129. Letters From Father Christmas. J.R.R. Tolkien. 1976/1999. 160 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Dear John, I heard you ask daddy what I was like and
where I lived. I have drawn me and my house for you. Take care of the
picture. I am just off now for Oxford with my bundle of toys--some for
you. Hope I shall arrive in time: the snow is very thick at the North
Pole tonight. Your loving Father Christmas.
ETA: I listened to this on audio read by Derek Jacobi! It was AWESOME. Cannot overstate it. Absolutely recommend this audio. There are other voice actors for the polar bear and I believe another recurring character.
Premise/plot: The earliest letter from 'Father Christmas' to the Tolkien
children is 1920. The latest letter is dated 1943 to his daughter,
Priscilla. The letters speak of Father Christmas' affairs--his
adventures and misadventures. Little details about the Tolkiens slip
through, of course. He refers to their letters in which they mention
pets and toys, etc. He speaks of Polar Bear, his greatest assistant. He
speaks of red elves--some. But Father Christmas has a war to fight of
his own--against the goblins! (Christmas is almost sabotaged several
times!) My thoughts: How quickly time flies! These letters capture
moments. I suppose that's as good a way as any to describe this one. We
don't get to see the children's letters to Father Christmas through the
years, but, we do get to see Father Christmas's letters to the Tolkien
children... But children don't write letters to Father Christmas
forever, one by one they grow up and grow out of belief. Still these are
moments where we catch glimpses of Tolkien as both loving parent and
creative artist.
Near the North Pole
Christmas 1925
My dear boys,
I
am dreadfully busy this year—it makes my hand more shaky than ever when
I think of it—and not very rich; in fact awful things have been
happening, and some of the presents have got spoilt, and I haven’t got
the North Polar bear to help me, and I have had to move house just
before Christmas, so you can imagine what a state everything is in, and
you will see why I have a new address, and why I can only write one
letter between you both.
It all happened like
this: one very windy day last November my hood blew off and went and
stuck on the top of the North Pole. I told him not to, but the North
Polar Bear climbed up to the thin top to get it down—and he did. The
pole broke in the middle and fell on the roof of my house, and the North
Polar Bear fell through the hole it made into the dining room with my
hood over his nose, and all the snow fell off the roof into the house
and melted and put out all the fires and ran down into the cellars,
where I was collecting this year’s presents, and the North Polar Bear’s
leg got broken.
He is well again now, but I was
so cross with him that he says he won’t try to help me again—I expect
his temper is hurt, and will be mended by next Christmas. I send you a
picture of the accident and of my new house on the cliffs above the
North Pole (with beautiful cellars in the cliffs). If John can’t read my
old shaky writing (one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five years old)
he must get his father to. When is Michael going to learn to read, and
write his own letters to me? Lots of love to you both and Christopher,
whose name is rather like mine.
That’s all: Good Bye
Father Christmas
Cliff House
October 31st 1931
Dear Children,
Already
I have got some letters from you! You are getting busy early. I have
not begun to think about Christmas yet. It has been very warm in the
North this year, and there has been very little snow so far. We are just
getting in our Christmas firewood.
This is just
to say my messengers will be coming round regularly now Winter has
begun—we shall be having a bonfire tomorrow—and I shall like to hear
from you: Sunday and Wednesday evenings are the best times to post to
me.
The Polar Bear is quite well and fairly
good—(though you never know what he will do when the Christmas rush
begins.) Send my love to John.
Your loving
Father Nicholas Christmas
Glad Father Christmas has wakt up. He slept nearly all this hot summer. I wish we kood have snow. My coat is quite yellow.
Love Polar Bear
Cliff House,
near North Pole
Christmas Eve 1940
My Dearest Priscilla
Just
a short letter to wish you a very happy Christmas. Please give my love
to Christopher. We are having rather a difficult time this year. This
horrible war is reducing all our stocks, and in so many countries
children are living far from their homes. Polar Bear has had a very busy
time trying to get our address-lists corrected. I am glad you are still
at home!
I wonder what you will think of my
picture. “Penguins don’t live at the North Pole,” you will say. I know
they don’t, but we have got some all the same. What you would call
“evacuees”, I believe (not a very nice word); except that they did not
come here to escape the war, but to find it! They had heard such stories
of the happenings up in the North (including a quite untrue story that
Polar Bear and all the Polar Cubs had been blown up, and that I had been
captured by Goblins) that they swam all the way here to see if they
could help me. Nearly 50 arrived.
The picture is
of Polar Bear dancing with their chiefs. They amuse us enormously: they
don’t really help much, but are always playing funny dancing games, and
trying to imitate the walk of Polar Bear and the Cubs.
