Tis the season for holiday reading!

How to choose a holiday novel

Deciding on a Christmas novel for your holiday book club can be a daunting task. There are truly not that many holiday full length novels to pick from. You can find a gazillion books for children and romance novels with a Christmas theme (nothing wrong with romance but more substance is appreciated) but nothing that seems to meet a reading groups criteria.

Before we hunt for that perfect read here are several tips to consider when finding what we hope will be a merry holiday reading for your book club!

• The novel should be short enough to complete around the busy holiday season
• It cannot be and I repeat cannot be a depressing novel
• Children novels (over 150 pages) and young adult novels are on the table and we do not shy away from them as they have some of the best holidaythemes
• The novel has to have at least one holiday book scene
• Prefer a novel that is not an anthology or only tales

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The book club ghosts
​ of future, past​ and present

A Christmas Carol was one of our all time book club favorites. Not only did we indulge in classic literature with famous author Charles Dickens but reading a novella (a long short story) that is all about the season was a win win.  If A Christmas Carol is not lengthy for your book club then try Dickens
A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books.  A collection of tales that might be a good fit for your group.

Another classic story that is cherished by all readers with Christmas scenes is Little Women. Our book club loved reading Louisa May Alcott's timeless novel along with Little House on the Prairie in past book club years. Literary children classics with holiday themes make the best reads. We are presently reading another classic,  Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster it has sweet holiday scenes and even though it is another classic you would never know by the authors writing style.  A Redbird Christmas is not a classic and is written by Fannie Flagg author of Fried Green Tomatoes comes highly recommend by our reading group as well.
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Visit Go Beyond holiday book club page for bookish ideas and
happy holiday searching!