When I started blogging, I decided to dedicate December to reading Christmas and holiday books. By now, in my third year of continuing this tradition, I have now encountered many Christmas inclined books. Some have been beautiful classics and others have been smutty romances and others have been worse than a Hallmark movie with a bigger time commitment.
To save you some time, I’m sharing eleven Christmas books I will always recommend. There are a couple silly romances, but they’re well done, and now is the time of year for love, joy, peace on Earth, and a little mindless reading.
- A Christmas Treasury This one is a beautifully illustrated book full of lots of Christmas stories. If you buy one book this year for Christmas, make it this one. Perfect for children and adults. Plus, it looks amazing sitting on a coffee table or under the tree.
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Arguably the greatest Christmas story ever told, it changed Christmas in England and America. It’s a classic because the tale is timeless and the writing is superb.
- Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien I adore everything about this book. Tolkien wrote to his children for two decades as Santa. The letters were accompanied by beautiful illustrations.
- Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory So often Christmas stories involve white people. I love that this romantic comedy had a strong independent woman who gave up nothing for love and the two main characters are Black. Yay!!!
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson I have an emotional connection to this one because I starred in the play version as I kid. It’s fun, funny, and full of redemption.
- The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn Full of history, adventure, and Christmas spirit, this is a great book for families to read with their kids. I also just enjoyed it immensely as a history buff.
- A Merry Christmas and Other Stories by Louisa May Alcott Alcott has been one of my favorite authors since I was a child. I love her Christmas stories as much as her novels. They’re sweet and beautiful.
- The Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas This is not the ballet. It’s a great book about the Nutcracker and Christmas with the right amount of horror and fun.
- The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum This is such a sweet and fun story. I absolutely love the mystical take Baum gives Santa and his world. It’s adorable and I read it again and again.
- Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope I have loved Trollope’s way with words, and his Christmas stories are witty and full of societal insight.
- The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry This is a classic Christmas story, and one that probably has more relevance than we would like to admit in today’s world of COVID and financial upheaval.
Alright. These are my eleven Christmas picks. I highly suggest all of them. You can’t go wrong with any of them. They’re happy and full of Christmas spirit. This year, we could all use a little bit more of that in our lives; I know I could.
bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna
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