Best Christmas Books to Read by the Fireplace This Winter
Christmas is a traditional festival in the World. Old people in red hats, reindeer, bells, and gifts stuffed into socks make people feel warm and happy. Watching “Love Actually” at Christmas has also become a romantic tradition.
The love story that happened at Christmas immerses people in this strong Christmas atmosphere.
In addition to watching this movie this Christmas, what are some unique famous Christmas books we can read together around the fire, listening to bells and bells?
Below I will recommend the 30 best classic and most popular and top-selling Christmas books for your reference.
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What are the Famous Christmas Books?
The warmth and tranquility of Christmas is the favorite theme of writers. December is a good time to read classic Christmas literature. I recommend several Christmas-related literary classics for everyone.
Christmas is here, and you can choose to curl up by the fire alone on this wonderful holiday or choose from one of the following favorite Christian books to read with your family for the holidays.
Undoubtedly, reading these books will help you focus on the nature of Christmas and think about the meaning of the holiday. Written by leading Christian authors, these reads include heartwarming Christmas stories and some holiday meditations.
1. A Christmas Carol — Dickens
Dickens is known as “the man who invented Christmas”. What we now call “Merry Christmas” became popular after the book was published (1843). Dickens tells an easy-to-understand fable about the “discovery of conscience” of an old miser who hates Christmas.
“A Christmas Carol” makes people realize that Christmas is not an objective question of eating goose or turkey, but a subjective question of reflecting on how people — since they are all created by God — should love each other.
A Christmas Carol is a book that popularized the idea of a “generously shared” Christmas, profoundly changing the status and value of modern Christmas in British society.
Rich but mean Scrooge is visited by three Christmas elves on Christmas Eve. Under the leadership of the elf, he saw his poor but happy past, the happy present when his clerks couldn’t afford gifts, and the lonely future of his aging self. He realized that Shibina was happier.
The language of this classic is unpretentious and fluent, making it ideal for improving English reading. It is also because of the influence of this book that people began to use turkey as the main meat for Christmas dinners.
2. Polar Express -Chris Van Allsberg
For many children in the West, reading The Polar Express before Christmas is a holiday tradition.
In addition to its delicate drawing and light-hearted narrative style, the story has a subtle poignancy that conveys a deeper meaning that is equally applicable to adults.
On a snowy Christmas Eve, a young boy boarded an enchanted train to the North Pole when he met Santa Claus who could give him any present he wanted.
The story explores themes of trust and imagination intertwined with the magical nature of Christmas.
3. The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol
“The Night Before Christmas” is a short story in the 19th-century Russian writer Gogol’s “Night Talks near Dikonka”. Unlike a warm Christmas, this is a story of lust, sin, and vengeance: the tale of the devil who wants to “walk around the world and fill the minds of good people with evil thoughts” overnight.
So he decided to put the moon in his pocket and go to the remote village of Jikanika on a snowy Christmas Eve to wreak havoc… For readers who don’t want to fall into the Christmas stereotype, this “dark” masterpiece will never let you disappointed.
4. The Snow Queen -Andersen
One of the longest and most characters in Andersen’s fairy tales. There is a pair of childhood sweethearts, Kay and Gilda, who live next to each other in the city. They spent the summer playing in the garden and planting roses, and in the winter they lived at their grandmother’s house.
One winter, they joked that if the Snow Queen came to the house, they would put her on the stove and melt her. Later, there was a blizzard, and a shard of the magic mirror pierced Kai’s heart, making him cold. He was very cold to Gilda.
When Kai was on a sleigh ride with friends, there was another snowstorm, and the Snow Queen took the opportunity to pick Kai up and make him forget Gilda completely with her kiss. …vivid winter scenes, and depictions of magical creatures, bring to life the mysticism and danger of winter. (Disney’s animated film “Frozen” is based on this)
5. Little Women -Louise May Alcott
My favorite Christmas book. The March sisters’ story begins on Christmas Eve, with the famous line “Christmas doesn’t feel like Christmas with nothing at all” — they lament that they are suave but poor, their father is not around, and they cannot be beautiful one’s gift.
However, the girls are determined to have a great season and Christmas ends up being a joyous time. The novel revolves around the four sisters throughout the year, delving into their lively characters, Victorian traditions, and tangled relationships, and ends with another Christmas scene.
“Little Women,” tells the story of a family of four sisters during the American Civil War, delicate and beautiful, warm and meaningful. The sisters’ anticipation and selfless devotion to Christmas in the book are touching. Although the sisters were not able to own and give beautiful Christmas gifts due to the war, their laughter and joy-filled this happy festival.
7. Doctor Zhivago -Boris Pasternak
For many, Doctor Zhivago is a romance novel set in the Russian Revolution of the early 20th century. With the snow-covered Russian land as the background, the third chapter is “Christmas Party at the Svenditskys”, which is full of joy.
“Doctor Zhivago” not only shows the Russian Christmas customs, but today’s readers may also secretly rejoice: they did not live in such a cold and miserable winter.
8. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas -Agatha Christie
For detective fiction lovers, “Christmas Picks” wouldn’t be perfect without the work of Agatha Christie. Polo’s Christmas Detective is about a family party thrown by the tyrannical multimillionaire Simon.
With many unexpected guests, the orgy turned into a killing, and the house quickly hosted some potential suspects.
Instead of the usual Christmas cheer, this mysterious tale paints a disturbing scene in the home of a malevolent pornographer.
For Detective Poirot, this Christmas is not a holiday, because secrets must be revealed. Full of bizarre and unexpected plots.
9. The Gift of the Magi -O Henry
Many people read “The Gift of the Maggie” through middle school textbooks. The story of a poor young couple who “fight” over the secret purchase of Christmas gifts for each other.
In the West, the work has become synonymous with gift-giving during the holidays, sending a heartwarming message of how far people are willing to go in love for one another. Stories of dedication and sacrifice still move readers around the world…
In today’s extremely rich material life, “The Gift of the Maggie” is beautiful and sadly unreal. A young couple in love makes huge sacrifices to give each other the best gift possible. This transcendental love reminds us that love is giving the best of everything to each other.
10. A Christmas Memory — Truman Capote
A collection of short stories by American writer Capote recalling childhood memories. In the United States, people have given each other this book as a gift at Christmas for many years. Capote, whose parents were divorced since childhood, was fostered by relatives in the countryside of Alabama.
The company and care of the pure and kind old maid Miss Su Ke made what could have been a miserable childhood the happiest time in his life. Time has passed, and the Country Boy of the Year has become an excellent tour in the New York celebrity circle.
The heights are so cold, and the brilliance in front of him is flowing, but he looks back to his childhood time and time again. The three short stories he wrote intermittently in the thirty years since he became famous seem to be completed in one go.
11. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding By Agatha Christie
“Queen of Mystery” Agatha Christie’s detective Poirot is invited to an English country house. His visit is not to celebrate Christmas, but to solve the mystery of the theft of a priceless ruby.
The English-inspired Christmas elements in the book are immersive: the Christmas tree, the Christmas plum pudding, the Christmas dinner, and Boxing Day are all lively and interesting.
12. Noelle: A Novel
In this fourth installment of the poignant stories of the McCray family and their lovable canines in rural Kansas, matriarch Mary Ann McCray is determined to shake up Christmas by accepting the role of Crossing Trail’s first woman Santa Claus.
Mary Ann, always a bit of a rebel, is looking to offer a more progressive voice in the staunchly conservative town at Christmastime and has a few ideas up her red velvet sleeves.
13. Letters from Father Christmas
Letters From Father Christmas, a collection of Tolkien’s letters to his children, also features vivid color drawings. These children receive letters from the North Pole at Christmas, sometimes from Father Christmas himself, sometimes from his assistant Polar Bear, and sometimes from his secretary Elf.
In the beginning, the letter was very short because the children were not literate, but as the years passed, the letter started to get longer and started to tell a story, about Father Christmas driving eight pairs of reindeer, if you add a pair of narrations at the top The reindeer said that he was very anxious.
He was so angry that his hands trembled when he talked about how the polar bear was so mischievous. Sure enough, all the writing in the letter trembled so badly.
He also secretly drew a small picture on the envelope to “revenge” Father Christmas, and told how they celebrated the holiday and drove the goblin out. . .
Tolkien’s children have been receiving Christmas letters like this for twenty years! And this book selects only a fraction of them.
14. The Nutcracker and Mouse King
A new edition of the classic Christmas tale of the Nutcracker and the Mouse King — the inspiration for Tchaikovsky’s timeless Christmas ballet — written by the master German storyteller E.T.A. Hoffmann.
Few people can tell you who the author Hoffman is, but many people know the most famous Christmas story — The Nutcracker. Since its publication in 1816, the adaptation of the story has captivated audiences, inspiring numerous ballet choreographers and composers, especially Russian musician Tchaikovsky.
The plot is rough as follows: At Christmas, the girl Mary gets a nutcracker. At night, she dreamed that the Nutcracker had become a prince, leading her pack of toys to fight the rat soldiers. She was later taken to Jam Mountain, where she was greeted by the Candy Fairy for a fun time of toys, dancing, and feasting.
15. The Fir Tree
“The Fir Tree” by Hans Christian Andersen, published originally in 1845, follows the life of a young fir tree living in the woods (of all places). Compared to the other trees around him, he feels small, spindly, and short, and he constantly utters complaints to any and all woodland creatures within earshot.
Most pointedly, he wonders “When will he truly be alive?” When he sees humans cut down some beautiful trees nearby and then drag them across the snow, he asks the swallows, “Where are they going?”
In answer, they tell him of all the Christmas splendor and beauty of which those lucky trees will soon be a part. Yet when the time came for our little fir tree to have his turn, he taught an unexpected and irreversible lesson.
