Jolabokaflod

Christmas Book Flood • Reading for Pleasure

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DAY 24 — Tonight, We Read

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

At last, we arrive.

The days of anticipation are behind us. The lists have been written, rewritten, and finally set aside. The world feels quieter now — not because there is nothing left to do, but because something has been decided.

Tonight is for reading.

Jolabokaflod was never meant to be loud. It does not demand attention or insist on spectacle. It asks only for a book, a little time, and the willingness to be still. In a season so often filled with movement and noise that simplicity feels almost radical.

I like to think of Christmas Eve reading not as a tradition to perform, but as a threshold to cross. A moment when the year loosens its grip just enough for us to step into story — not to escape the world, but to return to it more gently.

Tonight, the book you open does not need to be impressive.
It does not need to be new.
It does not need to change your life.

It only needs to keep you company.

Whether you read for five minutes or fifty pages, whether you read aloud or silently, whether the house is full or completely still — the act itself matters. It marks the evening. It gives the season a resting place.

Across Iceland, across homes around the world, people are doing something quietly similar tonight. Sitting down. Opening a book. Letting words arrive one by one. Not rushing. Not measuring. Simply reading.

That shared stillness is the heart of Jolabokaflod.

Over the past twenty-four days, we’ve wandered through cosy corners, old favourites, short stories, slow reading, childhood memories, and last-minute gifts. But all of it has been leading here — to this moment, when the only thing left to do is begin.

📚 Tonight’s Reading Choice

There is no list today.
No recommendation to follow.
No shelf to browse.

Tonight, the right book is the one already in your hands.

So wherever you are, however you celebrate, I invite you to do one small thing before the evening slips away:

Sit down.
Open your book.
Read.

Let Christmas arrive quietly.
Let the story do its work.
And let this simple act carry you — gently — into the days ahead.

From Jolabokaflod to you:

Merry Christmas… And happy reading. 🎄📖


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DAY 23 — Jolabokaflod Eve: Your Reading Survival Kit

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

Christmas Eve carries a particular kind of energy.

It’s quieter than the days before it, but fuller than the days that follow. The rush has largely passed. The waiting is nearly over. And somewhere in between, a small pocket of calm opens — if we choose to notice it.

In Iceland, Jolabokaflod Eve is not about doing more.

It’s about settling in.

Books are exchanged. Pyjamas appear early. Chocolate is unwrapped without ceremony. The world narrows to the simple, generous idea that tonight is for reading — not achieving, not preparing, not performing.

Over the years, I’ve come to think of Christmas Eve reading not as an activity, but as a kit. A few carefully chosen elements that make the evening feel held and complete. When these are in place, the rest tends to follow naturally.

So today, on Day 23 of our Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar, I invite you to assemble your own Reading Survival Kit — not as a checklist, but as a gentle ritual.

🎄 The Jolabokaflod Eve Reading Survival Kit

One Book
Not a decision to agonise over. Choose something that feels right for tonight. Comforting, absorbing, or quietly beautiful.

Something Sweet
Chocolate, biscuits, fruit, or a favourite treat. Reading pairs well with a little indulgence.

Warm Layers
Socks, a blanket, pyjamas — anything that signals the day is done.

Soft Light
A lamp, a candle, fairy lights. Enough to read without pulling the room back into daytime.

Permission to Stop
This may be the most important item. Permission to read only a few pages — or many. Permission to sleep early. Permission to enjoy the moment without documenting it.

I remember one Christmas Eve when everything else fell away unexpectedly. The house was still. The book was good. The night passed quietly — and it remains one of the most peaceful Christmas memories I have.

That’s the gift of Jolabokaflod Eve:

It gives the season somewhere to land.

📚 Today’s Reading Picks — “Jolabokaflod Eve Books”

Perfect companions for the night before Christmas:

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

And if you’re still choosing:
👉 Visit the Cosy Winter Fiction Shelf

Tonight doesn’t need to be special because it’s perfect.
It becomes special because it’s gentle.

Settle in.
Open your book.
And let Christmas arrive quietly, one page at a time.


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DAY 21 — The Quietest Hour of the Year

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

There is an hour in late December that feels unlike any other.

It might arrive early in the morning, before the house wakes. Or late at night, after the dishes are done and the lights are low. Outside, the world is hushed. Inside, there is nothing urgently asking for your attention.

