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Reading the best Christmas books I can find each year is a huge part of my personal holiday celebration. Through the year, I look out for new Christmassy books to enjoy during December. Anything Christmas-related or adjacent is on the table, though I must admit to a strong preference for Christmas mysteries.

I’ve put together this list of some of my new and old favorites, from well-known titles to those I think deserve a little more love. Take a look, and I’m sure you’ll find some of the best Christmas books for you and for the folks on your shopping list.

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How to Find the Best Christmas Books for You

This list is divided into three parts to help you find the best Christmas books for you and your gift recipients more easily.

The first section contains nonfiction works of history about events related to Christmas or the Christmas season. The second section is devoted to historical fiction, while the third section is full of classic Christmas works that have been around for years. The fourth section contains my favorite classic Christmas mysteries.

Because it can be confusing, here’s a note about how to tell the difference between a work of historical fiction and a work that happened to be published in a time we now regard as historical.

It comes down to the author. When an author writes about a time period before their own birth, that’s historical fiction. When the author is writing about their own time, that’s not historical fiction, even if the author lived long ago.

Because it’s Christmas, let’s take Charles Dickens (1812-1870). A Tale of Two Cities, which is set during the French Revolution a couple decades before Dickens was born, IS historical fiction. A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations ARE NOT historical fiction because they are set in Dickens’ own time and place.

A book doesn’t suddenly become historical fiction just because it gets old. Rather, books that survive past their own time become what we usually call classics.

|Related: 10 History Book Recommendations From My Shelves

The Best Christmas Books: History

In chronological order by topic, here are some of the best Christmas books in nonfiction history.

1. The history of Christmas begins with the history of human interaction with winter and with the winter solstice. This picture book traces the history of how people in the northern hemisphere learned about and celebrated the winter solstice over thousands of years. It also includes instructions for science experiments and crafts.

2. The first sentence of this book reads, “I love Christmas. And Christmas drives me crazy.” I can relate. This is the book I recommend to anyone wanting a clear, concise (roughly 160 pages of text) explanation of how our current holiday came to be. Beginning thousands of years ago with our ancestors doing their best to survive winter, and going right up to our current issues and controversies to imagining how the holiday might continue to evolve, the conversational, “candid” tone of this book makes it a perfect introduction.

3. For the reader who wants to do a deep dive into the history of Christmas, this academic work was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history in 1997 and has not been outdone since. Nissenbaum’s other work focuses on American history, and indeed there is a strong slant toward American history in this book, which centers around the history of Christmas from about the 1600s on.

4. Many of our Anglo-American Christmas traditions can be traced to the influence of the German House of Hanover, who not only ascended the throne of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714 but whose monarchs also frequently married consorts from other German states. Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, usually gets the credit for bringing the Christmas tree to England. In this charming picture book, Queen Charlotte, consort of George III, finally gets her due.

5. For folks interested in presidential history, the early republic, or Washington in particular, here’s a reminder that everyone just wants to make it home for Christmas–even Washington between his years as General and his years as POTUS. They were ready to make him a king, but after more than eight years of war, he was ready to go home.

6. Here’s a brand new book out this year to celebrate the bicentennial of the poem’s composition (1822) and first publication (1823). The price of this first cultural history of the poem variously titled “A Visit from St. Nicholas” or “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” reflects the presence of its dozens of rich illustrations. It’s the perfect gift book for the person who read you this poem every Christmas Eve.

7. This is a great little book about a desperate author, a weary world, and a Christmas miracle of a book that has become so embedded in our cultural consciousness that you know the story even if you haven’t read the book. Here’s the story behind the story.

8. I know you have someone on your list who can’t get enough World War II history. This book is for them. And if, like me, you have more than one relative who fought in the Battle of the Bulge during that last winter of the war, perhaps you can read it in their honor or their memory.