Very much love from your old friend,
Father Christmas
© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Books read and reviewed in 2026
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
This week I read seven books. While I may do another mid-week post to do the final movies of Century of Viewing, I'm guessing that I'll save any book reviews for newly finished books to 2026!
126. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams. Illustrated by
Chris Riddell. 1979/2021. 289 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars,
speculative fiction, humor, science fiction, audio book]
Read this if...
- You enjoy science fiction
- You enjoy humor
- You enjoy audio books
127. Little House on the Prairie. Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1935. 335 pages. [Source: Bought] [children's classic]
Read this if...
- You enjoy historical fiction
- You enjoy children's classics
- You enjoy audio books
 128. Westfallen. Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares. 2024. 384 pages.
[Source: Library] [5 stars] [MG speculative fiction, MG science fiction,
MG dystopia, TIME TRAVEL, alternate history]
Read this if...
- You enjoy speculative fiction
- You enjoy magical radios that allow for communication across time
- You enjoy alternate universes
82. Whispers at Painswick Court. Julie Klassen. 2025. 368 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, Regency historical romance, Christian fiction]
Read this if...
- You enjoy Christian fiction
- You enjoy historical mysteries
- You enjoy historical romances
83. Ryle on the Christian Life: Growing in Grace. Andrew Atherstone. 2025. 208 pages. [Source: Review copy, 4 stars, christian biography, theology, christian nonfiction]
Read this if...
- You enjoy Christian theology
- You enjoy Christian biographies
84. A Wondrous Mystery: Daily Advent Devotions. Charles H. Spurgeon. 2024. 144 pages. [Source: GIFT] [4 stars]
Read this if...
- You enjoy devotional books
- You enjoy Advent books
- You enjoy Charles Spurgeon
 16. 435E1B Paragraph Bible, Holy Bible, King James Version. Local Church Publisher. 1950 pages. [Source: Gift] [5 stars]
Read this if...
- You enjoy the King James
- You enjoy single column Bibles
- You enjoy reader's Bibles
Century of Viewing #52
1940s
- 1947 Miracle on 34th Street. A classic. I love this one so much. A lawyer convinces the world that one man--a Macy's Santa Claus--is THE one and only Santa Claus. Also romance.
1970s
- 1977. It Happened One Christmas. A 70s adaptation of It's A Wonderful Life with gender swapping. It's not horrible. It's not wonderful. It's slightly odd. I don't regret watching it once.
- 1979 American Christmas Carol. Henry Winkler stars in this adaptation of A Christmas Carol. It's just different enough to be interesting YET faithful enough to be good. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I would watch again though probably not this Christmas season.
1990s
- 1990 Die Hard 2. Perhaps not as good as the first. But his wife is in danger once again--along with a lot of other people at the airport--so action-packed drama.
- 1992. Muppet Christmas Carol. THE BEST MOVIE EVER? MAYBE PROBABLY.
- 1999. A Christmas Carol. Patrick Stewart stars in this adaptation of Christmas Carol. I enjoyed it very much.
2010s
- 2010 How To Train Your Dragon (animated). SUCH a good movie. Highly recommend. I do prefer this one to the live-action.
- 2019 A Christmas Movie Christmas. Is this parody enjoyable enough to make it a 'must'? Maybe. Maybe not. BUT it did make it more enjoyable to sit through. It's ridiculing the genre while conforming to the genre in its own twisted way. Would definitely have been improved if I'd been watching it with a friend.
2020s
- 2020 Nashville Christmas Carol. I wanted more Christmas Carol than I got. However, it was mildly pleasant. I wouldn't watch it again perhaps. But I'm not mad at it.
- 2021 Sister Swap: Hometown Christmas. If memory serves--which it doesn't always--real life sisters star in this movie. There are, I believe, two movies--one for each sister. YouTube only had the one! But this one was cute enough in its own way. A woman returns to hometown to 'save' her late uncle's movie theater and falls in love with a former classmate.
- 2025 Call the Midwife Holiday Special. I enjoyed it. Is it my favorite Call the Midwife Holiday Special???? Probably not. But it was GOOD.
© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
128. Westfallen. Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares. 2024. 384 pages.
[Source: Library] [5 stars] [MG speculative fiction, MG science fiction,
MG dystopia, TIME TRAVEL, alternate history] First sentence: Let
me ask you this: What's the worst thing you've ever done? Really think
about it. Well, multiply your thing by a billion and you don't even get
close. Sorry to brag. It's just...your thing? It's the Cheeto-dust
thumbprint you left on the basement sofa. It's an ant's toe you stepped
on. And then you said, "Sorry!" and the ant went, "No worries, mate!"
