Books to read in the Holidays

10 Christmasy Classics to Read in the Holidays!

Holidays are here and 2020 is almost over! Either you achieved your 2020 Goodreads reading challenge or not, there’s still some time left to read books. Below you will find the 10 best Christmassy classics, which Bookish Baughs and I suggest reading, that will definitely put you in the holidays' mood. 

1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Goodreads Synopsis

'If I had my way, every idiot who goes around with Merry Christmas on his lips would be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. Merry Christmas? Bah humbug!' 

Introduction and Afterword by Joe Wheeler

To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late. 

Part of the Focus on the Family Great Stories collection, this edition features an in-depth introduction and discussion questions by Joe Wheeler to provide greater understanding for today's reader. "A Christmas Carol" captures the heart of the holidays like no other novel.

2. Hercules Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie

Goodreads Synopsis

In Hercule Poirot's Christmas, the holidays are anything but merry when a family reunion is marred by murder — and the notoriously fastidious investigator is quickly on the case. The wealthy Simeon Lee has demanded that all four of his sons — one faithful, one prodigal, one impecunious, one sensitive — and their wives return home for Christmas. But a heartwarming family holiday is not exactly what he has in mind. He bedevils each of his sons with barbed insults and finally announces that he is cutting off their allowances and changing his will. Poirot is called in the aftermath of Simeon Lee's announcement.

3. Christmas Short Stories by Alexandros Papadiamantis

Review

This particular collection of short stories is not common in such lists. This would also fit in my previous post about Greek literature since Papadiamantis’ books are memorable and meaningful. I’m not sure if this particular collection of stories is translated in English but, if it is, you should read it at some point in your life, as well as other Papadiamantis’ books, like the Murderess.

4. The night before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol

Goodreads Synopsis

Written in 1831, this dark tale relates the adventures of Vakula, the blacksmith, in his fight against the devil, who has stolen the moon above the village of Dikanka and is wreaking havoc on its inhabitants, all to win the love of the most beautiful girl in town. The basis for many film and opera adaptations, and still a story traditionally read aloud to children on Christmas Eve in Ukraine and Russia, The Night Before Christmas is the best holiday tale by the man whom Vladimir Nabokov called 'the greatest writer Russia has yet produced'.

5. Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

Goodreads Synopsis

Can you imagine writing to Father Christmas and actually getting a reply? For more than twenty years, the children of J.R.R. Tolkien received letters from the North Pole - from Father Christmas himself! They told wonderful stories of mischief and disaster, adventures, and battles: how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place, how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas's house, and many others.

Now, for the first time, these letters are brought to life with specially arranged holiday music.

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READ THE OTHER HALF OF THE POST AT BOOKISH BAUGH'S BLOG HERE

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