Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

Somewhere along the way, many adults learned to apologise for reading.

We justify it as research.
We frame it as self-improvement.
We explain that it’s useful, educational, good for us.

And while all of those things may be true, they quietly miss the point.

Reading for pleasure does not need permission.

I’ve noticed how often people lower their voices when they talk about reading something “just because they love it”. As if enjoyment alone were somehow insufficient. As if delight needed a measurable outcome to earn its place in a busy life.

But reading has always been more than a means to an end. Long before productivity metrics and optimisation culture, stories existed to comfort, entertain, distract, provoke and keep people company. Pleasure was never a side effect. It was the point.

This is what winter reminds us of.

In December, reading slips back into its most natural shape. It happens slowly. It happens indoors. It happens without urgency. A few pages before bed. A chapter while the kettle boils. A story revisited simply because it feels familiar and safe.

Reading for pleasure is not laziness.

It is rest for the mind.

It allows thoughts to wander without being managed. It creates private spaces untouched by obligation. It reconnects us with curiosity — not because curiosity is useful, but because it feels good to follow it.

Today, on Day 14 of our Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar, I want to offer a simple manifesto. Not rules. Not targets. Just a reminder of what reading is allowed to be.

📜 A Reading-for-Pleasure Manifesto

You are allowed to:

• Read slowly
• Re-read favourites
• Abandon books that don’t feel right
• Choose comfort over challenge
• Read without learning anything new
• Read purely because you want to

And you do not owe anyone an explanation.

📚 Today’s Reading Picks — “Reading-for-Pleasure Essentials”

Books that celebrate reading as joy, refuge and companionship:

• The House at Pooh Corner — A. A. Milne
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes — Anita Loos
• Three Men in a Boat — Jerome K. Jerome
• The Library Book — Susan Orlean

These are books that understand reading as a lived experience, not a performance.

You can explore the full Advent Calendar titles here:
👉 Visit the “Advent Calendar” collection on Bookshop.org

And if you’d like to continue browsing gently:
👉 Visit the Reading-for-Pleasure Starter Shelf

• A Man Called Ove — Fredrik Backman: Short chapters, deep heart, unforgettable payoff.
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine — Gail Honeyman– Relatable loneliness, gentle humour and hope
• The Reading List — Sara Nisha Adams: A love letter to books for non-readers.
• Before the Coffee Gets Cold — Toshikazu Kawaguchi – Short, magical and deeply satisfying.
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time — Mark Haddon: Fast, different and instantly engaging.
• Remarkably Bright Creatures — Shelby Van Pelt: An octopus narrator that wins over even non-readers.
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry — Rachel Joyce: Simple premise, quietly transformative.
• The Outsiders — S.E. Hinton: Fast, emotional and accessible at any age.
• Sapiens — Yuval Noah Harari: Big ideas, conversational tone.
• Educated — Tara Westover: Compulsive, human and inspiring.
• Born a Crime — Trevor Noah:  Laugh-out-loud storytelling with substance.
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind — William Kamkwamba: Short, hopeful and deeply motivating.
• Atomic Habits — James Clear:  Bite-sized, practical and confidence-boosting.
• How to Stop Time — Matt Haig: Gentle fantasy with emotional pull.
• Tuesdays with Morrie — Mitch Albom: Short, meaningful and accessible.

This winter, you don’t need to read better.
You don’t need to read more.

You only need to read for yourself.

And that is more than enough.