A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
It’s a classic. It’s hard to ignore. Film adaptations of A Christmas Carol will be on your TV screens for the next few weeks. It’s practically unavoidable. So you may as well give in and settle down by the Christmas tree and read the original story. By now I’m sure you know the plot, so I won’t bore you with the synopsis, but if you’re bored of the gushy romance Christmas books and films, you can’t go wrong with ghosts, right? It has its moments of revelations, it has an agenda behind it, it has a happy ending—all the ingredients of a Christmas story.
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
If your mind is still reeling from deadlines or exams or the threat of such is still looming on the horizon for you, I’m betting you’re in the midst of trying to relief the stress of it all and attempt to feel Christmassy. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares is the light hearted Christmas book. There’s no complex plot, not harrowing sadness, just pages of simplistic Christmas romance that forms through notes and dares left in a bookshop. Lily loves Christmas; Dash is our modern day scrooge. Can she make him fall in love with Christmas? It’s slightly on the gushy side, slightly cringy, but it’s probably exactly what you need after this year.
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Christmas is the main driving force in this romance. Following a young woman working in a toy department during the holiday rush, Teresa become immediately fixated on a customer. From Christmas gifts and Christmas cards, to Carol, The Price of Salt is an encompassing read about love, Christmas, and family. Once you’re done reading it, check out the film Carol. It’s just as Christmassy and just as warm as the book, despite the amount of snow.
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
The Snow Child won’t put in the Christmas spirit. It might do, but despite the abundance of snow in the vastness of Alaska, that’s not its aim. When a couple build a child out of snow, they wake the next morning to find their creation gone. A real child wanders the Alaskan wilderness. As they try to understand the child and where it came from, their lives transform. A story of love, loneliness, and fairy tales, The Snow Child may not have you singing Christmas carols by the end, but it’s worth the journey and it’ll put you in the mood for something light hearted after.
Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
Three short stories. Three Christmas romances. A blizzard leaves the character of our stories in a romantic fantasy and they’re all tied together. To no one’s surprise, it’s cheesy—incredibly cheesy. It’s the type of romance you read despite knowing how it will inevitably play out. It’s the epitome of Christmas. You’ll have your laughing moments, your emotional moments, and your euphoric moments as you think of Christmas. After The Snow Child, you may need something like this to settle you down and put you back in the heart of Christmas spirit.
Paige Johnston
(Image: club31women)