Note: Stanley Weintraub has two books on this list, and he is also the author of the wonderful Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce (titled Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914 in some editions). That one is a bit harder to get your hands on in a print edition, but I highly recommend it. For my Penn State folks, Weintraub was in the history department there.

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The Best Christmas Books: Historical Fiction

I love a good trip into Christmas Past through the medium of historical fiction. In chronological order by setting, these are some of the my favorites of the best Christmas books in that genre.

9. Regency England: This is the first book I read in the Jane Austen Mystery series, which features the author as a character who keeps running into mysteries. I’ll be honest, I only picked up this book because I was low on Christmas mysteries, but I really enjoyed it. It has a truly atmospheric setting at a snowed-in country house party over the Christmas season, at which Jane is a guest. The mystery centers on international intrigue involving the end of the War of 1812, which was unexpected and refreshing as it seems like nobody ever thinks about the War of 1812.

10. Regency England (but also other settings, depending on the story): This book of short stories based on Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a delightful holiday read. (I’ve read it twice.) The proceeds benefit Chawton Great House, home of Jane Austen’s brother Edward Austen Knight, who provided her with a home at Chawton Cottage, where she wrote or revised all six major novels. Chawton Great House is now a historic house museum and the Centre for the Study of Early Women’s Writing, 1600-1830. I’ve visited, and it’s worth supporting.

11. Victorian England: If that cover doesn’t make you feel Christmassy, I don’t know what will. This novella is an homage to Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (There are Easter eggs!) with a slow-burn romance between a nouveau riche man of business and a woman from the landed gentry whose cash-strapped father has made a number of poor financial decisions, most recently fitting their down-at-heel manor house with gaslighting they can’t afford.

12. Civil War/Modern Day United States: This dual-timeline book focuses on poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s family tragedies that lead to the composition of “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” while in modern-day Boston, a music teacher fights to save her school’s program from budget cuts. It’s a timely reminder that the hope of the season can be found despite the darkness in the world.

13. Western Front, 1914: Forbidden wartime romance, constant danger, and a Christmas mystery. I started reading this book at my kitchen table at lunchtime on the fourth Sunday of Advent one year, and I didn’t move until I finished it. I had many pressing tasks, and there were many warmer locations in my house, but I truly couldn’t put it down.

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The Best Christmas Books: Classics

One of the most effective ways to get a feel for any era is to consume its media. Here, in chronological order by date of first publication, are some of the best Christmas books and stories of the last two centuries.

|Psst…You can find links to free online versions of most of these in this post: Get in the Christmas Spirit with These 12 Fast and Free Online Reads.

14. 1820: Washington Irving, often regarded as the first American author of fiction of any note and the originator of the American short story, lived in England from 1815-1832 and launched his literary career there. (He had gone in an attempt to shore up the failing family inport-export business. When it failed, he turned to writing and enjoyed great success.)

His first work, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Esq., was published in installments in 1819-1820. The work republished later in the century as Old Christmas consists of five of the original Sketch-book’s 29 short pieces in which Irving, in the character of Crayon, describes a Christmas spent with friends at their ancestral home, Bracebridge Hall. The pieces are titled “Christmas,” “The Stage Coach,” “Christmas Eve,” “Christmas Day,” and “Christmas Dinner.”

It’s commonly said that Charles Dickens “invented” Christmas, but don’t say this in Tarrytown, New York unless you’re looking for a fight. Dickens admitted to being heavily influenced by Irving’s work, and the two shared a brief, intense friendship between 1840 and 1842, mostly by letter, which is generally believed to have ended with the publication of Dickens’ scathing American Notes.

You can get beautiful gift editions of Old Christmas, many illustrated by Randolph Caldecott of Caldecott Medal fame, but if you intend to read more Irving, you’ll get better value for your money with a complete edition of Sketch Book, which includes both the novella The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the short story “Rip van Winkle,” Irving’s most famous works. (Most of these are sold under under the titles of the famous pieces, as “and Other Stories.” Check the table of contents before purchasing.)

