Emma Types Stuff

With the Victorian era being the source of so many Christmas traditions, Victorian stories are a staple of Christmas. A Christmas Carol may be a popular choice, but for a slightly less moralistic read, many adore Arthur Conan Doyle's Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle .  "I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season." - The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle In it Holmes and Watson work out the series of events that led to a priceless gem being found in a goose. It's a good-humoured and heart-warming tale, and well worth reading if you are looking for a moment of relaxation rather than spooky Dickensian social justice. But what if you have already read it, and are seeking out more festive Holmes tales? Luckily you are spoiled for choice, as other authors have penned their own festive pastiches...  What Child is This? by Bonnie Macbird You may recognise this as one of the ...

Hey there,  Small Town Love Interest in a Holiday Movie , mind if I call you Small Town for short?  I know life isn't easy for you. Good flannel shirts aren't cheap, stubble takes maintenance, and you are no doubt extremely busy with your successful coffee shop/bakery and the single-fathering/reading to sick children/rescuing kittens you do on the side. Plus all that wood-chopping and cookie-making really eats into your Netflix time. You didn't ask for a feisty blonde/redhead to come from the city and bring back memories of your teenage heartbreak and/or put you out of business.  You probably wanted to watch TV this Christmas, not pretend to be engaged to a stranger for reasons that, let's face it, even you aren't clear about.   When are you going to get some time to yourself, Small Town ? After the big happy ending? Whilst navigating a new relationship you've committed to far too early? Will you both be the same person once the Christmas Tree comes down and t...

Witness me striding over to the window.  I throw said window open and lean out, startling an urchin below. (Naturally, I have a comical olde-world sleep cap on.) "You there! What genre is this?"  "W-why... it's traditional romance ma'am!" I step back and dance around my bedroom in delight. A miracle has occurred. My cold, dead heart is beating once more - because I read a traditional romance novel and it was fantastic.    Unlike Scrooge, who we are assured stuck to his new do-gooding lifestyle, I am probably not going to become a romance devotee, but in this particular case I am delighted to be proved wrong.  Traditional romance is traditionally the stuff of Mills and Boon. Where they once had covers of men and women in various stages of their clothes falling off, contemporary romances now have covers with characters drawn in a cartoonish style, looking wistfully at each other like they are part of a the syllabus textbook for a GCSE in Pining.  The Norther...

I actually wasn't planning to review Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight [Don Bassingthwaite]. It's fairly niche (I got it in a Storybundle ) and a google search proves that it's tricky to track down... but oh boy is it worth it. My face hurt at the end, because I'd been grinning for hours. This collection of interconnected short stories takes place across the year, covering Christmas, Hannukah, Mardi Gras, Pride, and St Patrick's Day. I read it during my December Reading challenge but the largest story in the collection is based around St Patrick's Day. I think it works best then. Besides, how many St. Patrick's Day books are there?  Derby Cavendish is a just your average gay man, with a strong sense of queer community and a healthy desire to attend camp, themed events. Unfortunately he attracts magical mayhem wherever he goes. The poor guy can't even buy a Christmas tree without being pursued through the woods by an generously proportioned Mi...

I always found it a shame that Agatha Christie wrote fewer Marple books than Poirot ones. It's understandable - Christie was chained to her Belgian detective in the same way Conan Doyle was to his Baker Street one. It's also much easier for an internationally famous detective to stumble upon mystery and murder (and the glamourous settings that come with them) than an elderly spinster - however well-connected she might be.   Christie's Miss. Marple books are by no means ignored, but you'd struggle to find anyone calling them her finest. There are no rule-breaking Roger Akroyd writing techniques, nor the exotic suspect list of the Orient Express . The series is instead celebrated for its deceptively simple concepts - the bewilderment of finding a body you don't recognise in your own house, the thrill at seeing a murder happen in a passing train window. The stories themselves, and the sleuth who solves them, seem to matter less.    But Miss. Marple has plenty to offer...

For December I will be attempting to read as many festive books as I can. You can check out the original challenge here and follow my progress below... The Prompts: 1. A Classic Christmas Story  A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas A sweet little prose piece that brings back atmospheric memories of a Christmas that is incredibly specific and yet somehow universal. The Chimes by Charles Dickens Another festive morality book from Dickens, though it was never as popular as A Christmas Carol. This sees and elderly but kind ticket porter go through a similar process to Scrooge over the course of a New Year. Dickens champions the poor and takes vicious aim at the condescending attitude and conditional charity of the rich - but this is still a colder, meaner story and far more mawkish. This actually feels ripe for a modern adaptation in this world of zero-hour-contract grind culture.   2. A Murderous Christmas Story The Snowman by Jo Nesbø A serial killer is stalking mo...