Book Holidays: Jólabókaflóð (aka the Christmas Book Flood)

Now, this is a Book Blog, so here's another book holiday. This time I'm talking about Jólabókaflóð, aka the Christmas Book Flood in Iceland.

Jólabókaflóð History

Jólabókaflóð started during World War II when there were many restrictions and rations on imports, paper was cheap. However, Iceland wasn't large enough to support year-round publishing, so they would flood the market towards the end of the year. Since other types of gifts were in short supply, Icelanders would gift books to their family and friends.

Every year since 1944 (when Jólabókaflóð started), Iceland has published a catalogue - Bókatíðindi (Book Bulletin) - which is sent to every household in the country for free in mid-November. People use this catalogue to order the books they are going to gift for Christmas.

The gifted books are opened on Christmas Eve and, in accordance with tradition, everyone spends the evening reading the books they have been given while drinking hot chocolate or their beverage of choice.

Jólabókaflóð Ideas

Alright, some ideas for ways to celebrate Jólabókaflóð:

Have a Secret Santa exchange of books with your friends and family at your Christmas Eve gathering. Make sure to have plenty of hot beverages and chocolate, and spend the evening reading your new book.

1.  Encourage your friends and family to spend some time making book wish lists; this could include the daunting task of narrowing down their TBR or you could limit it to new releases.
2. Utilize the wish lists to purchase the perfect book for your Secret Santa Exchange.
3. You can choose to include other small gifts such as chocolate or a bookmark, perhaps special mugs or socks.
4. Once the books have been exchanged, settle down for some quiet time to read the new books.
5. If you want to go the extra mile, you can set up some comfy reading nooks or gather around the fire.
6. Hot beverages are a must for Jólabókaflóð, so maybe set up a hot chocolate bar with different flavors and toppings.
7. You might decide you want to share your initial thoughts and impressions on your new book after taking some time to read. You may even end up adding one of the other books to your TBR. 

Or, if you like a little bit more chaos, have a White Elephant exchange of books. I recommend you still have plenty of hot beverages and chocolate.

2025 Book Bracket: Quarter 3 Results

Ok, so we might have skipped Quarter 2, but here are the results including Quarter 3.

April's choice had some tough competition going up against half of the Bewitched and Bewildered series. Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris ended up being top dog though. April's choice beat out March's choice, as well as February's choice.

I only finished one book in May, so Once Upon a Dark October by Jessie Thomas ended up winning.

June also had some tough competition with some more of the Bewitched and Bewildered series. My Warrior by Alanea Alder from the Bewitched and Bewildered series ended up being the pick. June's choice beat out May's choice, but got smashed by April's choice, putting Strange Beasts in the finals.

July was relatively easy to pick with only three choices, all from Bewitched and Bewildered. My Eternal Light by Alanea Alder ended up winning.

August's choice was another hard pick. In August I participated in the ACS's Read Every Day as such I finished eight books, all except for one of them was from the Kindred of Arcadia series by Alanea Alder. The overall winner ended up being My Haven by Alanea Alder, which is the most recent addition to the Bewitched and Bewildered series. August's choice beat out July's choice.

And now for September's choice, which also had some tough competition. I read some of The 39 Clues series this month, but my top choice was Van Helsing by Kevin Ryan.

I look forward to seeing you all at the end of December with the results of this year's book bracket. 

Book Review: Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson

 

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“They were acting, Amy realized, like Cahills.” And another book done for this series. Beyond the Grave is fast-paced and has some more hilarious interactions between the characters. There’s some more backstabbing which is to be expected, but how many times can you get betrayed by the same people before you stop giving them the chance to do so again? I recommend it to fans of historical mysteries, Ancient Egypt, and the 1999 The Mummy movie.

Book Review: The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis

 

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“‘Oh, great, I’m in South Korea and my sister has turned into Julie Andrews,’ Dan said.” This series is giving me nostalgia, and reminding me why I spent my formative years researching code breaking. The Sword Thief is just as fast-paced as its predecessors, which makes me sound like a broken record, so what, sue me, I like quick books. My one complaint is the constant backstabbing, which I know is a major plot point, but it’s getting a tad old. Again, I recommend it to historical mystery fans and ninja and samurai fans.

Book Review: One False Note by Gordon Korman

  

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“‘The last church we were in wasn’t boring,’ Amy reminded him. ‘We both nearly got killed.’” And we continue our reread. One False Note is fast-paced and has some great interactions between the characters, but what else would you expect when they’re all related to each other. I don’t tend to have any gripes about most of the stuff I actually read, and that stays true for this series. The only thing would be that sometimes since most of the books in this series are written by different authors there may be a little disconnect between the feelings of the books. I recommend it to fans of historical mysteries and classical music, especially Mozart.