As with most of the Folio Society anthologies, this was a mixed bag. Well worth dipping into to see if any particular author, whom you didn't know, is worth closer examination. Some absolute gems, and some less gripping sections, but overall a book worth reading. (And I read it at Christmas, which was perhaps an added bonus!) ( )

A wide ranging collection of snippets from memoirs (some fictional) taking place around Christmas, but away from home. Here are the famous and not-so-famous recording their thoughts and experiences as they observe (or not) Christmas in strange lands and, often, strange settings - exploration, war, visiting family or friends, in prison, hiding out, etc. A good collection to keep by your reading chair during the season. Many one to two page selections, with some longer. Heavy on Brits, but many of other nationalities.

Os ( )

An odd idea to read a Christmas book in August... I always have problems with books which collect short excerpts from other books. This one looks like an exception. (Besides, it was a gift from The Folio Society, and you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, do you?) From the stories I liked the best:

1. The narration by Gerald Durrell of the invitation to lunch (? around Christmas time) which was addressed to him by a bulimic countess when he was a child in Corfu. He ate so much that he was sick afterwards on his way home on a donkey.

2. The anecdote told by Private Frank Sumpter, from the London Rifle Brigade, about the 1914 Christmas Truce in the trenches: to show their friendliness (?) the Germans put up a sign saying 'Gott mit uns' and British troops replied by another sign which read 'We got mittens too'. Frank Sumpter adds 'I don't know if they enjoyed that joke'. (Incidentally I've just looked on Google if there were entries for 'got mittens': there are many, some relating the same anecdote as above, others attributing the joke to American soldiers during WWII.) ( )