What to Read in December (2024)

We’ll start with my Christmas recommendations, which won’t be tremendously different from last year’s.

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Honest Advent, Scott Erickson
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss
The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
The Christmas Pig, J. K. Rowling
“The Gift of the Magi,” O. Henry
“The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J. K. Rowling

Here are some of the Christmas/holiday books that I haven’t yet read, but that I’m planning to read some day. Maybe not this year. So many books, so little time!

“Afterward,” Edith Wharton (*)
The Life and Times of Santa Claus, Frank L. Baum
Mr. Dickens and His Carol, Samantha Silva (*)
Wishin’ and Hopin’, Wally Lamb
Hiddensee, Gregory Maguire
Comfort and Joy, Kristin Hannah
Celebrations, Maya Angelou
Holidays on Ice, David Sedaris
Winter Street, Elin Hildebrand
“Christmas Trees,” Robert Frost

But if you don’t just want to sit around reading holiday-related books for the next month, there are also some new books that will be hitting the shelves in time for gifting (or gifting to yourself while you have a second to read).

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping, Sangu Mandanna
Heartstopper Vol. 6 (Heartstopper #6), Alice Oseman (which will be the final installment)
Cabin, Patrick Hutchison
Rental House, Weike Wand
Wind and Truth (Stormlight Archive #5), Brandon Sanderson
The Rivals (Claudia Lin #2), Jane Pek
Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet, Samantha Allen
The Voyage Home (The Women of Troy #3), Pat Barker

I also just bought my daughter the first book of the Murdle series for her 20^th birthday. She sat right down after cake and started solving murder-riddles. The books are on front tables in book stores everywhere, right now. And just so you don’t think it’s just another Mensa-like book, there is a story that unfolds in the puzzles, one that develops over the volumes of the book. I don’t know how novel-y the story is, but it is there. Also, there is a website where you can solve a Murdle puzzle, do a a Mini Murdle, or join the Detective Club.

Murdle, Volume 1., G. T. Karber
Murdle: More Killer Puzzles, G. T. Karber
Murdle: Even More Killer Puzzles, G. T. Karber
Murdle: The Case of the Seven Skulls, G. T. Karber
Murdle: The School of Mystery, G. T. Karber

I have also had a few titles recommended to me this past week. Probably you have heard of them. The first is from a couple at my sci-fi/fantasy book club. The other three require short exposition: I read a cozy this week. A Christmas cozy. This is not normally my genre but it was for a book club, one that does not normally read cozies. So it was either an accident or this club likes to read a cozy now and then, or maybe for the holiday party. You’ll get a review soon, but the thing is that I hated the writing. It was so bad. But I thoroughly enjoyed taking a mental and emotional reading break. Which made me turn to some reading peeps last night and ask, “Do you know of any cozies with respectable writing? Like Emily Henry is to romance.” These are the three possible answers I was given last night. Not sure if any of them truly count as a cozy, but we have heard things…

If you have any suggestions for this, please let me know in a comment.

A Deadly Education (Scholomance #1), Naomi Novik
His Majesty’s Dragon (Termeraire #1), Naomi Novik
The Spellshop, Sarah Beth Durst
Piranesi, Susanna Clark
The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune

This is is short because half my clubs don’t meet during the holidays. The other half parties together. One of these books is not usual for my book clubs, but here we go a wassailing…

The Book Club Hotel, Sarah Morgan
Same Bed, Different Dreams, Ed Park *
Whiteout, Clayton, Jackson, Stone, Thomas, Woodfolk, Yoon (*)

Trail of Lightning (Sixth World #1), Rebecca Roanhorse
Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson
Straight Out of Brooklyn (Miles Morales Vol. 1), Saladin Ahmed

The movies to watch this season, beginning with the new ones. I can’t say much for those four movies at the top, but the rest of them are my top recommendations, the movies I watch year after year. (Yes, there are a lot.) About the first half are my most favorite.