Jolabokaflod

Christmas Book Flood | Recommending reading


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‘Reading for Pleasure’ cash prize competition announced

Here is our press release about a new competition to promote Jolabokaflod (Christmas book flood), the 75-year-old Icelandic literary tradition: Jolabokaflod launches ‘Reading for Pleasure’ competition at 12R Prizes.

Jolabokaflod CIC’s £500 cash prize contest opened on 26 October 2019 (First Day of Winter in Iceland) for entries in less than 500 words to be submitted until Christmas Eve (the culmination of Jolabokaflod in Iceland). The competition is open to everyone in the book trade and in the general public beyond (as long as they not involved with the judging process): the application for the ‘Reading for Pleasure Prize’ is hosted on the 12R Prizes platform: Reading for Pleasure Prize.

We are looking for entries that have the following characteristics:

  • ORIGINALITY: Innovative solutions that have the power to capture people’s imaginations.
  • IMPACT: Disruptive ideas that have the potential to break through into the book trade and the public sphere via the press and media.
  • FEASIBILITY: Practical ideas that can be implemented with reasonable allocation of time, money and other resources and that have the potential to be replicated easily elsewhere.
  • PUBLIC INTEREST: Compelling ideas that can re-engage people with the idea that reading for pleasure is an enjoyable and valuable entertainment choice at any time of year.

An international panel of book-trade experts will judge the eligible entries. A shortlist of potential winners will be announced on New Year’s Day with the winner revealed on 6 January 2020 (Twelfth Night).

From 7 January to 14 February 2020 (International Book Giving Day), Jolabokaflod CIC will run a crowdfunding campaign at CrowdPatch to put the winning entry into action by raising money, awareness and engagement.

We invite everyone reading this announcement to submit your entries for the ‘Reading for Pleasure Prize’ competition. Good luck!


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Books of the Day: one recommendation per time zone

The Spring Bank Holiday Monday is drawing to a close in the UK, traditionally a time when people first venture to the seaside in the knowledge that summer is just around the corner. National days leave in Britain are so called due to the tradition that banks are closed for business on these days, a custom harking back to the late 19th century when clerks needed branch closure time to update accounts and tally bookkeeping. Nowadays bank holidays are retained to give tired workers a decent break to relax and recover from the stress of life over long weekends and the opportunity to enjoy extra leisure time.

In the holiday spirit of today’s day off work, we are drawing attention to Jolabokaflod’s Book of the Day feature.

Every day of our campaign to celebrate the Sumarbokaflod season (from 25 April to 8 September 2019), we are publishing one recommendation suggestion from either an A-list celebrity reader or a crowdfunding contributor who has purchased a GBP £50.00 reward from our live Book Bulletin project.

Today, at a rate of one per hour, we are tweeting the first 12 books in the Book of the Day sequence, one title per time zone. From tomorrow onwards, we shall reveal each Book of the Day title on the day in which it features.

We hope you get inspired to read some of the Book of the Day titles recommended for you in the coming weeks and months, especially when you take a relaxing evening, a lazy weekend mini-break or a chilled-out vacation in order to read for pleasure.


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What our fans read over Christmas

We put out the word on social media around the festive season that we were keen to find out which books our friends and followers were reading on Christmas Eve – and beyond – in the spirit of Jolabokaflod. Here is a review of the responses we received. As always, all the books we mention can be purchased in the UK via the Booksellers’ Association’s My Local Bookshop search engine.

161225-books-asThe avid-reader Mum

Alyson Shipley in East Yorkshire was feeling optimist. Christmas for her was a read-fest of the titles in the picture opposite, which she sent us via Facebook. Hopefully her whole family joined in. Alyson says she is already into the seventh book in her haul of books. Here is a list, from top to bottom, for everyone unable to enlarge the photo.

