Christmas in JulyI had ordered Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story a couple of weeks ago, and it was going to be one of my Christmas reads, for you see I not only collect Christmas stories, but I have three German feather trees up all year in my bedrooms along with some wooden Santas. I love Christmas. When Christmas comes we have a large tree and my husband climbs up into the attic to get our green and red Christmas boxes down, and then we really decorate.I put the book away, but then I noticed that

Auggie works behind the counter of a neighborhood cigar store, an icon in downtown Brooklyn, and Paul is a frequent customer. Over many, many years they’ve had many conversations. Years ago, when Auggie realized Paul was a published author, he had asked Paul to take a look at his photographs. Twelve books of photographs taken over twelve years in chronological order. An insight into Auggie and his life.When the New York Times called him and asked him to write a “short story” to appear on Christm...

My beloved has a firm rule about Christmas and I appreciate the logic. Give Thanksgiving its due and then think/act as the “official” Christmas season begins. Our library of Christmas books (thanks in part to me) expands slightly every year. This book is one of the new ones. Auster is an engaging author and this short tale with its wonderfully imagined illustrations is no exception. Without revealing too much of the plot, this is a two-part tale. One part is the relationship between the “author”...

Lovely story, great writing, beautiful visuals. Thanks Cheri for reminding me of this book which I read already some years ago. Need to reread, maybe next year. Quite an extraordinary book from Paul Auster, not his usual cup of tea.

From this brief Christmas tale, the brilliant film Smoke derives, and if you have not seen that beautiful masterpiece of drama and comedy, I beg you to seek it out as soon as possible. Auster somehow started his sort of dip into the cinematic form with what I believe to be one of the greatest movies ever made, so check that one out! This story is told at the end of the film by the character Auggie Wren, played wonderfully by Harvey Keitel, and is a nearly word by word clone of that which was or

I went to the library today to watch a VHS tape of my work for a class. But when I got there, they told me that they don't let people watch their own VHS tapes, only tapes from the library. I asked why and they told me that if people could just bring in their own tapes and watch them they would never stop. Yup. Good thing the librarians are keeping a handle on things because we wouldn't want crazy people like me camping out in the library with their homework. Guess I'm supposed to go buy a TV an...

A short story for adults with illustrations. As christmas stories go it is subtle, no snow or carols but some nice messages about frienship, humility, sharing, passing time and the moral question of whether the truth always matters. I was expecting more of a twist or conclusion at the end but it was a nice story.

This is an easy read, but it’s kind of a pointless story. Basically, the author is asked to write a story about Christmas for the New York Times and doesn’t know what to write, so his friend tells him a story about Christmas, and he isn’t sure whether or not it is true

This slim book and I go back about four years. I picked it up that summer at a library book sale where I was volunteering--we get a free book as our "payment." And I set the book aside with the intention of reading it on Christmas.Well, Christmas came and went and I forgot to read the book. So I had to wait for year two. And that Christmas went perfectly. As perfectly as it can go for a single Jew, anyway. On Christmas Eve, I went to the movies and afterward entered a nearby bar which I'd never

“ Even at their best, Christmas stories were no more than wish fulfillment dreams, fairy tales for adults, and I’d be damned if I’d ever allowed myself to write something like that”.The author, Paul Auster, is asked to write a Christmas short story. He is stumped about what to write, but his friend, Auggie Wren, tells him he has the perfect one for him. So Auggie recounts the story of one Christmas, when he was returning a found wallet, he ended up spending Christmas with a blind woman.A sweet s...

This is a reread lost count on how many Christmases I have read it there is no such thing as a free lunch

A nice little story, but not as good as Smoke , the film that was made out of it.

My first review for the Christmas Spirit Challenge is going to be a mini-review for a mini book. Michelle, our lovely hostess, sent me Paul Auster's Auggie Wren's Christmas Story as part of my prize package for a previous year's challenge. It is a slim volume with a lovely Christmas fable--without Santa or reindeer or snowmen or Christmas trees. The most holiday-type thing in the story is a very unconventional Christmas dinner. How can this be?It is a tale about a writer who has been asked by Th...

