Now that everything is winding up as we get ready to go home for the holidays, those book lovers among us are sure to be searching for the festive read.
For a few ideas of what books are perfect to curl up with this Christmas, check out our contributors’ recommendations below.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – recommended by Elena Barham
Want a book that oozes Christmas and nostalgia but you’re still traumatised from A Christmas Carol at GCSE? Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is exactly what you need. Whether this is a firm favourite, you’ve seen one of its film adaptations or this is your first foray into the novel, you’ll be captivated by the heart and wit of the March family. Whilst technically a children’s book, it’s remarkably unsentimental and one of those reading experiences that enriches as you age. Don’t let its simple title fool you.
The book opens on a Massachusetts Christmas during the American Civil War and closes on the next year’s Christmas Day. We follow the lives (and loves) of the four March sisters: the original good girl Meg, the tortured writer icon (and my favourite) Jo, the gentle music prodigy Beth and arty youngest sister Amy (often infuriating but very much twelve years old). You’ll laugh, you’ll feel the crisp Massachusetts snow and if your edition includes Little Women’s sequel Good Wives, you’ll definitely cry. You’re in for a treat.
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie – recommended by Adelaide Mason
Old-fashioned murder mysteries always feel so cosy, especially when they are set in a grand house with a limited pool of suspects, making them the perfect Christmas read. This is particularly true for Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas which I received as a Christmas present last year and read straight away.
It’s set in a large manor house where Simeon has invited his family to celebrate Christmas with him. As they each arrive the tension between them gradually rises, culminating in the discovery of Simeon’s body and his upturned furniture in his locked room. Detectives arrive on the scene immediately and you get to witness Poirot’s investigation of this locked-room mystery whilst discovering more about the family at every turn. I would whole-heartedly recommend Hercule Poirot’s Christmas as a great festive read and, if you finish it, why not try one of Agatha Christie’s other murder mysteries?
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote – recommended by Elena Barham
Busy with assignments but want a bite-sized festive read? Try Truman Capote’s devastatingly beautiful short story A Christmas Memory. Unfortunately, it’s still relatively little known in England but has become something of an American classic.
Every time I read this story I’m filled with deep nostalgia for the 1930s American South childhood Christmas I never had and heartbroken by the ending all over again. The story follows the childhood Christmases of its narrator Buddy and his eccentric older cousin, based largely on Capote’s own childhood. Both Buddy and his cousin (she is unnamed in the story) are outcasts even within their family and their friendship is touchingly written and never saccharine. Capote’s strength lies in his keen perceptions of what it is to be an outsider and his rigorous attention to detail; you can smell the fruitcakes baking in the story, and picture the house Buddy grows up in precisely. Capote was a childhood friend of Harper Lee and shares the same lyrical prose, so if you liked To Kill A Mockingbird, you’ll love A Christmas Memory.