  • Akram’s War, Nadim Safdar (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Then She Was Gone, Luca Veste (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Sweet Home, Cathy Bray (Amazon: UK | USA kindle)
  • Far From True (Promise Falls: book 2), Linwood Barclay (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • The Travelers, Chris Pavone (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Slow Horses (Jackson Lamb: book 1), Mick Herron (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Dead Lions (Jackson Lamb: book 2), Mick Herron (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • My Name is Leon, Kit de Waal (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Long Way Home (DI Zigic and DS Ferreira: book 1), Eva Dolan (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • The Museum of You, Carys Bray (Amazon: UK | USA kindle)
  • Cold Earth (Shetland: book 7), Anne Cleeves (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • The Blood Card (Stephens and Mephisto: book 3), Elly Griffiths (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • The Twenty-Three (Promise Falls: book 3), Linwood Barclay (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • A Divided Spy (Thomas Kill: book 3), Charles Cumming (Amazon: UK | USA)

ln-linkedin The booktuber

Meanwhile, Leena Normington at Just Kiss My Frog posted her thoughts via YouTube. These are the books she was thinking about buying family and friends for Christmas. Maybe Leena will share which titles she actually gave as presents this year and how her loved ones are getting on with reading them. Here’s a list of the books she mentions in the order in which she talks about them

  • How to be Parisian, Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret and Sophie Mas (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Feral, George Monbiot (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • How to Survive the End of the World as we Know It, James Wesley Rawlesa (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Introducing George The Poet: Search Party, A Collection of Poems, George the Poet (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Wildflower, Drew Barrymore (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Zayn: The Official Autobiography, ZAYN [Zayn Malik] (Amazon: UK)
  • The Descent of Man, Grayson Perry (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Bitten by Witch Fever: Wallpaper and Arsenic in the Nineteenth-Century Home, Lucinda Hawksley (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Feminist Fight Club: An Office Survival Manual (For a Sexist Workplace), Jessica Bennett (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Bridget Jones’s Baby: The Diaries, Helen Fielding (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, Alisha Malik (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Eat Sweat Play: How Sport Can Change Our Lives, Anna Kessel (Amazon: UK | USA kindle)
  • Let Them Eat Chaos, Kate Tempest (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • The Elements of Eloquence, Mark Forsyth (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • The Myth of Meritocracy, James Bloodworth (Amazon: UK | USA)

161225-books-abThe book blogger

Adele Blair writes the Kraftireader blog, which shares her ‘love of reading, crafting, recipes, music and shopping bargains. Adele tweeted that she had bought ten books this year as present and was, in return, enjoying reading books she had received as gifts:

  • The Phantom Tree, Nicola Cornick (Amazon: UK)
  • The Liberation, Kate Furnivall (Amazon: UK | USA kindle)
  • a treasured child’s picture-book
  • a prized cookbook

The main photo on her blog’s home page shows a haul of favourite books. Adele must get through many cups of tea and have a generally sunny disposition. Here are the books she has highlighted:

  • Me Before You, JoJo Moyes (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Fudge Berries and Frog’s Knickers, Lynda Renham (Amazon: UK | USA kindle)
  • The Teashop on the Corner, Milly Johnson (Amazon: UK | USA kindle))
  • Just for Christmas, Scarlett Bailey (Amazon: UK | USA kindle)

lc-twitterThe tweeter

Luke Conboye announced on Christmas Day via Twitter – his handle is @Someronrebel – that he was reading Nightblind by Ragnar Jónasson. Excellent choice, sir.

  • Nightblind (Dark Iceland: book 2), Ragnar Jónasson (Amazon: UK | USA kindle)

The authors

Valerie Galantevg-twitter is a licensed psychologist who tweeted via @ValGalantePhD to tell us that she was reading The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A Singer over Christmas:

  • The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, Michael A Singer (Amazon: UK | USA)

Valerie is a self-published author. Here are the books she has written:

  • Finding Your Way, Valerie Galante (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • Spirit Manifested: Poetic Reflections on Life, Valerie Galante (Amazon: UK | USA)
  • The Way of Yeshua, Valerie Galante (Amazon: UK | USA)

le-twitterLynne E Blackwood is an as-yet unpublished novelist (RINGS OF CHALK) and a prize-winning writer of short stories and poetry. She began writing in April 2012 after illness terminated her professional activity as a community project development consultant working with women asylum seekers and ethnic minorities.

Lynne told us she was reading Marlon James novel A Brief History of Seven Killings and spending part of the holiday season revising her thriller set in the Caucasus, RINGS OF CHALK

  • A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James (Amazon: UK | USA)