The holiday season is the perfect time for heartwarming, uplifting book club reads. When the weather outside is frightful, nothing beats cozying up with a festive novel or short story collection. December meetings let your book club get in the holiday spirit and enjoy friendly discussions - maybe over hot cocoa and cookies?
Read on to see what holiday books book clubs are reading in 2024, plus bonus tips on how to host a book club Christmas or holiday party. The list starts with Christmas books, and continues with sections on Hanukkah-themed books and winter-themed books.
Christmas book club books
These touching stories and amusing tales will sprinkle some yuletide cheer into your group. Select a festive option below that sounds appealing to your members - or offer a few options for them to vote on.
From beloved classics to contemporary works (including several published in 2024), these Christmas books for adults will get your book club feeling jolly. Keep reading for our top holiday picks to read by the Christmas tree this December!
New Christmas Books for 2024
- This is Not a Holiday Romance by Camilla Isley. A Christmas snow-in forces Nina and her best friend's brother together. While they give in to the chemistry - this is definitely just a secret fling, right?
- All I Want is You by Falon Ballard. Two rival authors - and exes - are thrown together for the holidays.
- Kiss Me at Christmas by Jenny Bayliss. Bayliss is back with a Christmas romance where a woman is forced to direct a Christmas play with her one-night stand.
- The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter. In this novel described as "Knives Out gets a holiday rom-com twist," two rival authors are invited to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of another powerful author, who then vanishes.
- The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch. Red, White & Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas in a sexy, quirky romcom where the golden-hearted Prince of Christmas falls for the totally off-limits Prince of Halloween.
- The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen. Two women swap homes at Christmas time in a blend of The Holiday and Such a Fun Age.
- How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn. An enemies to lovers rom-com retelling of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
- One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery. A sweet, funny and messy story of a mother dating a younger man who doesn't want her kids to come home for Christmas—until they (and even more extended family) do.
- The Holiday Cottage by Sarah Morgan. A new story of friendship and finding yourself from the author of The Book Club Hotel.
Christmas Books Published in 2023
It may be easier to get your hands on these standout Christmas titles from last year:
- Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey. A hilarious (and sexy) romcom about the adult children of two former rock stars who team up to convince their estranged mothers to play a Christmas Eve concert
- The Christmas Orphans Club by Becca Freeman. A Christmas romcom featuring four friends in New York City who hold onto their unconventional Christmas tradition even when their paths diverge
- Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan. The sequel to Colgan's beloved The Christmas Bookshop has an American production company filming a very cheesy Christmas movie at Carmen's shop.
- Bright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews. A Christmas romance where the small-town heroine trades in her family's Christmas tree farm in the mountains of North Carolina for the wilds of New York City.
- A December to Remember by Jenny Bayliss. Three estranged -- and wildly different -- half-sisters must reunite to unlock their inheritance after their eccentric father dies
- The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan. Who doesn't love a book about book club? Four friends check into an historic inn for their annual book club holiday, not expecting their lives to become so entwined with that of the recently widowed inn owner.
- Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison. A sweet friends-to-lovers tale of a woman who fake dates her best friend to save her family's Christmas tree farm.
- Non-fiction (memoir) pick: The Jolliest Bunch by Danny Pellegrino. Mix it up with this collection of heartful, hilarious and true stories of holiday family mayhem.
More Contemprorary Christmas Book Club Reads
- Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah. From beloved author Kristen Hannah (The Nightingale, The Four Winds) comes this modern-day fable about a woman who gets a miraculous chance at happiness
- Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh. A friends to lovers romance that follows two friends trying to get home to Ireland for the holidays.
- In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren. A holiday romance from romance superstars Christina Lauren that follows a down on her luck woman who is forced to relive Christmas over and over again in a holiday time loop
- Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory. A steamy romance that's meant to end on New Year's Day - or will it?
- The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox. Two identical twins swap lives twelve days before Christmas.
- The 13th Gift by Joanne Huist Smith. This true story about the power of random acts of kindness follows the author as she tries to keep her family together after the unexpected death of her husband.
- The Christmas Fix by Lucy Score. From the author of Things We Never Got Over, an enemy-to-lovers story follows a reality TV star taking on a grumpy town manager.
- Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand. The first in a set of four books introduces us to the dysfunctional Quinn family as they come home to Nantucket for the holidays.
- Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. A beloved collection of humorist and memoirist David Sedaris' holiday-themed stories.
Christmas Thrillers and Mysteries
Is your book club in the mood for a more chilling Christmas pick? Check out these gorier holiday reads.
- The Christmas Party by Mikayla Davids. A family gathers at an isolated hotel on a dark and stormy December night for the first time since an accident shattered their lives ten years ago. Someone is found dead at midnight, but who is the killer?
- The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict. Lily must compete with her estranged cousins at the Armitage family's annual Christmas Game, where the prize is the deed to the family estate ― and for a Lily, a promise to reveal the identity of her mother's murderer.
- Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger. A Christmas thriller about a bookshop owner's childhood escape from a killer and the past that comes back to haunt her as more women wind up dead.
- Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan. Murder strikes at the Christmas party in the sleepy English village of Sherbroome, and it's up to Mordecai Tremaine to discover the killer in this 1940s mystery perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
- The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson. A spine-chilling and twist-taking novella in which an American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at her family's manor house.
