American Christmas Stories, edited by Connie Willis: Book Review

Title: American Christmas Stories
Editor: Connie Willis
Genre: Christmas, Holiday, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Western, Humor, Horror, Paranormal
Audience: Adult

My Review:

I listened to Connie Willis’s collection of her own Christmas stories (A Lot Like Christmas) last year and went searching for more of her work. I stumbled on this anthology that she edited and decided to give it a try. The quality of the stories was remarkably consistent!

The stories are arranged by publication date. The first story was published around the Civil War. They continue up through current times. I liked that organization for a couple of reasons. It was interesting to see literary styles evolve over the years. I also liked seeing how societal norms and problems have changed or remained the same.

I really appreciated that Ms. Willis made an obvious effort to include a diverse group of authors and their experiences in the collection. Black authors writing in the Jim Crow South obviously had very different stories to tell than the White authors writing at the same time. We need to remember that reality.

The stories cover a lot of genres from sentimental classics to Westerns to contemporary stories and on to one or two disturbing horror-ish tales. I really liked the variety.

If you want a Christmas collection that covers a lot of ground, I highly recommend this one.

Synopsis from GoodReads:

Library of America and Connie Willis present 150 years of diverse, ingenious, and uniquely American Christmas stories

Christmas took on its modern cast in America, and over the last 150 years the most magical time of the year has inspired scores of astonishingly diverse and ingenious stories. Library of America joins with acclaimed author Connie Willis to present a unparalleled collection of American stories about Christmas, literary gems that showcase how the holiday became one of the signature aspects of our culture.

Spanning from the origins of the American tradition of holiday storytelling in the wake of the Civil War to today, this is the biggest and best anthology of American Christmas stories ever assembled. From ghost stories to the genres of crime, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, humor, and horror, stories of Christmas morning, gifts, wise men, nativities, family, commercialism, and dinners from New York to Texas to outer space, this anthology reveals the evolution of Christmas in America–as well as the surprising ways in which it has remained the same.

Similar Books:

If you liked American Christmas Stories, you might also like my reviews of

• A Lot Like Christmas by Connie Willis, read by Eliza Foss, John Keating, L. J. Ganser, and Lori Gardner
• Christmas Tales by Charles Dickens
• The Fat Man by Keith Harmon

Reading Challenge:

Purchase:

Buy American Christmas Stories from Malaprop’s Bookstore in beautiful Asheville, NC or

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