Tips, fun ideas and festive novels for one of the best book clubs of the year!
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Holiday Book Club on Go Beyond Book Club

  • Gift exchange  - Bring a wrapped gift with with an agreed spending limit
​*Include an optional book exchange - wrap a used or new book (same as the gift exchange do not put your name on the gift). The book you choose can be a story you enjoyed and want to share with the group or a new book you've never read before and want the group to read in the future.  *Reminder - the book exchange is optional but is fun to play before the actual gift exchange

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  • Ornament exchange -  Buy or make an ornament based on your favorite book, from your Christmas book club selection or a festive book quote 
 
  • White elephant gift exchange - Bring on the laughs with goofy, unwanted and or recycled gifts. If it's book related even better!
 
  • 'Favorite's gift exchange' similar to a cookie exchange - Bring multiples (up to three) of your favorite thing within the agreed spending limit and a basket or gift box to put all the 'favorites' that you will receive from others. In the end everyone will walk away with a festive variety of everyone's favorite things.   Read how to play the favorite's gift exchange and see Go Beyond Book Club favorite things on Amazon.com for gift ideas
I will honour Christmas in my heart,
and try and keep it all the year
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
How to play the gift exchange game
Start alphabetically by name. Letter A goes first and so on. Do that with the gift exchange and for the book exchange start with Z and go backwards.

​The gifts will be laid out and one person picks whichever wrapped gift they choose. The next person then picks a gift either on the table or takes the gift from anyone holding an opened present. You need to decide how many steals are allowed. Usually two to three is the norm and then that person's gift is safe and can no longer be taken. Book exchange is done the same way.
 Holiday book club tips on Go Beyond Book Club
Say thank you to the host by having them go last on the gift exchange. That way they will have a good chance of choosing (or stealing) a gift they have their eye on.  It's an easy way to say a big thanks for hosting one of the merriest book clubs of the year!

Gift ideas for the gift exchange

The gift exchange is a ton of fun but finding gifts for under a certain amount can be hard.  Amazon.com has gifts that are book lover perfect and fit the price. More ideas on Shop Bookish 

Bookish ornaments on Etsy

Holiday Book Selection

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A Christmas Carol 200th illustrated edition almost needs no introduction. It is a timeless classic that has many editions and movies produced of the old miser Ebenezer Scrooge. This  novella is perfect for the holidays so read it now and get into the Christmas spirit with the ghosts of the past, present and future! 
A book club recommendation
Fannie Flagg author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe wrote this heart warming holiday tale with a colorful cast of characters in a small fictional southern town. A Redbird Christmas includes recipes in the back that you might want to make for your holiday book party
Mr. Dickens and His Carol is a debut novel by Samantha Silva that puts a spirited twist on the famous author Charles Dickens and his novella, A Christmas Carol. Join Dickens on his literary journey as he finds out in the end what the holidays truly mean to him 
Soon to be a Netflix movie this book has made our list of must holiday reads.  The Noel Diary is a story of a bestselling romance author who returns home after his mentally ill mother's passing and begins to unravel secrets that will lead to grace, forgiveness and love
Last Christmas in Paris  is similar to our much beloved read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. A fictional story written in exchanged letter style between friends and loved ones during WWI and beyond.  Another holiday winner and must read!
Jane Austen plays the sleuth in Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas. A murder mystery set in 1814 Regency-Era with Austen herself out to solve the crime! 
Our group loves to read true stories.  The 13th Gift a best selling memoir has been touted as funny, inspiring and even a bit of a lighthearted mystery  
For the 'A Christmas Carol' fans,  Jacob T. Marley is the story behind Ebenezer Scrooge's miserly business partner Jacob Marley.  If you have never read A Christmas Carol you can read both with this lovely set Jacob T. Marley and A Christmas Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens 200th Anniversary Gift Set 
A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children​ is not a good children's story​ ​​in the slightest
​~ C.S. Lewis
Consider reading a children's story that has a sweet Christmas theme and or festive scenes:  Anne of Green Gables (this edition includes stills from the 1985 beloved movie),  Little Women, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and Daddy Long Legs. All of these novels have the holiday spirit and are solid enough in plot for a cheerful book club discussion. A must during a busy holiday season! 
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 End your holiday book club with a group photo and don't forget to choose your next read for the new year!