Hey bookworm friends! I love watching lots of Christmas movies this time of year but somehow the reverse is true for books about Christmas. They just don’t enthuse me in the same way. For the last two years, I’ve been on a quest: finding Christmas books I love or, at least, that don’t make me feel like the Grinch. So far I’ve only finished nine Christmas books and up until this week, the odds of each being a Flop or a Hit with me were pretty even! They only skew a teensy bit towards ‘hits’ now that I’ve been reading a series 😛.
Obligatory disclaimer: These are just my opinions and not objective facts. If I hate a book other readers love it’s not a personal judgement of them. I have no patience for shaming people for their reading preferences.
🎄Every Christmas Books I’ve Read❄
The Flops
The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
I DNF’d this early on once I realized that every character in here was insufferably annoying.
Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once And Future Nutcracker by Gregory Macguire
I thought that maybe a fairy-tale or folklore-based holiday story would do the trick for me and I loved Wicked by the same author. So the fact that this was a purposeful selection on my part only enhanced my disappointment when I didn’t connect with the story! I loved the beginning but then it went in a direction I didn’t like and the narrative felt disjointed and confusing so I DNF’d.
Winterhouse by Ben Guterson
Next up, I attempted to re-create that childhood Christmas magic by picking a Middle-Grade. Unfortunately, this story was so vanilla it didn’t stand out in any way to me, I just lost interest. Plus the MC had ‘I’m not like other girls because I read books’ energy 🙄. Needless to say, DNF.
Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
I loved this mini-series and honestly thought this was going to be a shoo-in! I listened to the audiobook and found both narrators made the characters sound so whiny and pretentious, that I was immediately in the opposite of a Christmas mood. DNF.
It seems like I disproportionally collect more DNFs at the end of the year. It must be that by December, I’m just out of patience—oops 🤷🏽♀️.
The Hits
Klaus by Grant Morrison & Dan Mora
Who knew a grittier Santa was what I needed? Certainly not me, this one took me by surprise but it reminded me a lot of the 2019 movie Klaus which is one of my favs!! Except this has a lot more blood and supernatural elements. I’d love a reread!
Letters From Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien
I enjoyed reading through the ‘Santa’ letters Tolkien wrote to his children as they were growing up, complete with adorable illustrations that were included! How amazing to see chronicled how this iconic storyteller created Christmas lore and magical memories for his little ones.
A Castle In The Clouds by Kerstin Gier
This YA mystery and romance takes place in an old hotel in the Swiss Mountains and it is so much fun! Sophie is an intern at the hotel and she’s busy with all the preparations for the New Year’s Eve Ball! But unexpected problems keep arising and some hotel guests are not who they claim to be…very mysterious indeed!🤔. Ok so maybe it’s not explicitly Christmassy but it 100% works. It’s a wintery romp, a bit campy, and easily my favourite book from this category!
Jingle All The Slay & Have Yourself A Merry Little Witness by Dakota Cassidy
Marshmallow Hollow Mysteries #1 & 2. I’m currently on the 3rd one but since I haven’t finished it I’ll hold off on including it here. I started listening to the audiobooks last year and since I enjoyed the first one, it seemed like a safe choice to continue on. In terms of holiday movies, the cheesier and sillier the better and these books have that exact tone! It’s about a psychic witch who lives in a Christmas town and is embroiled in solving mysteries. Except nobody knows about her magical powers, her hummingbird familiar or her talking reindeer! These books are perfect brain candy for the season, so brain candy-canes if you will 😜!
Let’s chat in the comments!
Please drop Christmas recs in the comments! 🎄❄ Or, have you read any of these? And do you agree or disagree with me?
I love that we can find Christmas books in all of our preferred genres.
Me too, It’s been fun seeing the variety of Christmas books out there! 🙂
Aww, I have the Winterhouse on my TBR. That sucks it didn’t work out. I didn’t realize it was a Christmas-type story. I actually bought it jus for the cover, lol.
