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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 31, 2021 12:39:03 GMT
Often at Christmas I will read A Christmas Carol by Dickens, and maybe one of his other Christmas books. Even though I know it well I keep getting pulled back to it because of the time of year, it adds to the Christmas feel.
Are there books that you return to because of certain associations? Like a time of year, or a place you go, or a person you know, or event?
Please share below.
Maybe you take a particular book with you when you go on holiday to a certain place.
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Post by Middoth on Jul 31, 2021 12:58:20 GMT
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Post by dem bones on Jul 31, 2021 13:20:57 GMT
Often at Christmas I will read A Christmas Carol by Dickens, and maybe one of his other Christmas books. Even though I know it well I keep getting pulled back to it because of the time of year, it adds to the Christmas feel. Are there books that you return to because of certain associations? Like a time of year, or a place you go, or a person you know, or event? Please share below. Maybe you take a particular book with you when you go on holiday to a certain place. From early December, I tend to flit between Christmas themed supernatural horror anthologies - particular favourites being Richard Dalby's Chillers for Christmas and Ghosts For Christmas. Not sure there are many seasonal themed antho's to rival them. The Halloween ones I've read were maybe a little samey, though they all have their moments - Waugh, Greenberg & Arsegrabber's 13 Stories For ... is particularly underrated. People. Think I tend to associate songs with those I love rather than ghost stories (though there are exceptions). Certain horror stories are reserved for a very exclusive club of ... people I really don't like so much. And any story involving a haunted bench transports me back to a teenage hang out, haunted alleyways similar. |
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Post by weirdmonger on Jul 31, 2021 13:48:31 GMT
I usually follow coincidences, synchronicities and serendipities when treading a path between books to read, irrespective of seasons.
Having said that, when I read a recent Johnny Mains edited book, half of it with Halloween stories, the other half Christmas stories, I waited between reading the Christmas half at Christmas until the next Halloween duly turned up when I read the other half of the book!
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Post by ripper on Jul 31, 2021 14:56:21 GMT
I, too, tend to give A Christmas Carol a run-out in the days leading up to Christmas, but it may be a film, television or radio version that I choose, and not necessarily the book.
Also, in the 2 or 3 weeks before Christmas I read, watch or listen to Christmas-themed supernatural stories. I agree with Dem that the Dalby '...for Christmas' collections are very good, and I do dip into them quite frequently over the festive season. I try to view a couple of the BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas productions from the 1970s.
For Hallowe'en, I don't usually choose date specific stories and films, but they have to be supernatural. I often read a couple of M. R. James classics, then watch either The Haunting or The Innocents (60s versions), and, if I have time, a witchcraft-themed story, sometimes from Dalby's 'Tales of Witchcraft'.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Jul 31, 2021 15:07:37 GMT
Absolutely the only thing to read at Yuletide is The Vault Advent Calendar. No contest.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 31, 2021 17:34:46 GMT
I, too, tend to give A Christmas Carol a run-out in the days leading up to Christmas, but it may be a film, television or radio version that I choose, and not necessarily the book. Surely The Muppets version surpasses all the others? Also, in the 2 or 3 weeks before Christmas I read, watch or listen to Christmas-themed supernatural stories. I agree with Dem that the Dalby '...for Christmas' collections are very good, and I do dip into them quite frequently over the festive season. I don't really do this, but I only very rarely re-read things anyway (so I can't contribute much to this thread, but I'm not going to let that stop me). One thing I can say though is that it doesn't feel right reading a story with a Xmas setting at a different time of year: It's like when you come across some random Xmas episode of a TV show on one of the freeview channels in the middle of summer (as I have more than once in the last few months). |
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Post by samdawson on Aug 1, 2021 11:16:02 GMT
Often at Christmas I will read A Christmas Carol by Dickens, and maybe one of his other Christmas books. Even though I know it well I keep getting pulled back to it because of the time of year, it adds to the Christmas feel. Are there books that you return to because of certain associations? Like a time of year, or a place you go, or a person you know, or event? Please share below. Maybe you take a particular book with you when you go on holiday to a certain place. When my children were tiny I determined to read A Christmas Carol to them each Xmas eve. After using the original version the first time I switched to an actually very good Ladybird condensed version. We still tend to watch the peerless Alistair Sym film version, sometimes the Muppet one, though not every Christmas so as not to deaden the impact through over-familiarity. Xmas also means Oliver!, and sometimes Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music. We have watched the Ghost Stories for Christmas so often that since an early age my children have (like me) been able to frighten my wife by imitating the sound of the "spider babies" (as well as the beast in Nigel Kneale's Baby). In 2001 we stayed in Slad, the village that is the source of Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie, and met with one of his schoolmates. It was to have been a one off visit in tribute to the book, but we loved the place so much that we have been back perhaps 10 or 11 times since. That first time I took my old school-era copy of the book and when everyone had gone to bed poured myself a whisky, put on a table light, curled up on the sofa (partly to keep my feet away from the mouse running around them) and re-read it for perhaps the then fourth time. It became a habit to do so and I find myself doing it every time. Luckily it is feasible to do so with that book in a way it might not be with others. |
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Post by ripper on Aug 1, 2021 13:07:58 GMT
Often at Christmas I will read A Christmas Carol by Dickens, and maybe one of his other Christmas books. Even though I know it well I keep getting pulled back to it because of the time of year, it adds to the Christmas feel. Are there books that you return to because of certain associations? Like a time of year, or a place you go, or a person you know, or event? Please share below. Maybe you take a particular book with you when you go on holiday to a certain place. When my children were tiny I determined to read A Christmas Carol to them each Xmas eve. After using the original version the first time I switched to an actually very good Ladybird condensed version. We still tend to watch the peerless Alistair Sym film version, sometimes the Muppet one, though not every Christmas so as not to deaden the impact through over-familiarity. Xmas also means Oliver!, and sometimes Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music. We have watched the Ghost Stories for Christmas so often that since an early age my children have (like me) been able to frighten my wife by imitating the sound of the "spider babies" (as well as the beast in Nigel Kneale's Baby). In 2001 we stayed in Slad, the village that is the source of Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie, and met with one of his schoolmates. It was to have been a one off visit in tribute to the book, but we loved the place so much that we have been back perhaps 10 or 11 times since. That first time I took my old school-era copy of the book and when everyone had gone to bed poured myself a whisky, put on a table light, curled up on the sofa (partly to keep my feet away from the mouse running around them) and re-read it for perhaps the then fourth time. It became a habit to do so and I find myself doing it every time. Luckily it is feasible to do so with that book in a way it might not be with others. What a lovely connection. |
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