First things first: Merry Christmas, to my friends who are celebrating today! To those who are not, I hope that you’re enjoying a day off work if you get it, and that you have a restful end of 2020 ahead.

It has been some season of reading! 2020 reading has been something of a roller-coaster; between trial prep, pandemic-induced reading slumps, and long periods of churning through books, I feel like I have whiplash. December was an upswing in terms of reading, and I planned a bookish Advent (to replace all of the running-around fun that we usually do). I powered through most of the list that I shared earlier this month, and all told, made it to the following seasonal reads:

• The Folio Book of Christmas Crime Stories, by various authors
• Village Christmas: and Other Notes on the English Year, by Laurie Lee
• Wonders and Absurdities 2019, by Philip Rhys Evans
• Christmas at Thompson Hall, and Other Christmas Stories, by Anthony Trollope
• Portrait of a Murderer, by Anne Meredith
• Christmas Crackers: Being Ten Commonplace Selections, 1970-79, by John Julius Norwich
• Round the Christmas Fire: Festive Stories, by various authors
• Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries, by various authors
• The Twelve Birds of Christmas, by Stephen Moss
• An Englishman’s Commonplace Book, by Roger Hudson
• The Twelve Days of Christmas, by John Julius Norwich

That’s not counting A Country Doctor’s Commonplace Book, which I’ll be reading today (as per my tradition of the last few years), or Winter Solstice, of which I am still in the middle. So! Some Advent in books. I’ve enjoyed myself, although I’m also looking forward to branching out and getting back to my usual variety. And I suspect I’ll have a few more to add to the list before the month wraps up, as per my usual.

How did your holiday reading shake out?