The Oxford Team Christmas reading list

figure reading a book with a drink: illustrating our Christmas reading blog

This much-anticipated holiday is the ideal time to make a start on reading your To Be Read pile! Members of the Oxford English and Secondary Schools marketing team share what they will be reading this festive period.

Kirsty: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, this Pulitzer Prize winning novel tells the story of Cora and Caesar, two slaves in the southeastern United States.

Lucy: The Ditch by Herman Koch, an exploration of pathological jealousy when Robert Walter, a popular mayor of Amsterdam, suspects his wife of infidelity.

Katie: Middle England by Jonathan Coe, the final part of a trilogy, following on from The Rotters’ Club and The Closed Circle.

Fi: Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch, the second book in a fantasy series that continues the adventures of Locke Lamora, a professional thief and con artist.

Lionel: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, this large-scale historical novel charts Thomas Cromwell’s rapid rise to power in the court of Henry VIII.

Susie: The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. “I love to do a series marathon over the holidays!”

Helen: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong or Underland by Robert McFarlane

Kat: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, a haunting fantasy novel set near an ahistorical Victorian London.

Gina: Twas the Night Shift Before Christmas by Adam Kay, the follow up to the record-breaking million copy bestseller and 2018 Book of the Year, This is Going to Hurt.

Ria: Little Women by Louisa M Alcott, this classic is being reread before the film comes out!

Fiona: Circe by Madeline Miller, a captivating retelling of the Odysseus story from the point of view of the witch, Circe.

Madelene: 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak, “A work of brutal beauty and consummate tenderness’ Simon Schama

Louise: Box of Delights by John Masefield, this children’s fantasy novel is a sequel to The Midnight Folk

We’d love to hear what you and your students are reading during the holiday. Let us know on Twitter or join and share on our Facebook group: Oxford Reading Hive for Secondary Schools