I enjoyed Klaus as well, and liked that ripped Santa. I think the series continues. I remember seeing a new volume in the comic-book store on a recent visit.
If you like David Sedaris’s humor, then I suggest you check out Holidays on Ice. It’s like very short stories set around Christmas. And if you read picture books, then I highly recommend Mr. Boddington’s Studio: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, which retells that poem. I love the illustrations.
Aw I absolutely don’t mean to discourage you if you still think you might like it but that was simply my experience with it. And it’s definitely Christmas adjacent because while it’s a mystery, it’s set around Christmastime. The cover is adorable I have to give it that, that’s why I tried it!
Ah I’m glad you liked Klaus too! That ripped Santa sure helped 😉! I think you’re right I recently saw another Klaus graphic novel so I have to figure out which one to read next.
I don’t think I know David Sedaris’ humour, I’ll have to look him up! But I do like comedy so thanks for the rec I’ll add it to the TBR! And that picture book sounds adorable, I looked at the cover and that illustration style is so pretty!!! 😍
I remember you mentioning your struggle to find Christmas books that you enjoyed in the past. I’m glad you’ve got a couple of hits here, hopefully you’ll discover more soon too.
That’s so frustrating about the Nutcracker one. Did you read all of the Nutcracker books or not? I’m also so sorry to hear about Dash & Lily, do you think you’d find a print version better if the narration irritated you or not?
Ooh I’m really intrigued by Letters From Father Christmas. I’ve spotted it before but never really looked into what it was. It sounds like such a warm, cosy idea though. I’m glad you’re having such fund with that series too. I’m not sure if OTT cheesiness will work for me but I’m thrilled that you’ve found a series to fall for.
I haven’t really read many Christmas books yet but I’ll let you know how I get on with them once I do
I meant all of the Wicked books 🙈
Yes I was pleased to find a few hits and I’m hoping to find more in the future! Thanks 🙂
If you mean all of the Wicked books, I did not read all of them only the first one. My best friend read onwards and she said she didn’t like it at the time so I got discouraged and now I don’t know if I’m gonna bother.
About Dash & Lily, I probably won’t try the print version, not gonna lie. I feel like it probably won’t make a difference to me in this case.
Yes cozy is a great way of describing Letters from Father Christmas. And that’s fair OTT cheesiness isn’t for everyone but I eat it up for seasonal stories lol. Plus they’re short and I’m enjoying the narrator’s sass. lol
Okay wonderful, looking forward to seeing what Christmas books you might find!
Well, I guess I won’t be much help, since I love Jenny Colgan’s books and really enjoyed Dash and Lily too! I will say that Gregory Maguire’s books don’t seem to work for me — I’ve read a few, and each time I start off really hopeful about the premise, and then feel disappointed by the actual storytelling.
I have only recently started reading Christmas-themed books on purpose in the appropriate season, though I have read a few Christmas-themed cozy mysteries whenever they happen to fall in the series. (You know how a lot of long-standing cozy mystery series seem to eventually have seasonal books too? But since they’re in a series with non-seasonal books, I don’t always read them in their proper season.)
A couple years ago I read and really enjoyed The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese. I liked that one a lot. I read Letters from Father Christmas last December, and agree with your thoughts about it! It was a really neat read.
If you didn’t like The Christmas Bookshop, you’d really hate the sequel, LOL! I actually loved the first one, but found the second completely unnecessary and annoying. I remember liking Dash & Lily when I read it, but that’s been … oh geez … 10 years ago? I honestly don’t remember a lot about it, oops.
I did not realize A Castle in the Clouds was Christmassy-ish, but I do have it sitting on my shelf from where I snagged a bargain copy. Maybe I’ll try and squeak it in as a New Years Eve read 🙂
This is great because I always see so many Christmas books and have no idea what to pick up! I get overwhelmed and then read nothing. haha. Castle in the Clouds looks so cute!!