This Christmas story gives you something to think and talk about after you are done reading it. It is a favorite of mine and up there with some classics I have read: A Christmas Carol, Gift of the Magi, Louisa May Alcotts’s The Quiet Little Woman. One other thing: I saw some similarities between Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story and The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Both start out with a writer having trouble writing a story followed by someone telling them a story which is then related to us the reade...

2019: I just love this little book.2016: A different kind of holiday story: a little bit odd, a little bit funny, only a tiny bit sentimental, and largely real life. Auster used this story to write a screenplay, adding characters and subplots, which became the movie Smoke. Worth reading. Worth watching.

Thirty years after its initial publication, this still stands as one of the greatest Christmas stories ever written, as well as one of the most powerful stories about storytelling -- and it's barely 3,000 words! "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story" teaches us that storytelling, like Christmas itself, is about a willingness to believe -- that it's very magic comes from active and conscious participation in an artifice.Just like a Christmas gift, "Auggie Wren" is a joy to open every year; it can be rea...

This tiny little book contains one mighty little Christmas story from acclaimed writer, Paul Auster. A feel good story without any over sentimentality. Makes for a great bedtime read when you're too tired at the end of the day for anything too taxing to read.Pleased that I picked it up from the library on a Christmas themed whim :D

"If you don't take the time to look, you'll never manage to see anything." Auggie takes the time to look and appreciate. He's compassionate and he's a giver, not a taker. He compassionately doesn’t have the kid arrested, he gives his time and love to the blind woman (in true Christmas spirit) and he gives the story to the writer. The writer is a bit cynical like most of us, but Auggie shows us something different, something better. Their relationship was superficial, almost meaningless, until fi...

I requested this from my local library last December. Finally, it arrived yesterday. This delightful, small, wonderfully illustrated book is very much a non-traditional Christmas story.It is not a story of Christmas trees, of mangers, of churches, of stained glass windows, or of snow softly falling as candles shed light in the windows.It is a story of unexpected gifts that arrive with moral dilemmas.It is very thought provoking and it was well worth the wait!

I enjoyed this quick read of a Christmas story. The "fictional" author in Auster's story wants to write an unsentimental Christmas tale. Auster succeeded with a story that could only take place in New York City, Brooklyn to be exact. While it is unsentimental, it portrays the spirit of giving, even if in a slightly off-kilter way. Originally published in The New York Times op-ed page, this hardcover has delightfully modernistic, colorful illustrations by Argentine artist Isol.

I liked this book, which is really a short story and very non-tradional for a Christmas story. It is not the overly sweet, sentimental and unrealistic Christmas story you usually see at this time of year, so be ready for something truly different. I like the fact that it leaves you with more questions than answers. I am tempted to try another book by this author.

Auster's 1995 film "Smoke" brought me here.

I'm a completist by nature and this was a nice treat for this time of the year, a christmas story by one of my favorite authors. Very short and lovely story made perfect by amazing artwork, words and images went together as well as peanut butter and jelly or, this being a christmas story, like snowman shaped cookies and milk. Recommended.

I've been ripping through the short books on my shelf this weekend and this one was among them. Very random short story for Christmas, and most likely my choice to read it in mid-April added to the weirdness. But it was strangely appealing somehow and - again - definitely random!

Not really a story... I was expecting a magical twist in the tale, but it just petered out rather disappointingly. The book looks like it is aimed at children, but I can't imagine any child whose attention or imagination would be captured by it.

I was killing time at the library today and this little book captured my attention so I grabbed it and read it while waiting for my bus. February is perhaps not the best time for this christmasy short story but I enjoyed it anyway! Will be looking for something a bit longer by this author.

Certainly a non-traditional Christmas story, very short in presentation, a little bit of a gem as well; no-nonsense in the telling as is Auggie Wren, a colorful character from whom the author received the story with the assurance that "every word is true." Well it might be at that, who knows?

This is a gem of a little story. I am so happy to have discovered it. Takes only 15 minutes to read, and the illustrations are wonderfully charming. :)

This was a sweet Christmas short story that was pleasant enough to read but I think will struggle to have any lasting impact on me.

This short story was thoroughly disappointing, but the one thing it had going for it was the illustrations. Very cute pictures...