Cozy Christmas Books: Best Books on Poetry and Anthologies
Hi everyone welcome to my blog today I’m talking about Cozy Christmas Books: Best Books on Poetry and Anthologies.
I’m doing a follow-up to my previous article on cozy reads for Christmas and I’ll be sharing my favorite Christmas anthologies and poetry collections.
I absolutely adore a good anthology over the Christmas period and as you know I’m a big fan of poetry too
so I’m really excited to share some of these books from my festive collection with you all.
Cozy Christmas Books: Festive Poetry Books & Anthologies to Read in 2022
I’m excited about sharing these poetry anthology books with you and it’s so fun to give which books you’ll be reading over the festive period too so do keep reading.
I’ve said before books are such an important part of the winter holidays for me so I hope that whether you celebrate Christmas or not you’ll still enjoy reading about some of the best poetry anthologies that I love to read over the winter and particularly at Christmas time.
Best Poetry Collections
1. Christmas Please!: 100 Poems for the Festive Season
Christmas Please!: 100 Poems for the Festive Season by Dr. Douglas Brooks-Davies
first I want to highlight this beautiful poetry book called ‘Christmas please 100 Poems for the Festive Season’ this is such a lovely volume I mean all of the poems are somehow related to the Christmas festivities there are some beautiful illustrations all through it
which I really love and it’s just a really fabulous collection I’ve had it for quite a few years now and it’s what I bring out every Christmas time.
Because there’s always an old favorite poem that I return to and I also always seem to discover something new in it too and like I said I love all of the illustrations all the way through it
I think that they’re really charming so if you’re looking for a nice Christmassy poetry book then I really recommend this one because there are so many fantastic poems packed into this and it’s a real favorite of mine.
2. Light Unlocked: Christmas Card Poems
Light Unlocked: Christmas Card Poems by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Next up I rather like this little collection particularly the idea behind it it’s called light unlocked Christmas card poems and what it is it’s a collection of poetry that a lot of famous poets but also just writers sent to friends of theirs as a Christmas card
and there are some favorites of mine in here there’s a wonderful wendy cope poem I think it’s called let the Christmas spirit in something like that and there are some really nice ones in here but like I said I also just really love the idea of this it inspires me to sometimes send a little poem in a Christmas card to my friends and loved ones generally.
And I think that’s such a thoughtful thing to do for people is to just write out a favorite little poem of yours if you’re sending cards over December again there are some beautiful little woodcut illustrations through this too which I think are just gorgeous
I love them most of the poems are quite short because they are designed to sort of fit inside a Christmas card or like be sent almost instead of a card so a lot of them are quite short but it’s just a really nice little collection and a favorite of mine too.
3. Christmas Poems (Faber Poetry)
Christmas Poems (Faber Poetry) by Wendy Cope
Then I also like to get some Christmas poems or poetry collections by poets by sort of a single poet that I really like so wendy cope is one of my favorite poets so I was really thrilled to get this collection of her Christmas poetry
and this is such a charming book I mean I love wendy cope I think that she’s just a fantastic poet and this has oh it’s called the Christmas life I think that was the one I was mentioning before by her the Christmas life and that’s in here too that’s one of my favorite poems.
It’s about the Christmas tree and the sort of joy that it brings and again there are some lovely illustrations I hope you can see that through this collection and just some really charming short little poems again I use this as inspiration when I’m sending Christmas cards
if I want to send a little poem in with the card or it’s just something I like to have by my bedside at Christmas time so I can dip in and out and read a little poem each evening so I love this one.
4. Dorothy Wordsworth’s Christmas Birthday
Dorothy Wordsworth’s Christmas Birthday by
The Dorothy Wordsworth one is one of my favorites it’s a lovely little poem not only celebrating Wordsworth and Dorothy in particular which I think is lovely but sort of Christmas season
and again it’s just really sweet there are some really pretty illustrations all through it which I really love so I love reading Dorothy Wordsworth’s diaries actually and it’s I think one of the reasons why I especially love this little poem.
I’m also a fan of “Carol Ann Duffy” and she does these fabulous Christmas poetry volumes I’ve got quite a few of them now there are
I do like all of them but that one’s definitely one of my favorites by her and then I’ve got a couple more actually by her Bethlehem you can see that and The king of Christmas so I don’t know if she’s done more actually I’d have to check um but I’ve definitely collected quite a few
because I just think they’re really lovely they’re lovely little stocking fillers as well and she chooses different artists are chosen for each poem I think so they’re always they always have beautiful illustrations which I love.
5. Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem
Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou
And then I’m also a huge fan of Maya Angelou she’s one of my favorite poets and so I was really pleased to get this really pretty edition of her Christmas poem amazing piece this is actually one of my very favorite Christmas poems it’s really moving Maya Angelou first wrote it for the lighting of the tree in the white house I think in 2005.
And it’s a wonderful celebration in which she asks every one of whatever faith to just come together to celebrate peace at Christmas time and it’s really moving it’s definitely one of my favorite Christmas poems so it’s special to have this attractive edition of it.
Favorite Anthologies
1. Round the Christmas Fire
Round the Christmas Fire by Various
First up is ‘round the Christmas fire’ stories from Nancy Mitford, pg woodhouse, Stella Gibbons, Charles Dickens, and many more this is one of the vintage Christmas anthologies and I adore the cover by Emily Sutton I’ll put that here so you can see it on the back I just think that’s utterly charming.
Let me see when you can see that yes so this is one of my favorite anthologies I’ve had it for a long time but it contains many favorites of mine and it’s one that I bring out every year
I really like the categories it’s Christmas chills, ghost stories for Christmas eve, the yuletide spirit, Christmas diaries, Christmas caroling, Christmas with the family, Christmas gifts, Christmas dinners, and last Christmas.
So I really like those categories and there are great choices underneath each category so I highly recommend this one it is a big favorite of mine I’ve highlighted it quite a bit before my Twitter and so on but definitely wanted to mention it here.
2. The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries
The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries by Otto Penzler
And then this Christmas anthology is one of my favorites is one of my mom’s very favorites actually she adores this one and it’s ‘the big book of Christmas mysteries and it’s a really fabulous collection you can see there’s a really extensive list of contributing authors and stories collected in this one there are some real favorites like a lot of ‘Agatha Christie’ and ‘Ngaio Marsh’.
And I think there’s the brother cad file mystery some short stories from that and it’s really good the only complaint I have about this one is that it’s quite gigantic so it is a bit heavy it’s a bit tricky to read in bed this one but it’s actually really worthwhile getting
if you like mysteries at Christmas time and this is a really nice collection of them it’s just it is quite hefty but it’s really fabulous so we both love this one a lot.
