We’ve got a list of book recs and films that will be keeping us company during the long winter break!
Ellie’s guide:
At the top of my Christmas wishlist this year are Malala Yousafzai’s new memoir, Finding My Way – which promises to blend the complex coming-of-age narrative that one might expect from a memoirist who won the Nobel Peace Prize at seventeen and is still only in her mid twenties with biting humour and plenty of pop culture references – and Paul Murray’s sprawling tragicomic saga following a family pushed to breaking point, The Bee Sting – which I still I haven’t read despite it being one of the buzziest novels of 2024. Considering these two books combined clock in at close to a thousand pages, they should keep me busy over the winter break!
One of my favourite winter comfort watches is Elf, which is the perfect film to put on while you decorate the tree or tackle a mountain of present wrapping. I too like to stick to ‘the four main food groups’ over the holidays (‘candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup’) and recommend stocking up on hot chocolate, cinnamon cookies and plenty of sweet treats before settling in for a festive film night!
Demi’s guide:
Unfortunately, this is an unusually warm December, so I am in desperate need to read something that transports me into a deep dark winter which will be Han Kang’s We Do Not Part. As the main character treks from Seoul to Jeju Island to feed an ill friend’s bird during a blizzard, Kang thrusts us into a storm of memory, friendship and a painful history that should never be forgotten. To complement this ‘light’ read that highlights the past, I’ll be diving into Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (graphic novel edition), a dystopian tale set in a California that’s going through a climate crisis (not very dystopian, very current in fact).
My go-to winter watch is How the Grinch Stole Christmas. As someone who’s not the most Christmassy person, the Grinch’s story is absolutely perfect. The Grinch is camp, silly and sassy (all my favourite things); it’s like watching an episode of Drag Race as it has the same level of pageantry and shade but make it festive.
Jenna’s guide:
This festive season I’ll be hibernating with Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico (translated by Sophie Hughes), the International Booker-shortlisted novel about ‘the emptiness of contemporary existence’; Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite, a ‘twisty heartbreaker’ about a love story and a family curse; and finally, to restore some optimism, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, ‘a love letter to the world and our search for meaning’.
As well as catching up on some TV shows that have come highly (and repeatedly) recommended from my VERVE colleagues – Interview with the Vampire and Pluribus – I’ll be watching Sleepless in Seattle, The Grinch and The Holiday – the film that inspired my editorial career after Jude Law introduced eight-year-old me to the concept.
Lisa’s guide:
I have got a TBR pile as long as my arm of books I’ve not had a chance to read over this past year and the uninterrupted lull of Twixtmas provides the perfect opportunity to dive in to them. I’m keen to read Astrid Roemer’s On A Woman’s Madness, translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott and published by fellow indie Tilted Axis Press. The novel was longlisted for the 2025 International Booker and the judges called it ‘a modern classic’ and a ‘testament to both the resilience of queer lives that exist everywhere and every time’ and it sounds like the novel touches upon many themes which feature across novels in VERVE’s own list. I’m also hoping to snaffle an early copy of No Such Thing As A Monday – the new novel by another Booker Prize-longlisted author – Siân Hughes, which is published by The Indigo Press in April, and is about guilt, sisterhood and dark family secrets, plus already has accolades from Rachel Joyce and Bonnie Garmus.
I tend to veer towards novels which reflect the fractured world we live in but am the complete opposite in my TV viewing and will be alternating on repeat between Nativity and That Christmas. Yes the former is silly and cliched but I love the story of a group of children who no one ever thought would amount to much lighting up the stage in front of 100s of people and That Christmas similarly always brings a smile to my face with its reminder of what is important in life – kindness, togetherness and community.