This is the quietest hour of the year.

I’ve come to recognise it not by the clock, but by the feeling. The sense that time has loosened. That no one is waiting for a response. That the noise of obligation has briefly stepped aside. When this hour appears, reading feels less like an activity and more like a natural response.

During one such hour a few winters ago, I opened a book almost instinctively. There was no plan to read much — just enough to fill the silence. But the silence held. The pages turned slowly. The hour stretched. And when it passed, I felt steadier than I had in days.

That is the gift of reading in deep quiet:

It meets stillness with stillness.

Some books are especially suited to this hour. They don’t rush you forward. They don’t demand sustained alertness. They feel content to sit beside you while the world rests. These are not books for multitasking. They are books for presence.

Today, on Day 21 of our Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar, I invite you to notice when your quietest hour arrives. Don’t schedule it. Don’t announce it. Just recognise it when it comes — and meet it with a book that understands the moment.

🌙 Today’s Reading Picks — “Books for the Quietest Hour”

Gentle companions for reading in near-silence:

These are books that don’t interrupt the quiet. They deepen it.

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

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

When the quietest hour finds you, don’t rush to fill it.
Let a book sit with you inside it.
And allow stillness to do its quiet work.


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DAY 19 — Books That Bring Back Childhood Christmas

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

There are certain books that seem to carry Christmas inside them.

You open the cover, and suddenly you’re smaller. The room feels bigger. The lights are softer. Time stretches in that peculiar way it only ever did when you were young and December felt endless.

For many of us, our earliest reading memories are inseparable from Christmas. A book opened on the carpet while the adults talked. A story read aloud before bed. A familiar cover brought out once a year, like a decoration made of paper and ink.

These books did more than entertain us.
They taught us what comfort felt like.

I can still remember the particular hush of Christmas reading as a child — the sense that nothing else was expected of me in that moment. No achievement. No performance. Just attention and imagination. Looking back, it’s no surprise that so many lifelong readers trace their love of books back to these early, gentle encounters.

What’s remarkable is how powerfully these stories work when we return to them as adults.

We notice different things. We read with more patience, more tenderness. But the emotional core remains unchanged. The same sense of safety. The same quiet joy. The same feeling of being held by a story.

Today, on Day 19 of our Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar, I invite you to revisit — or pass on — the books that shaped Christmas reading for so many of us. Whether you’re giving them to a child, sharing them aloud, or reclaiming them for yourself, these stories still know exactly what to do.

🎄 Today’s Reading Picks — “Childhood Christmas Books”

Beloved stories that feel like coming home:

These are not just books. They are seasonal companions.

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

And if you’d like to continue the tradition:
👉 Visit the Giftable Hardbacks Shelf

  1. Journey — Dorling Kindersley: An illustrated history of the world’s greatest travels
  2. Jurassic World: The Ultimate Visual History — James Mottram: Definitive collector’s book, a must-have for fans of the action-packed dinosaur saga
  3. National Geographic Ultimate Visual History of the World — Jean-Pierre Isbouts: Here, in vivid colour and crisp narrative, is the sweeping story of the history of civilisation
  4. The Wonder of Life on Earth — Henry Gee: Astonishing and readable natural history giving an accessible introduction to the topic of life.
  5. The Illustrated World of Tolkien — David Day: Exquisite reference guide to Tolkien’s world and the artists his vision inspired.
  6. The Work of Art — Adam Moss: Guided tour of what goes on inside an artist’s head.
  7. The Natural History Book — Dorling Kindersley: Beautiful guide to Earth’s wildlife and natural history, including its rocks, minerals, animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms.
  8. Information is Beautiful — David McCandless: Visual guide to how the world really works, through stunning infographics and data visualisations
  9. Animalium — Jenny Broom: Rich, informative and truly wonderful cabinet of curiosities beautifully displayed in this imaginative book
  10. The Book of Symbols. Reflections on Archetypal Images — Taschen: Sets new standards for thoughtful exploration of symbols and their meanings
  11. The Illustrated Brief History Of Time — Stephen Hawking: Bring theories to life in a clear, captivating and visually engaging way
  12. The Secret Lives of Colour — Kassia St Clair: Excellent, innovative and idiosyncratic cultural history that will colour your thinking
  13. Atlas of the Invisible — James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti: Discover the hidden patterns in human society as you have never seen them before — through the world of data
  14. The Book of Trees: Visualising Branches of Knowledge — Manuel Lima: Stunning visual maps showing how humans organise knowledge.
  15. The Planets — Andrew Cohen and Brian Cox: Visually striking and intellectually generous.

