Cuddling Up With Classics

Photo by Olivia Gündüz-Willemin.

“Christmas is all about nostalgia and traditions, so reading a classic novel in December fits right into that theme.”

I don’t know why, but there’s something about the festive season that makes me want to sink my teeth into a classic. Not the sort of classics I take on my summer holiday – meaty, lengthy tomes that I would never usually have the time to read – but shorter works, normally ones I have normally read before or have seen an adaptations of. Most importantly, something Victorian. At this time of year I crave familiarity and cosiness. The knowledge that the novel I’m reading will end well. That all the loose ends will tie up.

Maybe it’s because the British view of Christmas tends to be very Dickensian: ; the idyll of white Christmases, carol singers, and peace to all men. I do reread A Christmas Carol every year, normally on the 23rd and 24th of December, and often beforehand I will read another Victorian novel too. Over the years I have read Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford in December, many a Charles Dickens novel, and even a George Eliot. All read snuggled up under a blanket with a mug of mulled wine tea nearby. Sometimes, actual mulled wine.There’s something about the Victorian period that is evocative of Christmas, even when the novel itself isn’t Christmassy at all. Maybe it’s the plots that often include intense hardship and suffering that always turn out alright in the end. How familiar yet foreign Victorian society seems. How the novels allow you to look at the past and kid yourself that the present is better. (It is, but only for some people.) Christmas is all about nostalgia and traditions, so reading a classic novel in December fits right into that theme.

“At this time of year I crave familiarity and cosiness. The knowledge that the novel I’m reading will end well. That all the loose ends will tie up.”

Although the widely held belief that the Victorians invented Christmas as we know it is not particularly accurate – for a great discussion about this, listen to theYou’re Dead to Me podcast Christmas special – many of the elements of the festive season that I enjoy the most did originate with them: Christmas cards, Christmas trees indoors, the majority of Christmas carols. So reading a novel from the period just automatically has the right feel. Street urchins finding a home with a loving, wealthy family? Sign me up. Two people from different backgrounds who think they hate each other falling deeply in love? I have my tissues ready and I’m diving in. Heck, I’ll even take something that includes a “fallen” woman being “reformed.” It’s December and I’ve had enough mulled wine and chocolate that I’m willing to ignore my feminist beliefs in pursuit of a good plot. 

Photo by Amy Richardson.

This year I was planning to spend December sinking my teeth into North and South. The 2004 adaptation was released at a time when I didn’t quite understand why I found Richard Armitage so appealing in this role. (Looking back, this role and him in leather trousers on the BBC’s bonkers but kinda brilliant Robin Hood were defining moments in my understanding of my sexuality. I have been a sucker for some cheekbones, dark hair, and blue eyes ever since.) Since then, I have seen the series so many times that I decided I should probably get around to reading the source material. I bought a copy of the book earlier this year from The Second Shelf and placed it on my bookshelf for December. Sadly, I have ended up trying to wade my way through one of the worst books I have ever read in my life this month instead (loaned to me by one of my managers who will definitely want to discuss the plot in minute detail so I couldn’t just pretend I’d made it to the end).However, Norman Mailer is defeated! I finally finished The Naked and the Dead on the train home for Christmas yesterday, so I have been able to start North and South. Just in time for my Christmas holiday. 

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Amy Richardson lives and works in London at an internationally renowned art gallery, which isn't as glamorous or exciting as it sounds. She holds a BA in English, an MA in Medieval Studies, and is a Founding Member of The Attic on Eighth.