Where it came from
The short version: a war, a shortage, and a country that still had plenty of paper.
In Iceland it's called Jólabókaflóð, the Christmas book flood. Say yo-la-bo-ka-flowth and you'll be close enough.
Normally, we give the presents on the night of the 24th and people spend the night reading. In many ways, it's the backbone of the publishing sector here in Iceland. Kristján B. Jónasson, president of the Iceland Publishers Association, to NPR in 2012
And it has to be a real book. "You don't give e-books here," Bryndís Loftsdóttir of the Penninn-Eymundsson bookstores told NPR. Fair enough.
The wartime story
During the Second World War, Iceland restricted imports. Plenty of things were hard to come by. Paper wasn't, so books became the Christmas present.
That's the story you'll hear most often, anyway. Penguin points out that nobody is quite sure, and the word itself was already in print by 1936, a few years before the war started.
The season
It starts in the mailbox. In the autumn the Iceland Publishers Association sends Bókatíðindi, its catalogue of the year's new books, to every home in the country, free. New titles have been arriving since late September. Authors do the rounds of schools and workplaces giving readings, and everyone starts working out who's getting what.
The surprising part is how many people join in. Baldur Bjarnason, a researcher, told NPR that in the UK and US most book sales come from a minority of readers, while in Iceland "most people buy several books a year."
They borrow plenty too. Reykjavík City Library lent out 1.2 million books in 2009, according to NPR, in a city of about 200,000 people. That's six books for everyone in town. Reykjavík became a UNESCO City of Literature in 2011.
The night itself
People in Iceland typically exchange gifts on December 24th, Christmas Eve. After dinner, it's time to unwrap the presents and open the books. With a new story in hand, the rest of the evening is a chance to settle in and read.
In his guide for Penguin, Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson describes reading by candlelight with local chocolates close by. There might also be a glass of malt og appelsín, a Christmas drink made by mixing malt drink with orange soda, to sip as the pages turn.
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