Because the ant's British, I don't know. My thoughts (preview):
Ever been HOOKED on a premise????? It doesn't happen all that often,
though it does happen. This is the case with Westfallen. The premise had
me at HELLO. Reading the synopsis raised my expectations immeasurably,
and it did NOT, I repeat did NOT disappoint. Premise/plot: Six
kids working together (with the best intentions)--separated by
time--manage to destroy life as we know it. Shocked I was able to sum up
an entire book in one sentence? Me too. Henry, Lukas, and
Frances were at one time best, best, best friends though in recent years
they've grown apart--far apart. Alice, Lawrence, and Artie are friends
as well. These six friends become connected by a radio. Alice
"saves" her brother's radio from the trash. It's broken and her brother,
Robbie, is gone--presumably for the war. Her two friends, Lawrence and
Artie, are near by and interested in seeing if they can fix the radio. Henry
is burying his gerbil, Zeus, when he discovers a long-buried radio. His
(former) friends are there for the funeral. All are interested in this
buried "treasure" of sorts. All six kids are SHOCKED when the
radio works. The two sets of friends refer to themselves as "Mars" and
"Jupiter." It takes time for them to realize that the new friends
they've made aren't living in the same year. Henry, Lukas and Frances
are in 2023....and Alice, Lawrence, and Artie are in 1944. Both are in
the same house, same street, same city. Will innocent casual conversation lead to the unwinding of the universe????? My
thoughts: I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED THIS ONE. Mostly. I will say that the
CLIFF HANGER ending was while not a huge surprise a bit disappointing.
If the cliff hanger leads to a book two, then YES PLEASE. If it does NOT
lead to a book two then readers everywhere have been robbed. I
loved the premise. I loved the characters. I loved the plot. This is one
I could easily see myself reading again and again and again.
© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Little House on the Prairie. Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1935. 335 pages. [Source: Bought] [children's classic]
First sentence: A long time ago, when all the grandfathers and grandmothers of today
were little boys and little girls or very small babies, or perhaps not
even born, Pa and Ma and Mary and Laura and Baby Carrie left their
little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin. They drove away and left it
lonely and empty in the clearing among the big trees, and they never saw
that little house again. They were going to the Indian country.
Premise/plot:
Laura Ingalls travels with her family to Indian Territory [aka Kansas],
but alas the family must move again by the end of the novel when the
government forces them out. My thoughts: Though Little House on
the Prairie is the name of the television show and seems to represent
the "brand" of the "Little House" books because of that, this
one--Little House on the Prairie--is not my favorite or best. I'm not
sure if it's because the plot is ultimately pointless OR if it's because
the content is the most problematic of the whole series. Perhaps a bit
of both. First, I don't hate Little House on the Prairie--this
specific book, the series as a whole, or the television series. I am NOT
part of the cancel culture that has arisen surrounding this author and
series. Second, NEWSFLASH, Laura Ingalls Wilder is recalling and
chronicling a mindset from sixty to seventy years prior. It was not her
job as an author in 1935 to course-correct the "Manifest Destiny"
mindset. The "go west, young man" philosophy that would colonize the
entirety of the United States--from "sea to shining sea." NEWSFLASH if
you were a pioneer settling in the WEST chances are you felt entitled
and 'in the right' to settle and 'claim' your property with the
government. Third, while the book has half-a-dozen (perhaps a few
more) scenes that are problematic, the scenes could have been worse.
That's not to justify anything. It's not. (The scenes that are there are
cringe at best and extremely offensive at worst.) Laura and Pa seem
more curious than hateful. That is not justification. Again, that's not
my goal. It would be an uphill battle that is ultimately doomed. The
fact that Laura is so curious and interested is in part because of her
innocence (a small part) and a larger part in that she views the Indians
as "other." She is a product of her upbringing. But she would not have
been alone. It wasn't that the Ingalls were above and beyond the
ultimate propagators of this mindset. They were just one of many. It is a
whole culture that contemporary readers are at war with. I think the
books and author are often the target. People seem to single her out as
if she is solely to blame. Fourth, Laura usually depicts Pa as
practically perfect in every way. She idealizes him in her books. This
one is no different. I, as a reader, don't see Pa as perfect. I see his
MUST GO WEST AT ALL COSTS and drag my family around and make their lives
as difficult as humanly possible philosophy off-putting. Life can be
hard no matter where you live. But Pa's "the grass is always greener on
the other side" wanderlust is annoying.
© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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