Christmas Classics to Enjoy With Your Book Club
- The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn. A mix of fantasy and history, this "autobiography" (the first in the Santa Chronicles series) combines history, legend and lots of imagination.
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. While not centered on Christmas, this classic novel includes memorable holiday scenes and celebrates the spirit of family.
- Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie. For those who want a little mystery with their holiday cheer, follow the famed detective as he investigates a murder on Christmas Eve.
- The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A classic for a reason! Revisit the beloved novella that showcases the importance of charity, kindness and love.
- Bonus: Mr. Dickens and his Carol by Samantha Silva. This 2017 novel reimagines the story behind Dickens' Christmas classic.
Hanukkah Book Club Reads
Check out these delightful Hanukkah books for adults with your book club. Set aside 8 days and nights (or more) to read these Hanukkah romances, stories and explorations.
- New in 2024!: Eight Nights to Win Her Heart by Miri White. After a woman loses her father, and as she prepares to move across the country, she spends Hanukkah dinners with her neighbor.
- New in 2024! Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot. Seth and Abby may be the only Jews within a hundred miles of their small Vermont town, but it's when they travel to New York City to meet Seth's family (with Abby pretending to be his Nice Jewish Girlfriend) that sparks fly.
- The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer. A Jewish Christmas romance novelist gets stuck when forced to write a Hanukkah romance. To find inspiration, she is thrust back into contact with her summer camp archenemy.
- Eight Dates and Nights by Betsy Aldredge. Two teens with two very different ideas of how to spend Hanukkah learn to work together to save the last Jewish remnant in small-town Texas in this cozy holiday romance!
- Miracles and Menorahs by Stacey Agdern. The vice chair of a small-town Hanukkah festival looking for a giant menorah butts heads (and hearts) with a sculptor who has a different vision of community.
- The Hanukkah Anthology. Edited by Philip Goodman. The Hanukkah Anthology delves into the stories and messages of Hanukkah as they have unfolded in Jewish literature over the past two thousand years: biblical intimations of the festival, postbiblical writings, selections from the Talmud and midrashim, excerpts from medieval books, home liturgies, laws and customs, observances in different nations, stories and poems, art, and recipes.
- The Golden Dreidel by Ellen Kushner. An unforgettable adventure inspired by Jewish folklore and tradition fron an award-winning fantasy author.
- The Jewish Cookbook by Leah Koenig. A rich trove of contemporary global Jewish cuisine, featuring hundreds of stories and recipes for home cooks everywhere.
Winter-themed book club books
You don't have to read a holiday-themed book in December. Check out this list of the best winter books for adults and book clubs instead! These books range from romances to taut, susenseful mysteries, and everything in between.
- The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. In this Pulitzer-prize finalist novel, a couple in 1920s Alaska have their life changed when a wild and secretive little girl arrives on their snowy doorstep.
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman. The hopes and dreams of a small forest town rest on the shoulders of its junior ice hockey team as they set to compete on the national stage, until a violent act leaves the town in turmoil.
- Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. A historical murder mystery inspired by the life and diary of an 18th-century midwife.
- The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. Two sisters return to their family as their father falls ill, extracting a promise that they retell a Russian fairy tale all the way to the end, and leading the sisters to finally hear the story of their mother's life in Leningrad five decades before.
- One Day in December by Josie Silver. Ten years of friendship, heartbreak and missed opportunities are chronicled in this love story.
- Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg. Smilla - part Inuit and expert on ice - refuses to fit in. She also refuses to believe that her young neighbor's fall from a snow-covered roof in Copenhagen was an acceident in this absorbing and suspenseful novel.
- Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat for Difficult Times by Katherine May. An intimate nonfiction book that explores the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down.
Book club holiday party ideas
A holiday party as your December book club meeting is a wonderful way to celebrate the season with your fellow book lovers. Get together for a festive bash filled with delicious treats, joyful decorations, and holiday cheer.
Here are some of our favorite ideas to make your book club Christmas part or holiday party special:
- Host a cookie exchange - Have each member bake and bring a batch of holiday cookies to swap and share. That way everyone goes home with a variety of festive treats.
- Make handmade book ornaments or decorations together - There are so many inspired holiday ornaments with a book theme! We love this one to commemorate all of your 2024 reading, but there are tons of additional ideas here (plus links to purchase if you're not the crafty type)
- Ugly sweater contest - Who can wear the craziest, most garish holiday sweater? Award a small gift or treat to the winner.
- Special holiday drinks - Serve up warm beverages like apple cider, hot chocolate, mulled wine, or holiday punch. Give them a festive touch with cinnamon sticks, whipped cream, or red and green sprinkles.
- White elephant gift exchange - Fun way to exchange random, amusing gifts. Set a low budget so it's not too expensive.
- Book swap - Have members wrap up a favorite book to exchange as gifts during a book swap activity.
- Host a potluck - Make your book club meeting special with a festive holiday spread like one of the many delicious dishes from the Artisanal Kitchen's Jewish Holiday Baking cookbook or a German treat from the Advent cookbook. You can use the Bookclubs potluck poll tool to facilitate sign-ups.
Happy reading, and happy holidays from the Bookclubs team!
Related Content:
This holiday season, Bookclubs has you covered with the best book-themed holiday gift guides:
- One of the best gifts for a book lover is a book! Browse our top recommendations for books to gift.
- Or get creative with our guide to thoughtful gifts for book lovers.