My local bookstore is hosting a Jólabókaflóð night on the Friday before Christmas complete with areas to read, baskets of free books, and hot chocolate. I’m so looking forward to it!!
Trying to find a link or email to correspond with your assistant to obtain a refund for an accidental purchase of Wintering course…and I cannot find one! Sooo sorry to bother you…can you point me in the right direction?
I’m taking part in the Substack Jolabokflod, so I have a beautiful parcel which will go under the tree ready for Christmas Eve, and my fellow book-gifter should get hers in the post later this week
I have also just discovered that London Writers Salon are planning a special Christmas Eve edition of Readers Hour at 8pm (members event) - so I hope to see other LWS folks there to read together!
For the Substack one: the date has passed due to posting times but you could always join in by buying a book for a friend or family member and inviting them to do likewise. For LWS, take a look at the membership options here: https://londonwriterssalon.com
I love this idea so much. Our Christmas Eve has long been a very quiet one; we do our gift exchange that night, and many of those gifts are inevitably books (old, new, antique, rare if the year has been a good one). This year, I’m giving Orbital (one on request), Nigel Slater’s A Thousand Feasts, Nigel’s Christmas Chronicles, Laurie Colwin’s Passion and Affection, Home Cooking, and More Home Cooking, John O’Donohue’s Anam Cara, and, of course, Wintering.
We started Jolabokafloð last year. We do it on December 23 because it tends to be a quieter, more contemplative evening than the 24th. Last year we ate Icelandic chocolate including some truly vile stuff flavored with licorice - they are crazy about licorice in Iceland. This year we have saved a bar of Russian chocolate that our neighbor brought us from her trip there in the fall. I will be reading a book about an artist who creates knitted glass pieces. My husband will read an autobiography of a disc jockey. This is my favorite new (to us) tradition.
The 24th December has always been elevated by the gifting of books in our family and even though my children are now full well grown I think they’d be appalled if I forgot to observe the date in this way.
I am so grateful to be reading about this beautiful tradition on a cold, white morning in Minnesota. I have not heard of it before but it goes right to the core of my soul. And I’m in the middle of Wintering, right before the solstice, which is perfect!
I love Maria Popova, but I only allow myself to read The Marginalian occasionally, because it is so dangerous for my bank balance! This looks like a beautiful book though.
I'm a massive fan of The Marginalian and Maria Popova! It’s such a great source of inspiration. I know what you mean about it being dangerous for your bank balance 😉
I absolutely love this idea! My best friend, my sister, and my parents have all turned to reading mostly on a kindle and it’s so hard for me because I always want to shower them with books! Books are everything and I think this tradition and the history behind it may be exactly what these loved ones of mine could hear to be convinced to accept an in the flesh book from me on this special day.
what a lovely idea! and though Hanukkah starts the next evening this year, a book i would recommend is "The Trees of the Dancing Goats" by Patricia Polacco. beautiful illustrations and story.
to my six year old grandnephew i sent "Cat Wings" by Ursula K Le Guin. Maybe not a book to be read at one sitting, but an author to introduce him to early!
My mother-in-law, who's American, had this tradition for her family since her children were very young. When I found out about Jolabokaflod from Anna Brones's Substack last year, I mentioned it to her but she had no idea about the origin of it. She used to be a librarian and the whole family liked reading so this is something she took pleasure in doing. Now, she is suffering from age related dementia and stopped gifting books on Christmas eve for the last few years. But we continue the tradition. This year I'm going to gift Alice in Wonderland illustrated by Tove Jansson to my son: https://bookshop.org/p/books/alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland-lewis-carroll/271131?ean=9781681378459
My sister and I have done jolabokaflod since 2019 and it’s my favorite tradition! We haven’t always been in the same location but we make sure to continue the tradition over FaceTime when we’re apart
I thought for a moment that Jólabókaflóð was referring to the tsunami of books that has entered my home this week - many of them Christmas presents, but many others (mostly second-hand) not!
Christmas gift wise - I will be giving piles of manga to my child (their main book love right now), Wise Women by Sharon Blackie to my childhood friend, and gifting myself (I have been in charge of my own Christmas gifts for the last decade!) The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen and Lucy Boston: An Artist in Everything She Did (and I have told my child they will be gifting me Memories by Lucy Boston lol).
Thank you for this Christmas tradition idea, Katherine. I have been looking around for new mid winter traditions as I transition to having an adult (just) child who doesn’t want to do the old traditions we used to do (much of them involving me reading aloud by candle light!). This might be something that will suit us both…
I can report back that this idea got the thumbs up from my almost 19 year old, who said that they also had heard of this tradition. I’m feeling excited for Christmas now!
