I Stayed Up Late to Read this Book to You

Ally reads the short story "Christmas Eve" by Washington Irving, which appeared in The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, along with Rip Van Winkle and Sleep Hollow. Irving's portrayal of Christmas in England was very influential in the development of American Christmas traditions.

 

This is Ally signing off for the year. Mary will pick up next week with a few more Christmas short stories and then we will begin a new novel in January. Merry Christmas!

Mary reads the short story The Burglar's Christmas by Willa Cather (1896). This short story was published by Cather in The Home Monthly under the pseudonym Elizabeth L. Seymour.  

 

Read along here.

Mary reads the short story A Scot's Christmas Story by George MacDonald.

 

Read along here. 

Mary reads The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe (1850). Though Poe did not write any stories specifically set around Christmas (that I could find - please send us the name if he did!), this semi-ghost story is in keeping with the relatively unintentional Christmas Eve ghost story theme we have going. I also chose it because I thought it might fit into the type of ghost story Jerome K. Jerome had so much fun satirizing in Told After Supper. 

 

Read along here. 

Mary reads the short story Papa Panov's Special Christmas by Leo Tolstoy.

 

And with that, Mary is signing off for 2021! We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. 

Ally reads a chapter a day of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Ally reads a chapter a day of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Ally reads a chapter (or two) a day of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Ally reads a chapter (or two) a day of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Ally reads a chapter a day of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

This one is short and intriguing.