Short and sweet, a worthy read. It might even make a nice stocking stuffer at the holiday season. The author states he does not want an artifricially sweet story and he accomplished that. His short story of life in New York City was both realistic and uplifting. ( )

An enjoyable few minutes of reading. A Christmas story that manages to be fun and Christmas-y without being sentimental in the slightest. Wonderful illustrations. ( )

As good as the film - Smoke. ( )

A book you can finish in one seating before the seat even turns warm. Pleasant read with illustrations. As expected, Christmas Story is a holiday themed plot but with a twist. ( )

Auster was asked by the New York Times to write a Christmas short story for the Op-Ed page.

He went on to write a story about a writer who is asked to write a short story for the New York Times to appear on Christmas morning. Stumped for what to write about, he receives some unexpected help from the tobacconist whose shop he frequents, a colourful character called Auggie Wren.

Wren offers to tell the author the best Christmas story he has ever heard in exchange for lunch. And in the diner he weaves a tale ... which is unsentimental, has no santas or angels, or trees or snow, but even as it overturns all expectations and blurs moral lines, still touches the heart.

This limited edition print version has funky illustrations by Isol throughout, and is a bit like a kids' book for grown-ups!

The little story inspired Wayne Wang's 1995 film, Smoke, for which Auster wrote the screenplay and created one of my favourite movie characters . (Blue in the Face features the same cast of characters and was entirely improvised, and filmed on the back of Smoke in just five days.)

And am much tickled reading the cast list, to discover that the book thief was played by Auster's twenty-year old son Daniel! As if it isn't bad enough that Auster keeps wandering inside the frame of his own stories, he wants his family in there too! ( )