Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by  The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here.  This week’s topic is:

Holiday Reads

I’ve gone for wintery reads, classics, murder mystery, fairy tale retellings and a bit of gothic haunting.  Here are my suggestions:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – a tale of redemption for the holiday season and surprisingly, given that Dickens isn’t particularly well known for his briefness a quick and fast paced story. I love this book and have read it a good few times.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley – a murder mystery that takes part up in a remote and expensive retreat in the Scottish Highlands where the main party become snow bound on New Year’s Eve.  Tempers fray and, well, it wouldn’t be a murder mystery without a dead body and a whole bunch of suspects.

Mistletoe by Alison Littlewood – gothic and haunting.  A Christmas story with mistletoe and a malevolent ghost.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey – a beautiful story of a lonely couple who long for a child. Set in Alaska this is breathtakingly atmospheric, a fairy tale retelling that is a perfect seasonal read.

The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross – a retelling of Beauty and the Beast – no shortage of these retellings and I simply can’t resist, but this is a retelling with a difference – it brings to us the Beast’s perspective. I really enjoyed this and the cold wintry feel of parts of the story make it a great holiday read.

The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis I don’t need to explain this one do I?  The story of a young girl who climbs into a wardrobe and finds a land where winter never ends, a cruel witch – and Mr Tumnus.

White Fang by Jack London – This is the story of a wild animal, part dog/part wolf, based in Canada during the Gold Rush period.  Harsh living, freezing temperatures and a dog trying to survive.

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett – one of the Tiffany Aching books.  I love this character and this is a perfect seasonal read.

The Act of Roger Murgatroyd, Gilbert Adair – ‘Boxing Day circa 1935. A snowed-in manor on the very edge of Dartmoor. A Christmas house-party. And overhead, in the attic, the dead body of Raymond Gentry’.  Written in Agatha Christie/whodunnit style this really is a seasonal mystery

I’ve left the tenth spot free for your suggestions please?