CHRISTMAS SPIRITS

The holidays mean you’re allowed to get a little hokey, and today Housing Works Bookstore Cafe hosts a sentimental Christmas celebration in high literary style. The shop’s fifth annual What the Dickens?: A Christmas Carol Marathon Reading boasts an impressive roster of authors performing the Dickens classic in its entirety, preceded by caroling from the New York City Master Chorale. Readers include a range of respected scribes, like Jami Attenberg, whose The Middlesteins was a New York Times bestseller; Lev Grossman, author of the Magicians fantasy trilogy; and Rosie Schaap, who created a paean to bar culture in her memoir Drinking With Men. Get a drink yourself — the bookstore’s café serves hot cocoa and wine — and listen to each author’s spin on the well-worn story of Scrooge’s journey to yuletide enlightenment.

Sat., Dec. 20, 1 p.m., 2014