Jólabókaflóð: How to Host Your Own Christmas Book Flood

Delighters, if you have ever wished that Christmas came with a built-in excuse to get in bed early with a brand-new book, I have the most wonderful news. In Iceland, that’s practically the tradition. It’s called Jólabókaflóð (roughly “YOH-la-bok-a-flothe”), which means “the Christmas book flood,” and once you hear about it, I promise you’ll want to steal it the way I did.

What is Jólabókaflóð?

In Iceland, books are one of the most classic Christmas gifts, and many families exchange them on Christmas Eve, which is the main night of celebration there. The dreamy part is what happens next, because plenty of people spend the rest of the night reading their new books, often in bed or curled up on the couch with chocolate or something warm to drink.

The “flood” part refers to the wave of new titles that publishers release in the fall to meet all that Christmas demand. Since 1944, the Icelandic Publishers Association has put out a catalogue of the year’s new books, called the Bókatíðindi, and it has traditionally been sent free to homes across the country. Imagine a whole nation flipping through the same catalogue, circling titles and dropping hints to their families. That’s my kind of country.

As for how it started, the story most people tell is that during and just after World War II, when imports were tightly restricted, paper was easier to come by than many other goods, so books became the natural gift. Historians frame the details a little differently, but everyone agrees on the part that matters, which is that Icelanders love to read and they made a holiday out of it.

A whole nation flipping through the same book catalogue and dropping hints to their families? That’s my kind of country.

Why I love it so much

As a writer and a lifelong bookworm, I think this might be the most “me” tradition on earth. December gets so loud and so full, and Jólabókaflóð is a gentle invitation to slow all the way down. It says that the best gift might be a quiet evening, a good story and the people you love reading next to you. It’s also a beautiful way to bring the reading life into the holidays without anyone feeling like they have to perform festivity. You just open a book and disappear for a while, and that counts.

I'll be honest: books don't really show up at my family's Christmas. My family members aren't big readers (my sister is a busy emergency veterinarian, and while my brother is an avid reader, our tastes could not be more different), so my book flood happens with my friends instead. We swap books all the time, and a December swap feels like the most natural thing in the world.

How to host your own book-flood night

You don’t need to live in Reykjavik to do this, delighters. Here’s how I’d host one, whether it’s just you and your husband or a whole living room full of friends.

• Pick the night. Christmas Eve is traditional, but any cozy evening in December works. A book flood the weekend before Christmas is perfect for a friends’ gathering.
• Set a simple gift rule. Everyone brings one wrapped book. You can do a straight swap, draw names ahead of time or play a gentle white-elephant game (no stealing books from crying friends, please).
• Add a note inside. Ask everyone to write a short note on the first page saying why they chose that book. Years from now, that note will be the best part.
• Make it cozy. Think blankets, candles, pajamas, a fire if you have one and a playlist of quiet jazz or instrumental Christmas music turned down low.
• Serve something sweet and warm. Hot cocoa, chai, mulled cider and a plate of chocolates or cookies are all perfect. Keep it easy to eat with one hand, because the other hand is busy holding a book.
• Actually read. This is the part people skip! After the gifts are opened, give everyone a full hour of quiet reading time. It feels strange for the first five minutes and then it feels like heaven.
• Shop small. If you can, buy your books from a Black-owned or independent bookstore. Many of them ship, and their staff picks are wonderful.

Books by Black women I’d love to gift

If you’re filling a book-flood stack, here are the books by Black women I’d wrap up with joy. They’re all well loved by readers, and each one would pair perfectly with a long winter night.

• Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Milkman Dead’s journey to find out who his people are is lush, strange and full of flight. If someone has only read Beloved, this is a gorgeous next Morrison.
• Sula by Toni Morrison. A slim, fierce novel about the friendship between two Black girls who grow into very different women. It’s short enough to finish on Christmas night.
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. A newlywed couple in Atlanta is torn apart when Roy is wrongfully imprisoned. It’s tender and heartbreaking, and it will start a conversation.
• Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. Two daughters, one father and a secret second family in Atlanta. It’s one of my favorite kinds of book, the kind you can’t stop talking about.
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Identical twin sisters from a small Louisiana town choose two very different lives, one of them passing as white. It’s the ideal gift for the reader who wants to be swept away.
• The Mothers by Brit Bennett. Bennett’s debut about a young woman, a secret and the church ladies who watch it all unfold. It’s lovely and wise.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Janie Crawford’s search for love and selfhood is a classic for a reason, and a beautiful hardcover edition makes a stunning gift.
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Two half-sisters in eighteenth-century Ghana, and the generations that follow each of them, one line in Ghana and one in America. It’s sweeping, and readers who finish it tend to press it into someone else’s hands.

A little tip: match the book to the person rather than to the bestseller list. Your auntie who loves a good church scandal might adore The Mothers, while your friend who just got married might want An American Marriage (and then she’ll want to call you immediately to discuss it, haha).

A gift that keeps giving

What I love most about Jólabókaflóð is that it isn’t really about the gift itself. It’s about giving someone permission to rest, and giving them a story to carry into the new year. In a season that can feel like one long to-do list, a quiet night of reading is its own kind of peace, and I think that’s something worth borrowing.

So tell me, delighters: if you were hosting a book flood this year, what’s the one book by a Black woman you’d wrap for your best friend?