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“I don't know what sort of occasion I was waiting for...because everyday was a special occasion with your father.”
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Dec 22, 2009 04:27pm
KarenH, I finally got to watch the movie this past weekend, and really liked it. Even though it was different from the book, I though...more
updated Dec 22, 2009 05:04pm