Books

In a world that always feel a little bit broken, a little less than wonderful and a whole lot disappointing, depending on the day, perfection seems like a wholly alluring idea. Especially when, like vintage goods store owner Henry Aster, you have recently found the man you were convinced was Continue Reading

(courtesy McCabe Media Ltd) Firsts are a curious thing. They can either be the stuff of liberation and exhilarating novelty; a chance to ditch the status quo, throw ruts out the window and to experience in ways that have never been part of your life before. But equally, depending on Continue Reading

(courtesy Amazon Australia) If you’re after a book which is all Christmas all the time, like a blessedly escapist festive romcom, then The Secret Christmas Library is likely not the book for you. It is not even, as it turns out, about a library that is secret or especially Christmassy; Continue Reading

(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.) There is so much power in just being yourself. This reviewer didn’t see it for years, hemmed in by strident opinions from “those who knew better” in the church and in a slew of other places, and I suspect that the eponymous protagonist of Flora’s Continue Reading

(courtesy official author site) Falling in love at Christmas is de rigueur if you want to mark the season properly. That or finding Santa Claus when he’s missing and saving Christmas in the process; but given how tough finding love can be often, maybe finding the big man in red Continue Reading

(via Shutterstock) I am like a big kid when it comes to Christmas. I have always loved the season and one of my favourite things is reading as many Christmassy books as I can get my hands on; these guys they are more adult in tone and style but my Continue Reading

(courtesy Storm Publishing) While any kind of Christmas romcom is usually good for the soul, helping you to believe in redemption, healing and true love, the really good ones, at least for this reader, also project a strong sense of cosy and supportive community. That’s important because finding your special Continue Reading

(courtesy Penguin Books) When you love dearly dies, suddenly everything about them becomes vitally and inviolably important. That hit home very hard to me in the wake of the passing of my dad (2016) and then my mum (2019); suddenly I need to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation every year, Continue Reading

(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) Ever since Charles Dickens published his novella A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas aka A Christmas Carol in 1843, it has been adapted repeatedly (almost immediately as a play in 1844), its universally relevant truth of finding redemption in the Continue Reading