We discovered Jolabokaflod via a delightful children’s book called “Winston delivers Christmas” by Alex T Smith. It’s designed to be read one chapter per night in December in the run up to Christmas with lots of activities (we’re talking Tolkien letters levels of parental inadequacy should you try to do them all) and information about traditions worldwide.
It’s a huge part of our celebration now and everyone gets to suggest books for their “jolabokaflod list” in advance. On Christmas Eve we all get a pile of beribboned books, chocolate, and new pyjamas and we settle in for the evening before bedtime.
This year:
Husband - You Have Not Yet Heard Your New Favourite Song by Glenn McDonald
12yo: Amari and the Night Brothers #3; Sad Ghosts Club graphic novel
9yo: a Bunny VS Monkey; Lightfall
Me: A Tomb With A View by Peter Ross; Notes From The Burning Age by Claire North; A Treasury of British Folklore by Dee Dee Chainey; Wild Atlantic Women by Gráinne Lyon’s. Yes, I did very well this year, Sherlock and Pages’ marketing is extremely persuasive!
It may not technically be jolabokaflod, but there is this book I would take out of the library around my birthday (December baby) called Noelle of the Nutcracker when I was little. And years and years later after I moved back to my hometown, there it was, this worn out, broken spined book, (I wish I were a bookbinder so I could restore it!), for 50 cents on the used book cart. So…I think this year I might have to read that on Christmas Eve, it’s about 50 pages (probably a quarter or half of which are illustrations). Let the inner child free for some winter merriment, yay!
My local bookstore is hosting a Jólabókaflóð night on the Friday before Christmas complete with areas to read, baskets of free books, and hot chocolate. I’m so looking forward to it!!
Oh that’s a brilliant idea!
Shout out to Loganberry Books for being a great local indie!
Hi Katherine…I’m
Trying to find a link or email to correspond with your assistant to obtain a refund for an accidental purchase of Wintering course…and I cannot find one! Sooo sorry to bother you…can you point me in the right direction?
That’s an extraordinary idea !
The bookstore is called Loganberry Books, if you want to check out their event page about it!
Oh what a beautiful idea!
Agreed!!
I’m taking part in the Substack Jolabokflod, so I have a beautiful parcel which will go under the tree ready for Christmas Eve, and my fellow book-gifter should get hers in the post later this week
I have also just discovered that London Writers Salon are planning a special Christmas Eve edition of Readers Hour at 8pm (members event) - so I hope to see other LWS folks there to read together!
How can one get involved in this!?! What a delightful idea.
For the Substack one: the date has passed due to posting times but you could always join in by buying a book for a friend or family member and inviting them to do likewise. For LWS, take a look at the membership options here: https://londonwriterssalon.com
I love this idea so much. Our Christmas Eve has long been a very quiet one; we do our gift exchange that night, and many of those gifts are inevitably books (old, new, antique, rare if the year has been a good one). This year, I’m giving Orbital (one on request), Nigel Slater’s A Thousand Feasts, Nigel’s Christmas Chronicles, Laurie Colwin’s Passion and Affection, Home Cooking, and More Home Cooking, John O’Donohue’s Anam Cara, and, of course, Wintering.
I'm hoping for the new Nigel Slater for Christmas :)
Did you mention it to Santa?
I texted it to him
LOL
It’s divine!
I love Anam Cara! I so want to reread it (and Wintering) but there are so many new (to me) books to be read!
Of course I meant Passion and Affect, but autocorrect…..
We started Jolabokafloð last year. We do it on December 23 because it tends to be a quieter, more contemplative evening than the 24th. Last year we ate Icelandic chocolate including some truly vile stuff flavored with licorice - they are crazy about licorice in Iceland. This year we have saved a bar of Russian chocolate that our neighbor brought us from her trip there in the fall. I will be reading a book about an artist who creates knitted glass pieces. My husband will read an autobiography of a disc jockey. This is my favorite new (to us) tradition.
Oh is it that salty licorice? I cannot understand it 🤣
The 24th December has always been elevated by the gifting of books in our family and even though my children are now full well grown I think they’d be appalled if I forgot to observe the date in this way.
I am so grateful to be reading about this beautiful tradition on a cold, white morning in Minnesota. I have not heard of it before but it goes right to the core of my soul. And I’m in the middle of Wintering, right before the solstice, which is perfect!