15. 1843: It had to show up on this list. If you haven’t read A Christmas Carol, I’m jealous, because you get to read it for the first time. I’m not as big a fan of Dickens’ other Christmas novels, but I adore his Christmas essays, especially, “A Christmas Tree,” “A Christmas Dinner,” and “What Christmas Is As We Grow Older.” The first and last of those are included in the Penguin Edition, available as a paperback or in Penguin’s lovely clothbound series, which I collect. There’s also the cheap but just as readable Signet Classics edition (which I cut my teeth on as an elementary schooler) which includes the first two. (But do check the table of contents before you buy as editions change all the time.)

16. 1905: You’ll find O. Henry’s famous short story in many a Christmas anthology and many an American literature textbook. But I prefer this illustrated storybook version.

17. 1912: Zona Gale is mostly known as a regional writer of the American Midwest, and especially for her stories about the small town of Friendship, Wisconsin, which will resonate if you’ve ever lived in any small town anywhere. However, in 1921, she also became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This long short-story/short novella is about a town that thinks it will skip Christmas, and then thinks better of it.

18. 1916: I happened to stumble upon this little gem from the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm while searching for Christmas books I hadn’t read. The protagonist, Reba, a minister’s wife who writes and illustrates Christmas cards is a delight of a character. When her Christmas cards go out into the world, they end up bringing estranged family members and friends back together. Lovely story with a happy ending, but not saccharine.

19. 1920-1943: While these were not published until 1976, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote them for his four children when they were small. My own daughter and I have read them the past several years. They really are a delight, and some scholars believe the character of Father Christmas, who writes the letters to the children (along with his hapless assistant the North Polar Bear and his long-suffering elf secretery, Ilbereth) is an early iteration of Gandalf. Tolkien also illustrated the letters. This 2004 edition is the one I use.

20. 1923: This is not strictly a Christmas poem, but it is set around Christmas. “The darkest evening of the year,” is one of my favorite lines in literature. There are several illustrated versions, but this one by Susan Jeffers is my favorite, all white and gray with flashes of color here and there. It depicts a Santa-lookalike farmer bringing gifts to the woodland animals.

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The Best Christmas Books: Classic Mysteries

It’s no secret that I love a good classic mystery, and I especially love one with a Christmas setting. Here, in order of first publication, are some of the best Christmas books in this genre.

21. 1936: One of the earlier entries in the classic genre of “Extended family gets together for Christmas. Sparks fly. The Nasty Old Patriarch is found murdered. Everyone had a motive.” But in this case, a couple of the main players are dressed up as Santa. But which ones? (I don’t care how many times I see this premise. I will always fall for it.)

22. 1937: In a twist on the locked room mystery, a group of strangers abandons a snowbound train and arrives at an isolated house that appears to be ready to welcome them. Even the tea in the teacups is still hot–but no one is there. It’s a classic puzzle mystery, and I had to read it twice to figure it out. J. Jefferson Farjeon was the brother of children’s author Eleanor Farjeon.

23. 1941: If you like Bridgerton, you can thank Georgette Heyer for inventing the Regency Romance. Heyer also wrote a series of “Country House Murders” of which this is one of the best. It’s another I’ve read twice just to see how I missed the clues the first time, and because I enjoy the characters and setting. (First published as Envious Casca.)

24-25. Various Dates: With all the bustle and busyness, Christmas is a good time for short stories that can be read over a cup of something warm or in a few minutes before bed. These collections of classic mystery short stories, collected by Martin Edwards from the archives of the British Library, include pieces from authors who remain household names to those who are virtually unknown.

|Related: Can the Golden Age of Detective Fiction Help Us Get Better Sleep?

What will you read this Christmas?

Are any of your favorites on this list? What do you think I should add?

Comment and let me know which of these best Christmas books you hope to find under your tree and which ones you’ll be gifting.

Merry Reading!

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