I love seasonal reading and a Christmas novel is the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit. Here are 6 of my favorite Christmas books for adults!
6 Christmas Books for Adults
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I mean, how can you not have A Christmas Carol on this list? It’s THE Christmas book if there ever was one. I particularly love this illustrated version by P.J. Lynch.
- Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. If you know me, you know I have a serious soft spot in my heart for Sophie Kinsella. I find her books so hilarious and Christmas Shopaholic is no exception. It’s totally light-hearted and made me laugh out loud AND get in the Christmas spirit. Win-win.
- Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. I just finished this over the weekend after it was recommended on this Instagram post and I was SO INTO this book. It’s set in WWI and is written entirely in letters (a format I don’t normally go for). Evie’s brother and his best friend are headed off to the front, but like most people, they assume the war will be over by Christmas and they have grand plans to spend it together in Paris. Of course, it doesn’t go that way. If you can, I HIGHLY recommend listening to this one – the narration is so good (if you’ve never used Audible before, you can get one for free).
- Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva. This historical fiction book leans more heavily on the fiction than the historical, but it’s a fun look at how A Christmas Carol came to be when Dickens’ latest work is tanking and his publishers are on him to write something Christmas-y in just a few weeks. It definitely made me want to go back and read the original again.
- A Return to Christmas by Chris Heimerdinger. Technically this is a children’s novel (it’s on my list of Christmas books to read aloud), but I love it so much, I can’t leave it off this list. If I had to pick ONE favorite Christmas book, it would be this one, hands down. My mom read us lots of Christmas books over the years and this is the one we all remember most fondly. It’s a fast-paced story of two young boys – one rich with a family shattered by tragedy years earlier, and one living with his drifter uncle who is always trying to con someone out of a buck. When their lives intersect over Christmas when they are both 11, nothing will ever be the same. I read this one to my girls a few years ago and Bart ended up sitting in on the whole thing (and even volunteering to read so we could read MORE) and I sobbed my way through the last chapter.
- Christmas with Anne by L. M. Montgomery. If you’re an Anne lover (as I am!), this collection of holiday stories from Green Gables is absolutely charming. If you haven’t read Anne of Green Gables, this is NOT the place to start, since it jumps right into the Christmas chapters, but if you’re already familiar with her, you’ll love this one. And it’s available as part of Audible Escape, so you can listen to it for free (you can sign up for a free trial here).
And if you’d like a printable copy of this list that you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
I’d love to hear some of your other favorite Christmas books for grown-ups! Leave them in them comments so we can all find a few new favorites!
If you liked this post about Christmas books for adults, you might like these posts too:
- My favorite Christmas read-alouds
- 24 fantastic Christmas picture books
- Free printable Christmas reading calendar
Photos by Heather Mildenstein
If you have never read any Sophie Kinsella, would you be lost in this Christmas book? Looks like it’s a series, but wasn’t sure if you could read this as a stand alone. Great list!
It’s probably MORE fun if you’ve read them all, but totally can stand alone!
I just read it without having read the other Shopaholic books and really enjoyed it! She does reference things I assume are parts of other books but it didn’t effect my understanding of this one or the characters.
Thanks for the list! Do you think Christmas Shopaholic would be ok for a teenage girl (14/15/16)? I think my daughter would thinks it’s fun but want to make sure there isn’t anything steamy in it. 😉
Hmm, it’s fairly tame, but I still think they aren’t for teenagers.
It’s more a short story than a novel, but Pearl S. Buck’s Christmas Day in the Morning makes me cry every single time.
For a few years now, I’ve been rereading the Father Christmas series by Robin Jones Gunn and the Winter Street series by Elin HIlderbrand every December! Both are delighful and put me in the Christmas spirit!
Thank you all for sharing your recommendations. I have just reserved half a dozen books from my library here in New Zealand. Isn’t it amazing how books can bring together people all around the world?
The best!
I just reread Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher because I was in the mood for a long cozy read that was both Fall and Christmasy. It did not disappoint!
I just finished Jenny Hale’s new one Christmas at Silver Falls. I really loved it!
I am so so excited about this list! For the past few years, I’ve tried reading Christmas-y books and found them disappointing (much of what you can find tends towards cheesy romance novels set at Christmas time) but these all sound wonderful. Thanks so much!!
I really enjoyed Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews. It’s been a few years, but it was just a happy little read set in one of my favorite cities, Savannah.
It’s not really a Christmas book but Little Women (book and movie!) always make me so excited for Christmas. My husband loves listening to an unabridged but dramatized version of The Christmas Carol every year – I think its on the Mormon channel. It’s overdramatic and a little silly, but fun and we always enjoy it.
A really great children’s book that I didn’t fully appreciate until I read it as an adult is The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I know her writing has come under under fire in recent years for its cultural insensitivity, but the events of that winter in Minnesota are true and if you can get past some of the language in her writing I think it is a truly remarkable story of sacrifice and survival. I wouldn’t cal it “Christmassy” but definitely a great winter read!