To construct the setting for his stories, Jean Shepherd relies on the little things, from the smell of boiled cabbage to a long-forgotten advertisement for soda pop. These serve to fix these stories in a time and place, and help you believe these things really happened.

And I’m sure they did, if not as humorously as they’re related here. They happened, in one way or another, to anyone who’s been a kid and had a family.

Only P. G. Wodehouse can rival Shepherd for smiles per paragraph, but Shepherd has a warmth to his writing and a touch of melancholy that make his stories more memorable.

I didn't even know A Christmas Story was based on any writing until I came across this book. I like how they took all the essays they got the ideas from and put them all into one book. It was very convenient. My family considers A Christmas Story "their" Christmas movie so reading the book was fun. Cute Christmas read.

When it comes to holiday comedies, for me, it doesn't get much better than A Christmas Story.

Now, up to this point, I'd only ever seen the movie version of Jean Shepherd's book. Finally, after all these years, I decided it was time to check out the real thing!

That movie version doesn't deviate much from A Christmas Story the book. The reader gets a pinch of the narrator's adult life, but the biggest deviation from the movie is the elaboration on the Bumpuses, the inbred, backwoods hicks that move in next door and who are only personified in the movie by their invasive pack of hounds. Though about 75% of this book is replicated in the movie, the addition of the Bumpuses alone make the book a worthwhile read.

I love Shepherd's homey sense of humor. I love humor in general, but especially when it's applied to one's childhood. Shepherd has plenty of memories to mine from his Depression-era upbringing. He smartly ties them into the Christmas theme, for the most part. And here I should warn the few of you who are expecting a word-for-word replay of the movie: The book is not laid out exactly the same way. And that's where the movie triumphs. It perfectly plots out its topic material. The book is a bit scattered in comparison. Even so, most all of the movie elements you've come to love are right here between these pages. I'd suggest grabbing a copy if you're in the mood for a really good holiday read!

Listened to the audio book. So funny!