Christmas books

[reikizen]

Every year I read 'a Christmas carol' in December to get me in the festive mood but fancy a change this year. Any suggestions, and if you have any kids suggestions throw those in too (ages 9 & 11)?

I read 'Christmas at Great Maddon' (or something like that) on my Kindle last year, it did make me feel Christmassy and was quite well written.

As a child I loved The Children of Green Knowe and Tom's Midnight Garden - not strictly Christmas but ghostly (not frightening though) not sure if they might be a bit old fashioned nowadays for children. Narnia always springs to mind for snowiness at Christmas.

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve.
Hogfather - Terry Pratchett.

If you want a bit of spookiness - M R James' ghost stories are quite good and scary for a winter's evening Also The Turn of The Screw for ghostliness.

I always like a cosy mystery to read and this year I have got Georgette Heyer's A Christmas Party on pre order.

I quite like the look of this Trollope collection Christmas stories

One of my all time favourites I often go back to at Christmas, is Under The Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy - just a lovely, curl up with cocoa, Christmas book

How about Letters from Father Christmas by J R R Tolkien? Or The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder?

+1 on The Christmas Mystery.

In our house we've used it as an advent calendar as it has a chapter for each day in December up until Christmas.

Oh and for children you can't beat The Box of Delights by John Mansfield.

My absolute favourite children's Christmas book is The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden (ideal for a 9 y/o)

Not sure if this is what you're looking for but there are some British Crime Classics which are Christmas themed (The Santa Klaus Murder, Silent Nights).

Perhaps you weren't looking for murder at Christmas though!

Great, loads of inspiration there, thank you

Castaway Christmas by Margaret Joyce Baker - a sort of realistic-but-heartwarming domestic survival story about three siblings home from boarding school who end up stranded alone in a flood in a strange house at Christmas. There's an incredibly touching moment where they find the hidden Christmas hamper their parents have ordered which always reminds me of the Christmas hamper in What Katy Did At School.

I like to read A Christmas carol too! But this year I am exchanging it for a very different sort of fiction: Terry Pratchett's The Hogfather.

For 9yo dc, how about this one for something different: Christmas in Greece