Merry Jólabókaflód from Give a Book!

Trips to the ice rink, decorating the tree and carolling, followed by mulled wine and mince pies, are a few typical Christmas traditions you’ll find in this country. However, in true Give a Book fashion, we embrace a tradition centred on books and the pleasure of reading.

In Iceland, on Christmas Eve, the country spends the evening taking part in Jólabókaflód, loosely translated as the ‘Christmas book flood.’ Icelanders spend the night gifting books to one another before curling up with a cup of cocoa or a tipple of jólabland (alcohol free ale) and diving into a brand new book. Quite the idyllic haven on a cold winter’s night.

 

 

 

So where did it come from

Jólabókaflód originated in 1944. Paper was not rationed in Iceland, unlike in other parts of Europe during WWII. The gift of a book was resourceful and fitting; writing and storytelling have always been part of the fabric of Icelandic society, dating back to the ‘Edda,’ the Old Norse work of literature written in the 13th century. These were the stories of the early settlers and a marker of Iceland’s literary culture. They served as a source of comfort to Icelanders over the subsequent years, as they endured hardships due to natural disasters and oppression by colonial powers.

Kvöldvaka, storytelling about ancestors during the long dark winters, was not only a form of entertainment but also a way for children to learn about their history while learning to read and write. From kvöldvaka grew Jólabókaflód. Icelanders got drunk on literature and turned out a country of bookaholics. To this day, books and a love of reading are an intrinsic part of Iceland’s culture and national identity and how they have kept their history alive.

Since Jólabókaflód came onto the scene, the Icelandic book trade has published an annual Bókatíðindi (‘Book Bulletin’, in English), which is distributed to homes to help people decide which books to gift. In 2015, Christopher Norris, a pioneer of World Book Day, encouraged people around the world to experience Jólabókaflód in a series of articles and blogs. He then launched a crowdfunding campaign to build better connections with Icelandic literature by seeking funds for UK libraries to spend on books translated into English by Icelandic authors.

What we can learn from experiencing Jólabókaflód

The tradition promotes both book buying and reading. It shows that reading does not have to be a solitary activity. It can be enjoyed and experienced in the company of others. As social beings, we take comfort in the ability to share our experiences with others and what we take away from a book, others may not. Thus, books spark a conversation and Jólabókaflód is the perfect example of bringing the solitary act of reading into the social realm.

Iceland gives a lot of time and energy to promoting books and reading. There are many book reviews, discussions and interviews with authors in the media, and even debates about book covers. What we experience between the pages of a book sends our imagination into overdrive. In a society that promotes and adores this pastime, it’s no wonder a nation of book lovers was born. This buzz and excitement around books encourage people to frequent bookshops and take pleasure in reading.

 

 

The Give a Book team’s choices on what they would gift this Jólabókaflód:

Victoria – “My Jólabókaflód book this year – which I will be giving a lot – is All for Nothing by Walter Kempowski. It is about a family in East Prussia in January 1945. The novel’s aloof, almost affectless telling, combined with meticulous accumulation of detail, creates a uniquely affecting pathos. The central character, the child of the house, Peter, is almost umbilically attached to his microscope, which is both lens and symbol of method. It’s a comedy of precisely observed manners where things eat and are eaten as the sense of impending doom intensifies. It is humane, precise, unsentimental, cool and profoundly affecting: well, the question is asked at the end, “Was everything all right now?”

Sarah T – “Daniel Kehlmann, Tyll – based on a trickster figure from German folklore, there’s dark humour and the mad horrors of the Thirty Years’ War in equal measure.”

Rosa – “The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich. A beautifully written insight into life on a reservation in the 1950s and the trials faced by Native Americans, treated with Erdrich’s characteristic poignancy, levity and wit.

Sarah M – “This year I revisited almost the entire works of Anthony Trollope. What a treat. The best of course are The Pallisers and the Barchester Chronicles but it was very exciting finding and reading titles I didn’t know about. I’d recommend The Way We Live Now for anyone who hasn’t yet had the pleasure of Trollope.

Ali – “The Murder at World’s End by Ross Montgomery – it’s a brilliant, locked room murder mystery set in Cornwall in 1910 – perfectly plotted with a great twist and a very sweary 80-year-old dowager Miss Decima Stockingham.”

Megan – “I chose Julius Caesar as I read it as part of my Master’s course earlier this year, and found it to be both extremely interesting and entertaining. The themes of deception, manipulation, revenge, and (literal and figurative) backstabbing made it, for me, an emotionally rich play that taps into some of humanity’s darkest features. I also love a fun ghost moment, and this play has two!” 

David – “The Tragedy of True Crime by John J Lennon. In the last decade true crime has exploded across TV networks, podcasts, and bookshelves. John J Lennon’s first book offers something very different. Four guilty men and the stories that define us. That us is key. Lennon is himself serving 28 to life for murder.

In typical true crime, people who kill are reduced almost entirely to the parts of themselves that supposedly explain what made them kill. The saga ends at the crime-and-punishment phase, but that’s only half the story. I contend that the lives lived in prison after the crime are just as fascinating and important as those that were spiralling before it. What made the book the highlight of my reading year wasn’t just Lennon’s excellent writing (he’s a widely published journalist from his prison cell) or even the way he threads his own story into the three others. It’s that he has access. He has lived with these men and taken the time to get to know them. He’s able to explore the gap between what is said about us and what we tell ourselves. He doesn’t just tell the story of those who kill, but we also hear from those affected by those crimes.

Throughout, questions are raised about how stories are told and who tells them. Good writers, such as Lennon, don’t they use their skills to convince us of their inherent goodness? How can we believe them? What does it mean to be punished enough? When are people who have committed hideous crimes deemed able to rejoin society? Erwin James in the UK faced similar questions when he wrote a weekly column for the Guardian whilst still in prison. Just how rehabilitated do we want the people we place in prison to be? Enough to survive, or enough to thrive? Lennon is very good on his own flaws and the pitfalls of his early writing success – too proud of who I’d become, less insightful about what I’d done.

Throughout The Tragedy of True Crime, Lennon asks the reader to sit with these stories of men who have killed, not in judgement (that has already taken place) but to see them in all their complexities and learn what became of them once they left the headlines.”

From all of us at Give a Book, we wish you a Merry Jólabókaflód and a Happy New Year!