Christmas Sampler: Classic Stories of the Season, From Twain to Cheevers

by E.A. Crawford, Teresa Kennedy

A collection of classic stories of Christmas features the work of Twain, Faulkner, Cather, Irving, O. Henry, Paley, Cheever, Bobbie Ann Mason, Langston Hughes, and others.

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories, Fiction, Holiday

320 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1992

Reviews

[Kimber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a slow start. Although I appreciated the traditional passages as from authors such as Washington Irving and the one by Francis Church-- "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Clause" (a beautiful piece of writing) it was past the middle of the book before we get to the really good stuff. The literary short stories were much more exciting. I loved the ones by Alice Childress, Richard Yates, Ntozake Shange, Grace Paley, Bobbie Ann Mason and John Cheever. Their images stayed with me for quite some time. Most of all the story "Drawing Names" by Bobbie Ann Mason. Such a modern Christmas story, so many more meanings then I expected it to have. I want to read all of these writers now. Shange's story especially moved me and made me feel happy; Yates' haunted me.

Here is a quote from Paley, (her's was an immigrant's view of American Christmas, something they did not celebrate, but an apt observation: " Christmas. What's the harm? After all, history teaches everyone. We learn from reading this is a holiday from pagan times also, candles, lights, even Chanukah. So we learn it's not altogether Christian. So if they think it's a private holiday, they're only ignorant, not patriotic. What belongs to history, belongs to all men."

[Dennis Raffaelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, depressing stories. Very uninspiring.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Christmas Sampler by Crawford
There are many stories in this collection from all over the world and from all walks of life.
What each one brings is faith,hope and the giving spirit around the holidays, no matter what their station in life is.
Really liked Twain and Henry Thoreau's works on their thoughts of the holiday and in their writings what the holiday means to them.

[Frederick]

Yes, I'm reading this right now, and it's summer. There's a Richard Yates story in here, and just now, I'm on a Richard Yates kick. (The story was great, by the way.)
Also included are stories and/or reminiscences by Langston Hughes, Bret Harte, Grace Paley and Frederick Douglass.