All I want for Christmas is a collection of classic holiday books to snuggle up with this December… and January.
Last updated: December 2, 2024
Best Classic Books to Read This Holiday Season
The Christmas season is the most wonderful time of the year to curl up with homemade gingerbread latte and the classic holiday books. Get cozy, get warm, get hygge, and pick a few Christmas reads that make this holiday season extra special.
There are ample classic holiday books for adults and children to read this December. From short stories to Christmas classics and contemporary, these holiday books aim to help you rediscover good old traditions of this joyous time. Indeed, tis the season to be jolly.
Be warned, though, these holiday books are adept at transferring you in space and time. Are you ready for the most captivating reading adventures? Here are holiday classics and contemporary novels you want to read this December and January, if you don’t want the magic to end so soon.
MODERN FICTION AND CLASSIC BOOKS YOU OUGHT TO READ THIS CHRISTMAS
1. The Polar Express
Christmas classic by Chris Van Allsburg
One of the best classic holiday books for children, The Polar Express enthralls both the little readers and their parents. It brings back the joy and magic of Christmas that you once experienced as a kid.
This classic story follows the adventure of a young boy who boards a festive, holiday train heading to the North Pole. This Christmas Eve becomes the most magical and unforgettable time for the little explorer. He gets a chance to see Santa Claus, befriends elves, and learns to believe in the spirit of Christmas. The boy continues to cherish the magic of the holiday season even when he grows up.
2. The Greatest Gift
A favorite Christmas classic adapted into a movie by Philip Van Doren Stern
It’s a wonderful life. Sadly, the main character of The Greatest Gift, one of the most remarkable classic holiday books made into a movie, needs some divine intervention to realize it.
As George Pratt sits on the edge of a bridge ready to commit suicide, a stranger approaches him and grants his wish. George gets to see what the world and lives of his loved ones would be without him, if he would have never been born in the first place.
3. A Christmas Carol
The most popular classic holiday story by Charles Dickens
Christmas is not the same without Dickens and his classic holiday books. A Christmas Carol is indisputably the best read to dive into this December or even January.
The story tells us about the incredible transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who hates Christmas, from a grumpy old niggard to a cheerful friend of everybody. You can hardly find another holiday tale that has been adapted into films so many times. And still every year, a new film interpretation of A Christmas Carol promises to remind you of the magic of Christmas once again.
4. One Day in December
A contemporary holiday book set in London by Josie Silver
All Hallmark fans rejoice. In her book One Day in December, Josie Silver incorporates all the best traditions and norms of the romantic novels writing style. A love triangle? It’s surely there. A friendship that is about to collapse due to some unintentional lies? Josie masterfully covers it in her book as well.
A huge romantic herself, the author writes a story that will keep you awake a few nights in December and January (assuming that you decide to read it at the beginning of the year).
The word “December” in the title of this holiday book may be misleading. Nevertheless, give this novel a chance and don’t assume that you must read it only in December. The novel, indeed, starts on one winter evening, a few days before Christmas. And it also ended on a December evening many years later. The things that happen between these fateful evenings are rather unpredictable (at least as much a Hallmark-style book can allow them to be).
The love story spans nearly a decade. It praises true friendship and constantly plays with the feelings of its main characters.
I am not a fan of these types of novels or movies per se, but I couldn’t stop reading this book. When I was taking a break from it, my mind was wondering what was going to happen next to Laurie, Sara, and Jack. I read the story in a few sittings. Reese Witherspoon, who added One Day in December to her book club, also couldn’t put it down. Although I doubt that the famous actress read this book in January like I did.
5. The Night Before Christmas
My all-time favorite classic holiday book by Nikolai Gogol
Eastern European literature has many works that captivate the whole world, but when it comes to classic holiday books, nothing can beat The Night Before Christmas. Written in 1831, the tale narrates about the adventures of Vakula the Smith who struggles to get slippers off the Tsaritsa’s feet for his lovely Oksana. Neither devil nor good can stop the blacksmith in his pursuit of the heart of the most beautiful girl in the village.
Culture enthusiasts find this holiday classic by Ukrainian novelist Nikolai Gogol especially irresistible. Based on fictional events, it depicts a myriad of holiday customs and traditions that are still alive in some rural parts of Eastern Europe.
6. Little Women
A must-read classic holiday book for adults and kids by Louisa May Alcott
Although Little Women doesn’t entirely fall into the category of the classic holiday books, it’s a great story to read in December. In this book, Louisa May Alcott depicts four sisters and their lives in Boston during and after the Civil War. As the story spans a long period of time, it includes many holidays, including Christmas.
7. A Christmas Memory
Another exceptional holiday classic book to read this season by Truman Capote
A Christmas Memory is a rather short holiday classic, about 80-90 pages. The book includes childhood memories of one of the most prominent American writers of the 20th century. The author narrates about his early years in rural Alabama.
In these three short stories (A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, the Thanksgiving Visitors), Capote introduces you to his distant relatives on his mother’s side. He also gives you a full account of what it was like growing up among those folks.
The central place in all these stories belongs to Capote’s best friend, Sook. A distant cousin, this elderly, slightly crippled woman was keeping the magic of the holidays alive and instilling words of wisdom in the boy’s heart. Even when Odd Henderson, the naughtiest boy in a small-town school in rural Alabama, played his awful pranks on the author, his lovely Sook used this situation to teach young Truman a lesson that he remembered for years to come.
You may not even need more than just one evening to read this entire book. Don’t skip a bio section as it will help you further understand all the events that lead to the tragic life of the renowned author.
8. Last Christmas in Paris
A beautiful holiday book (a love story that is not so cheesy) by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Dramas don’t go well with me, especially in holiday books. And yet, I placed Last Christmas in Paris in my Amazon cart at the beginning of last year. The book came in the mail shortly after that. And a few days later, I was already looking for some other books to add to my January, yet still holiday reading list. Last Christmas in Paris was so good that even such a slow reader as I devoured it in a couple of evenings.
The authors expanded the title of the book and defined it as a novel of World War I. The story includes a few dreadful years of the war, “the war to end all wars”, as people predicted. Hazel and Heather adopted an interesting style of narrating the story about friendship and love intermixed with the historical events and norms of that time. The storyline is told in letters, mostly between Thomas Harding and Evelyn Elliott.
The book provokes strange feelings. It’s like you found somebody else’s personal correspondence and can’t put it down. You know it’s not the right thing to do, but these old letters and telegrams intrigue you more and more as you read, begging you to open another envelope a.k.a. page.
The novel is centered on an imaginary perfect Christmas in Paris and spans many years and brings to light such important issues as heavy censorship in Great Britain and women journalists at the beginning of the 20th century.
Ironically, it also reminds us how fragile the world is. The story touches on the Spanish Flu pandemic, which killed more people than World War I itself.
9. Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year
A little book of festive joy by Beth Kempton
I left my new favorite holiday book for last. We all know how hectic December can be, with all the cooking and last-minute gift shopping. In her book Calm Christmas, Beth Kempton urges us to relax. She reminds us that rushing through the season, feeling exhausted and drained, is not the solution. Enjoying the holiday season with all its ups and downs, quiet moments and some magic interventions, however, let you fall in love with Christmas once again.
Jam-packed with personal stories and useful tips, the book is your sure guide to the perfectly imperfect holiday season.
