This fascinating story from NPR discusses the Icelandic tradition of giving books for Christmas. Iceland is a small country but it has a high per capita rate of book publishing. Sales increase during the fall months leading up to the holidays and, according to the head of the Icelandic Publishers Association, books are given the night of the 24th and people spend the evening reading. Sounds quaint and old-fashioned and pleasantly slow-paced, sigh… They even have a name for the phenomenon: Jolabokaflod, or the “Christmas Book Flood.” (And they don’t mean ebooks!)
Shira S.
