I have a bit of a tradition reading classic Christmas stories over the holiday break and huddling around a traditional ghost story in the run up to Christmas and new year. Here are a list of festive stories that I recommend. They won’t change your life but are a perfect way to while away a few hours away from the hubbub of the season. I include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short stories on booze because although they aren’t strictly Christmas-y they reflect the indulgence of the season!

Christmas Stories: A Selection
Christmas Pudding – Nancy Mitford
Christmas Holiday – Somerset Maugham
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Hercule Poirot at Christmas – Agatha Christie
Christmas Memory and One Christmas – Truman Capote
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding – Agatha Christie                                                                     On Booze – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ghost stories:
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
Casting the Runes, Count Magnus & Lost Hearts – M.R James
The Haunted Hotel – Wilkie Collins
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
The Woman in Black – Susan Hill
We Have Always Lived at the Castle  – Shirley Jackson
Collected Tales of Edgar Allen Poe                                                                                                               The Haunted House – Charles Dickens