In Iceland there’s a tradition called Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas Book Flood.” According to this article, gifts of books are exchanged on Christmas Eve, and everyone spends the rest of the evening reading and sipping hot cocoa.
WELL. I like that tradition! We exchange our presents on Christmas Day, not Christmas Eve, but I still want a Christmas Book Flood! My dream is always, after all the presents are unwrapped, to relax on the couch (I’ll have Earl Grey tea instead of cocoa) with a large stack of books. Some years this works out better than others, but it’s what I’m hoping for on Christmas Day.
Since I want a Christmas book flood, I have some books on my wishlist! Here’s my list so far:
Choose Strong: The Choice That Changes Everything by Sally McRae.
“Honest, relatable, and raw, every reader will connect with Sally’s story and see how they too can overcome even the most difficult situations in life and sport. Choose Strong is a story for everyone from every age and walk of life looking to live their strongest life.”
Sally has an incredible podcast, and the only reason I haven’t read her book yet is that it’s not available at our library. It’s been on my Christmas list ever since it came out!
Knee Ability Zero by Ben Patrick. Ben is the “Knees Over Toes Guy” and I heard him interviewed on a podcast a few months ago. He says the exercises in this book will “bulletproof your knees.” Um… yes, please!
Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto by Lesley Hazleton. I read about this book on Coco’s blog and it sounds interesting!
“Inspired and inspiring, Agnostic recasts the question of belief not as a problem to be solved but as an invitation to an ongoing, open-ended adventure of the mind.”
Dover One by Joyce Porter. If I get all the books on my list, this will probably be the first one I’ll read. Birchwood Pie describes it as a whodunit on the level of Agatha Christie, but with humor. Yes! I want it now!!!
Lastly… My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. Engie says this is one of her favorite books. She was our fearless leader for the Cool Bloggers Book Club so I think we can all trust her recommendations.
Do you have any books on your wishlist?
Header photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash
35 Responses
Do I have any books on my wishlist? Ha! I give you … https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/my-wish-list/
Okay, I’ll check it out! I’m open to more suggestions!
I LOVED the My Brilliant Friend books! I listened to the first one, and I am glad I did because I could pronounce everything correctly on my own.
Yes, I’m excited about that one. And I did notice there’s a sequel!
Oh yes, I like that tradition! I don’t have any books on my wishlist because I still have so many on my shelf that I have not read. However, I do love me a good Lonely Planet, which is the stuff dreams are made of! I would like the Best Travel 2024, Western Balkans or the Ultimate Travel List.
I could probably go through my shelves and find quite a few I haven’t read- but I love the idea of getting new books.
I don’t actually have ANY books on my Christmas wishlist this year. I mostly order them from the library or just buy them (though that’s pretty rare; I’d say I average 1-2 new books a year – this year was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Bible Recap). But this looks like an interesting mix.
I’ll be so curious to see what you think of the Dover series! Please report back!
I will definitely report back! And, I usually get books from the library. Several of these aren’t available at our library, so perfect for my Christmas list. I”ll let you know about the Dover series!
I recently learned that Margaret Atwood published a new book this year, so that is 100% on my wish list!
Oh really? I haven’t read Margaret Atwood in a long time. I’ll look into it (but honestly I’ll probably end up putting a library hold on it, since I’m sure my library will carry it.)
Ok I will add My Brilliant Friend to my wish list at the library.
I am currently reading Tomorrow… tomorrow … tomorrow. Someone recommended it.
I liked that one!
My Brilliant Friend is the first in a quartet! I’m considering doing it for my next book club…I think it was at your suggestion!
Yes, it was my suggestion!
I love this tradition.
I’m going to celebrate winter solstice with some books and soup and candlelight and that will be for me. The boys aren’t really readers, so that makes things pretty challenging.
That sounds like a nice winter solstice celebration! I hope it’s chilly up there to make it extra cozy.
I always love seeing what is on others’ book wishlists! I do not buy or request books for myself because I prefer reading books on my kindle. I used to have hundreds of books in our house but I rarely rarely re-read a book so it felt like a waste to have all of these books around. So I don’t really buy books and if someone gifts me one, I put it in the little free library after I read it. But I have SO MANY KID BOOKS in our house since those get re-read countless times! We do a cousin gift exchange and one of my boys drew my 2.5yo niece. She’s just getting into picture books so I had so much fun picking out $50 worth of our favorite picture books for her. My sister asked that I do that as they are moving next year for her husband’s military job so she’s trying not to buy many toys ahead of the move.
I do like this idea of a Christmas Flood of Books, though!
Yes, I can see why you wouldn’t want a ton of new books around. That must have been fun, to pick out books for your niece!
I was not familiar with this tradition but that’s fun. The knee over toe guy is giving me stress! Ouch that would hurt me lol but goals for sure
I know, that picture on the cover is pretty extreme. I guess if you follow his plan you can do that!
It makes me so happy to see Dover on your list! I’m going to have to check out My Brilliant Friend.
I’m excited to read it! It sounds great.
let me know what you think about agnostic manifesto. I finished another of her book over the weekend about the islam divide, fascinating! she’s really a good writer, I like her style a lot!
Okay, I’ll definitely read it and let you know!
I haven’t read any of the books on your list. I need to start researching what I want to buy on our annual family book night.
You have an annual family book night? Cool!!!
That sounds a wonderful tradition – I want to adopt it.
I know! Maybe we should move to Iceland.
That tradition sounds dreamy. Sadly my husband is not a reader so I don’t think he would go for it. Haha. But maybe the rest of us could and he could just go in the other room and watch a movie. 😆
I want to read My Brilliant Friend – My daughter and I really liked the TV show. I will wait though, to see if Engie decides to have it for her book club (or if she decides to do a book club next year, she put a LOT of work into that, and with her new job, maybe she won’t have time…)
I love that tradition. My family gets together on Christmas Eve so the book reading will have to be done the next day. I read the books that Wendy writes about her in blog. I have liked almost all of them. Reading and watching TV is how I relax and “escape” from the world.
I’ve heard of that tradition and it sounds so lovely! We’re doing all of our Christmas shenanigans on Christmas Eve this year due to our trip, which will be weird, but maybe next year I’ll start the tradition of gifting MYSELF a book to read on Christmas Eve.
I have so many books on my wishlist, but I don’t ask for books for Christmas specifically. I guess I prefer the experience of buying books myself? IDK!
This is such an awesome tradition! I’ll admit that while I have a book wish list, I very rarely read books. I need to change that.
Oh, that book Agnostic sounds so interesting! I shall be interested in your take on it, Jenny.
From your list I’ve only heard of “my brilliant friend” and that was a DNF for me. I found it utterly boring and it had been on my TBR for so long.
I hope you enjoy it and that you will get many of your books for Christmas.