This Christmas, remember the books that once made the world feel safe and magical.
They are still doing that work — quietly, patiently — for anyone willing to open them again.


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DAY 17 — The Forgotten Art of Curling Up With a Book

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

There is a posture that belongs almost entirely to winter.

It’s not sitting upright at a desk.
It’s not lying flat with intention.
It’s something in between — knees drawn up, shoulders softened, book resting wherever it finds space.

A posture that says:

I am not going anywhere.

Curling up with a book is one of the first reading habits many of us ever learn. As children, we instinctively read this way — on sofas, on beds, on the floor, tucked into corners that feel safe and small. Somewhere in adulthood, many of us forget that reading is allowed to be physical. Comfortable. Nest-like.

But winter remembers for us.

I noticed this one evening when I realised I had been trying to read “properly” — straight-backed, alert, almost performative. The book felt distant. Then I shifted. Blanket pulled closer. Legs tucked in. The change was immediate. My body relaxed — and my attention followed.

That’s the quiet truth of curling up to read:

Comfort invites presence.

When the body feels safe, the mind wanders more freely into story. There’s less resistance. Less restlessness. Curling up is not laziness; it is a form of listening — a way of telling the book you are willing to stay.

Winter offers us permission to read this way again. To choose softness over structure. To let the book fit around us, rather than forcing ourselves to fit around the book.

Today, on Day 17 of our Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar, I invite you to reclaim this small, forgotten art. Build yourself a nest. Adjust until nothing aches. Let the outside world recede — and allow a story to come closer.

🛋️ Today’s Reading Picks — “Curl-Up-With-Me Books”

Quiet, comforting reads that pair perfectly with blankets and stillness:

These are books that don’t rush you. They sit patiently until you are ready to lean in.

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

And if you’d like to linger in this softness a little longer:
👉 Visit the Cosy Winter Fiction Shelf

Tonight, don’t worry about posture or progress.
Just find a comfortable corner.
Curl up.
And let the book do the rest.


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DAY 14 — The Reading-for-Pleasure Manifesto

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:

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

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.


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DAY 11 — The Winter Non-fiction List

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

Winter has a way of sharpening our curiosity.

As the world outside grows quieter, many of us feel an unexpected pull inward — toward ideas, questions, and reflections that don’t compete for attention, but reward it patiently. This is often when non-fiction finds us.

I used to think of non-fiction as something best suited to brighter months: train journeys, summer mornings, purposeful reading time. But over the years, I’ve noticed something different. In winter, non-fiction feels less like work and more like companionship.

Perhaps it’s the slower pace. Perhaps it’s the long evenings. Or perhaps it’s simply that winter gives us permission to think more deeply without having to hurry toward conclusions.

Winter nonfiction does not shout.
It speaks quietly and stays awhile.

These are the books that sit comfortably beside a lamp and a warm drink. They don’t demand that you read quickly or remember everything. They allow for pauses. They welcome re-reading. They are perfectly content to be dipped into and returned to over days or weeks.

Today, on Day 11 of our Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar, I invite you to choose a non-fiction book not because you should read it — but because you want to keep it close this season. Something thoughtful. Something nourishing. Something that feels like a winter conversation rather than a lecture.

📚 Today’s Reading Picks — “The Winter Non-fiction List”

Reflective, accessible non-fiction for quiet days:

These books don’t rush you. They meet you where you are.

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

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

This winter, let your curiosity wander slowly.
Let ideas unfold at their own pace.
And let nonfiction become a place of warmth, not effort.


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DAY 9 — Slow Down, You’re Reading Too Fast

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

Somewhere along the way, many of us learned to read as if we were rushing through an airport.

Eyes scanning. Pages turning quickly. A quiet pressure to keep moving, to finish, to extract something useful before the next demand arrives. Even our reading — the very thing meant to slow us down — has learned to hurry.

Winter invites us to do the opposite.

I noticed this one December evening when I realised I had read several chapters without truly being in them. The words were familiar. The story was fine. But my attention was already halfway elsewhere. So I stopped. I went back a page. And this time, I read as if I had nowhere else to be.