🥰
I just ordered Thank you, everything - written and illustrated by Icinori that I read about here https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/12/12/thank-you-everything-icinori/
That looks lovely!
It does! I ordered three copies, one for myself and 2 for my daughters.
I love Maria Popova, but I only allow myself to read The Marginalian occasionally, because it is so dangerous for my bank balance! This looks like a beautiful book though.
I'm a massive fan of The Marginalian and Maria Popova! It’s such a great source of inspiration. I know what you mean about it being dangerous for your bank balance 😉
I absolutely love this idea! My best friend, my sister, and my parents have all turned to reading mostly on a kindle and it’s so hard for me because I always want to shower them with books! Books are everything and I think this tradition and the history behind it may be exactly what these loved ones of mine could hear to be convinced to accept an in the flesh book from me on this special day.
Worth a go :)
what a lovely idea! and though Hanukkah starts the next evening this year, a book i would recommend is "The Trees of the Dancing Goats" by Patricia Polacco. beautiful illustrations and story.
to my six year old grandnephew i sent "Cat Wings" by Ursula K Le Guin. Maybe not a book to be read at one sitting, but an author to introduce him to early!
My mother-in-law, who's American, had this tradition for her family since her children were very young. When I found out about Jolabokaflod from Anna Brones's Substack last year, I mentioned it to her but she had no idea about the origin of it. She used to be a librarian and the whole family liked reading so this is something she took pleasure in doing. Now, she is suffering from age related dementia and stopped gifting books on Christmas eve for the last few years. But we continue the tradition. This year I'm going to gift Alice in Wonderland illustrated by Tove Jansson to my son: https://bookshop.org/p/books/alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland-lewis-carroll/271131?ean=9781681378459
My sister and I have done jolabokaflod since 2019 and it’s my favorite tradition! We haven’t always been in the same location but we make sure to continue the tradition over FaceTime when we’re apart
I thought for a moment that Jólabókaflóð was referring to the tsunami of books that has entered my home this week - many of them Christmas presents, but many others (mostly second-hand) not!
Christmas gift wise - I will be giving piles of manga to my child (their main book love right now), Wise Women by Sharon Blackie to my childhood friend, and gifting myself (I have been in charge of my own Christmas gifts for the last decade!) The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen and Lucy Boston: An Artist in Everything She Did (and I have told my child they will be gifting me Memories by Lucy Boston lol).
Thank you for this Christmas tradition idea, Katherine. I have been looking around for new mid winter traditions as I transition to having an adult (just) child who doesn’t want to do the old traditions we used to do (much of them involving me reading aloud by candle light!). This might be something that will suit us both…
Oh yes it might work really well!
I can report back that this idea got the thumbs up from my almost 19 year old, who said that they also had heard of this tradition. I’m feeling excited for Christmas now!
Gorgeous recommendations! 🤍
We discovered Jolabokaflod via a delightful children’s book called “Winston delivers Christmas” by Alex T Smith. It’s designed to be read one chapter per night in December in the run up to Christmas with lots of activities (we’re talking Tolkien letters levels of parental inadequacy should you try to do them all) and information about traditions worldwide.
It’s a huge part of our celebration now and everyone gets to suggest books for their “jolabokaflod list” in advance. On Christmas Eve we all get a pile of beribboned books, chocolate, and new pyjamas and we settle in for the evening before bedtime.
This year:
Husband - You Have Not Yet Heard Your New Favourite Song by Glenn McDonald
12yo: Amari and the Night Brothers #3; Sad Ghosts Club graphic novel
9yo: a Bunny VS Monkey; Lightfall
Me: A Tomb With A View by Peter Ross; Notes From The Burning Age by Claire North; A Treasury of British Folklore by Dee Dee Chainey; Wild Atlantic Women by Gráinne Lyon’s. Yes, I did very well this year, Sherlock and Pages’ marketing is extremely persuasive!
It may not technically be jolabokaflod, but there is this book I would take out of the library around my birthday (December baby) called Noelle of the Nutcracker when I was little. And years and years later after I moved back to my hometown, there it was, this worn out, broken spined book, (I wish I were a bookbinder so I could restore it!), for 50 cents on the used book cart. So…I think this year I might have to read that on Christmas Eve, it’s about 50 pages (probably a quarter or half of which are illustrations). Let the inner child free for some winter merriment, yay!
I love this idea, however I'm the only keen reader in my household. Perhaps I will do it for myself!