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Classic books to read at Christmas time

Classic books to read at Christmas time

22 October 2025

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The best Christmas reading traditions are personal.

What unites the classics on this list is their ability to slow the season down. They offer atmosphere, memory, conversation and reflection — exactly the qualities that make a book feel at home at Christmas.

Quick guide: which Christmas classic should you choose?

For Advent reading: Advent by Gunnar Gunnarsson

For the great Christmas Eve ghost story: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Best paired with its Netflix adaptation: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

For family reading and sisterhood: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

For a darker Christmas away from home: Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham

For a short winter classic: The Dead by James Joyce

For a snowbound festive mystery: The Case of the Abominable Snowman by Nicholas Blake

*For a literary Advent tradition: Twenty-Four Books for Advent

Advent by Gunnar Gunnarsson

Every winter, in the days before Christmas, Benedikt walks into the Icelandic mountains to rescue sheep lost in blizzards. With his dog and ram beside him, he moves through snowstorms, darkness and moments of deep stillness. That makes Advent an unusually apt Christmas read: it is seasonal without being sentimental, shaped by endurance, selflessness and the anticipation of Christmas itself. At just 112 pages in this edition, it is also well suited to the short, reflective reading spaces December can offer.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Few books are so closely tied to Christmas as A Christmas Carol. Dickens’s story begins with Scrooge’s refusal of Christmas, charity and kindness, then sends him through a cold Christmas Eve of ghostly visitations and moral reckoning. Its seasonal power lies in that movement: from isolation to fellow feeling, from fear to generosity, from a closed heart to a second chance. This edition is also designed as a gift, with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges and a silk ribbon.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

With Netflix’s new six-part adaptation of Pride and Prejudice arriving this December, now is the ideal time to return to Austen’s original: a novel whose pleasures go far beyond knowing whether Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy will misunderstand, challenge and eventually understand one another. Its wit, drawing-room encounters and finely observed family pressures make it a brilliant December read, full of visiting, conversation, social performance and romantic misjudgement. Read it before watching to appreciate how much Austen achieves through dialogue, irony and the smallest shifts in feeling.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Something about Little Women feels inherently like it belongs to Christmas. It remains one of the most enduring classics of girlhood and sisterhood. This hardback edition is especially giftable, with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges and a silk ribbon, perfect for readers looking for a generous, emotionally resonant classic to share across generations.

Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham’s Christmas Holiday takes the idea of the festive escape and turns it inside out. Charlie Mason travels to Paris expecting a 'glorious, wild and romantic' Christmas with an old friend, only to find himself drawn into the darker life of the city through Lydia, a young Russian émigré with painful stories to tell. This is a Christmas read for those who want atmosphere, disillusionment and coming-of-age rather than comfort: a reminder that the season can reveal hidden lives as much as it celebrates familiar rituals.

The Dead by James Joyce

Set at a winter gathering in Dublin, The Dead begins with music, conversation and ritual before a revelation unsettles Gabriel Conroy’s understanding of his life and marriage. It is ideal for the quieter days of Christmas because it captures something many seasonal gatherings contain: the closeness of company, the pull of memory and the sudden presence of what has been left unsaid. Published here in the Brief Encounters series, this 96-page edition can be read in one sitting or savoured slowly.

The Case of the Abominable Snowman by Nicholas Blake

For readers who like Christmas with a chill, The Case of the Abominable Snowman begins at a warm, bright Christmas Eve gathering before events take a disturbing turn. A haunted-seeming manor, thawing snow and the possibility of foul play give this Nigel Strangeways mystery its wintry appeal. It is a strong seasonal choice for readers who love the contrast between festive comfort and classic crime: the fire may be lit, but something unsettling is waiting outside in the snow.

Begin a new book-lover’s Advent tradition

Twenty-Four Books for Advent by Advent Authors

For a literary alternative to an Advent calendar, Twenty-Four Books for Advent gathers 24 miniature hardback books in a slipcase, each containing a classic festive story. The set includes writers such as Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, Louisa May Alcott, Washington Irving, L. M. Montgomery, O. Henry and Susan Coolidge, with each tiny readable volume designed with a looped gold ribbon so it can also become a decoration. It is both a reading experience and a Christmas tradition: one story, one small book, each day through Advent.

Classic books to read at Christmas time

Quick guide: which Christmas classic should you choose?

Begin a new book-lover’s Advent tradition

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