Christmas reading
14 Jan 2026 00:00![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiritsphereI had to do a reading sprint over Christmas vacation to reach my reading goal for 2025, but I did manage to reach it! I did so much more reading last year than I have since, well, since I can remember actually. It was a great success, but I did end up picking short and easy books over longer, more difficult ones. Not in itself a bad thing, but I do want to read some of the bricks I have on my shelf too, as well as the books in Japanese and other languages. So that's a loose goal I have this year.
My final books for the year were A Christmas Carol (yes, it's a novella, but it is in fact a pretty little book on my shelf too so I say it counts, and I make the rules), The Dark is Rising, and An Immense World. All were very good, though the last one was my favourite of the three. It made me want to read more about the subject, and if I find the time I will have a look through the extensive reference section.
I first learned of The Dark is Rising when searching for Dark Rise stuff, and I put it on my reading list when I realised its influential position in English children's literature of the fantasy genre. Since the action in the book happens over Christmas, I figured Christmas vacation was a good time to read it. I liked it, but not quite enough to pick up the other books in the series I think. There was a fairytale and dream-like quality to the story that was nice. It didn't go much into the central conflict between light and dark and I didn't feel any need for it to do so either, I just — very predictably — found myself wanting to know more about the antagonists. In any case, I can see echoes of the book in Dark Rise, and in Harry Potter. Very unsubtly so, in the latter case, haha.
My final books for the year were A Christmas Carol (yes, it's a novella, but it is in fact a pretty little book on my shelf too so I say it counts, and I make the rules), The Dark is Rising, and An Immense World. All were very good, though the last one was my favourite of the three. It made me want to read more about the subject, and if I find the time I will have a look through the extensive reference section.
I first learned of The Dark is Rising when searching for Dark Rise stuff, and I put it on my reading list when I realised its influential position in English children's literature of the fantasy genre. Since the action in the book happens over Christmas, I figured Christmas vacation was a good time to read it. I liked it, but not quite enough to pick up the other books in the series I think. There was a fairytale and dream-like quality to the story that was nice. It didn't go much into the central conflict between light and dark and I didn't feel any need for it to do so either, I just — very predictably — found myself wanting to know more about the antagonists. In any case, I can see echoes of the book in Dark Rise, and in Harry Potter. Very unsubtly so, in the latter case, haha.