The difference was immediate.

Sentences stretched. Images sharpened. Silence gathered between paragraphs. The book had not changed — my pace had.

Slow reading is not about difficulty or effort. It is about permission. Permission to linger on a line. To reread a paragraph because it felt good rather than because it was confusing. To let language work on you gently, instead of trying to work through it.

In a culture obsessed with speed, slow reading becomes a quiet act of resistance.

It says: I am allowed to take my time.
It says: This moment does not need to perform.
It says: Reading is not a race.

Today, on Day 9 of our Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar, I invite you to experiment. Choose a book that welcomes slowness. Read fewer pages than usual — but notice more. Let the rhythm of the words set the pace rather than your habit.

⏳ Today’s Reading Picks — “Slow Reading Essentials”

Books that reward patience, attention, and gentle presence:

These are not books to rush through. They are books to keep company with.

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

And if you’d like to stay in this slower rhythm:
👉 Visit the Reading-for-Pleasure Starter Shelf

Tonight, try reading less.
But notice more.
And let slowness return reading to what it was always meant to be: a place to rest.


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DAY 8 — Fireplace Fiction Night

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

There is a particular kind of reading that belongs to firelight.

Even if you don’t have a real fireplace, you know the feeling. A single lamp turned low. Shadows moving softly across the room. The sense that the day has finally loosened its grip. Fireplace fiction is not about flames — it’s about atmosphere.

I discovered this kind of reading one winter evening when the house felt unusually quiet. The lamp was warm rather than bright. Outside, the night pressed close to the windows. I opened a book almost absent-mindedly — and found myself reading more slowly than usual, lingering over sentences, letting the mood seep in before the plot did.

That is the magic of fireplace fiction:

It invites immersion rather than momentum.

These are the stories that glow rather than dazzle. The ones where place matters deeply. Where weather, interiors, and silence play supporting roles. They are books that seem to say, Stay here. There’s no need to rush.

Fireplace fiction pairs beautifully with winter because both ask the same thing of us: attention. Not frantic focus, but gentle presence. The kind that notices how the room feels. How the language sounds. How time stretches when we stop trying to fill it.

Today, on Day Eight of our Jolabokafloð Advent Calendar, I invite you to create your own Fireplace Fiction Night. Light a candle. Lower the lights. Let the outside world fall back just a little — and step into a story that knows how to glow.

🔥 Today’s Reading Picks — “Fireplace Fiction”

Atmospheric stories best enjoyed by lamplight:

These are books that reward slow reading and quiet rooms.

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

And if you’d like to stay in this mood a little longer:
👉 Visit the Cosy Winter Fiction Shelf

Tonight, don’t aim to read far.
Aim to read deeply.
And let the story glow long after you close the book.


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DAY 7 — The Joy of Re-reading

Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar 2025

There are some books that arrive in our lives once.
And there are others that stay.

They wait patiently on the shelf. They age with us. And when we return, they somehow know exactly who we have become since the last time we met. Re-reading is not repetition. It is reunion.

I used to think that re-reading meant I was avoiding the unknown. That I should always be pushing forwards into something new. But one winter, almost by accident, I opened a novel I had loved years earlier. The story was the same. I was not. And in that quiet difference between then and now, the book revealed entirely new truths to me.

That is the hidden gift of re-reading:

The story stays still so we can see how we have changed.

When December grows busy and the world pulls at us from every direction, returning to a familiar book can be an act of deep self-kindness. There is no pressure to keep up. No anxiety about comprehension. No need to prove anything. You already belong to the story — and it belongs to you.

Re-reading is also a way of reclaiming time. In a culture that constantly urges forward momentum, choosing to go back is quietly revolutionary. It says: this mattered once, and it matters still.

Today, on Day 7 of our Jolabokaflod Advent Calendar, I invite you to revisit a book that once felt like home. It does not have to be profound. It only has to be yours.

📖 Today’s Reading Picks — “Books Worth Re-reading”

Comforting companions that reward every return:

Each of these reads a little differently every time — because we read them differently every time.

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

And for more timeless companions:
👉 Visit the Jolabokafloð Classics Shelf

Tonight, choose a book you already know.
Let it meet you where you are now.
And discover how familiar stories still know how to surprise us.