“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” The holidays are here, and it’s time to celebrate, with books! Pick your favorite holiday song for a book you can read when you’re a little tired of making awkward small talk with your parents’ second cousin’s children. Dive into one of these books to keep your sanity for the holiday season.
Pick Your Favorite Holiday Song and Get a Book Recommendation!
1. All I Want For Christmas is You by Mariah Carey – Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi
You love romance, drama, and Mariah Carey (at least around the holidays). This song is big and bold, and it’s the best holiday anthem about falling in love. All I Want for Christmas is You celebrates the kind of love that is passionate, that is romantic, and that is epic. Permanent Record is a modern love story that is perfect book to read if you love this song.
2. Let It Snow – Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw
If Let It Snow is your favorite holiday song, then snow is definitely your favorite form of precipitation. You love staying indoors with a warm book and looking outside at the snow falling on your windowsill. Let It Snow is all about finding excuses to stay indoors, which is so much easier when it’s cold outside. Winterwood is the perfect book for you because it’s cover is gorgeous and wintery and ideal for a snow lover like yourself. In addition, the book is a non-stop page turner with a creepy vibe, that’s a perfect anecdote to the non-stop cheerfulness of the holidays.
3. Baby It’s Cold Outside by Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski – Cursed by Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller
The original Baby It’s Cold Outside is a holiday classic, but in 2019, it’s also very problematic and reinforces some pretty bad messages about consent. Which is why we have chosen Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski’s wonderful modern version of this song! This version emphasizes consent, and is so cute and quirky. If this is your favorite song on the list, then you love modern retellings of classic stories. Cursed is your book recommendation because it’s a feminist twist on the classic King Arthur story.
4. Last Christmas by Wham! – Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
Last Christmas is the perennial Christmas breakup song! It’s moody, it’s angsty, and dramatic. It’s the best song to listen to if you don’t have someone to spend the holidays with because they unceremoniously broke your heart. But also, if you listen to this song carefully, the narrator is definitely not over his ex, and this song is really about wanting to forgive an ex, but being afraid they will break your heart again. If this is the song that speaks to you, then Starry Eyes is the perfect book for you to read this holiday season.
5. The Chanukah Song by Adam Sandler – You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon
This song is a hilarious and heartfelt celebration of Chanukah! Adam Sandler wrote this song for Jewish children who feel alienated during the Christmas season, as there are too few songs celebrating Chanukah. In the verses of the song, Sandler calls out various celebrities and fictional characters who are Jewish, to show these kids that they are not alone. If you love this song, then you will love Rachel Lynn Solomon’s novel You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone. This novel features Jewish characters as the protagonists, and similar to Adam Sandler’s holiday song, celebrates the Jewish identity, in a heartfelt and funny way.
6. Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley – Sun-Kissed Christmas by Katherine Applegate
Blue Christmas is a classic holiday song from one of America’s most classic artists, Elvis Presley. This song is beautiful and melancholy, and tells the story of a Christmas without the one you love. If you’re in the mood for something a little sappy and romantic, then a sunny destination holiday like in Sun-Kissed Christmas is perfect for you!
7. Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Ex-Mas by Kate Brian
If this is your favorite holiday song, then you love Santa Claus! And we get it, who doesn’t love a jolly old man who lives off of cookies and gives free gifts? Santa Claus is Coming to Town is the best song there is about Santa’s legacy and you need a book that feeds your Santa fandom. Ex-Mas, a book about two people finding their runaway brothers (and maybe the spirit of Christmas), is the perfect book for you!
8. A Kwanzaa Song by Lovely Hoffman – SLAY by Brittney Morris
Kwanzaa is a week-long annual celebration held to honor African heritage in African-American culture. This song is a beautiful and sincere ode to this incredible holiday. If this is your favorite holiday song, then you should definitely pick up SLAY, a book that celebrates Black culture, and creating a safe space for the Black community worldwide. Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give in this dynamite debut novel that follows a fierce teen game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther–inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for Black gamers.