If you Love Christmas, Read These Books
Plus some recs for people who have mixed feelings about the whole thing
We’re now well into December, and London is all lit up for the festive season. The main shopping streets are looking glorious, if also crowded with people overindulging in commercial excess. (Whoops, accidental Scrooge moment — sorry about that.)
I have a complicated relationship with Christmas, and I’m guessing that’s the case for many of us — as well as for other holidays you might celebrate at this, or frankly any other, time of the year. Unless you have a picture perfect family where no one ever argues, treads on others’ toes, or overstays their welcome (and if you do, please adopt me), there are bound to be moments that don’t quite live up to the John Lewis adverts.
But I also love the twinkling lights, the carols, the cheesy films, and the opportunity to treat people I love. (As well as, more seriously, a chance to focus on some key elements of my faith.) I will, most likely, be wrapping my presents in front of Love Actually, as I do most years.
So the recs that follow are like those feelings — a bit of a mixed bag. Family drama, wit, romance — you’ll find it all here. And if you celebrate a different holiday in December, you might want to check out this list.
Note that, as always, Blackwell’s is the most cost-effective option for North American readers to buy UK-published books not otherwise available in the US.
Christmas with Dull People by Saki
I was given this last Christmas, and I want to make it a tradition to re-read every December — and not just because it’s so slim that it’s a great opportunity to nudge slightly closer to my Goodreads goal in just an evening. It’s a gently satirical send-up of “what is alleged to be the festive season” and the way the English upper classes celebrate it — or, rather, tolerate it. You might not think that would be delightful, and yet it is. And for those of us with a history of British Christmasses under our belt, it’s also full of pleasant nostalgia.
Bookshop UK | Blackwell’s | Amazon
The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss
A new Jenny Bayliss novel is now a reliable part of the pre-Christmas calendar, but this first one is always worth revisiting. If you like the eccentric cast of characters in The Gilmore Girls, you’ll enjoy the village of Blexford, where Kate finds herself participating in a twelve-dates-of-Christmas event in the hopes to find someone to share the season with. I don’t remember much about this book — I read it in 2020, so it’s a blur, though the fact it held my attention in that reading slumpiest of years speaks for itself — but I do remember how it made me feel: cosy, festive, and nostalgic for a British Christmas.
Bookshop US | Bookshop UK | Blackwell’s | Libro FM | Amazon
The Adults by Caroline Hulse
The Adults is a really enjoyable novel about what happens when two exes go on holiday together, with their new partners and the daughter who links them. There’s also an imaginary rabbit, and plenty of enforced jollity and fun at this Center Parcs style resort. What could possibly go wrong? If your family has ever come to blows over an interminable post-Christmas-pudding game of Monopoly, you’ll find yourself nodding in recognition — as well as thoroughly entertained.
Bookshop US | Bookshop UK | Blackwell’s | Libro FM | Amazon
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
If your favourite kind of Hallmark movie is one that features a prince, pick up Royal Holiday, part 4 of the Wedding Date series that established Jasmine Guillory as the Queen of Romance! Though I’ve not read this one, I did enjoy The Proposal and Party of Two in the same series. (While it’s fun to read each of the books in order as they are set in the same universe and characters recur, it’s also not necessary.) A bonus for this one — aside from the seasonal mistletoe — is that the main characters are in their 50s, which makes a nice change!
Bookshop US | Bookshop UK | Blackwell’s | Libro FM | Amazon
Want more?
More great Christmas books can be found here (US) and here (UK). I’ve got recs for the littlest members of your family here. You can also find romances set across the holiday season here.
Feedback is welcome on the format of this newsletter, and please feel free to comment with the thing you love, so I can recommend relevant books for you!
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