The country that gives books on Christmas Eve

In Iceland there's a word for this: jólabókaflóð, "the Christmas book flood." Every autumn, the country's publishers squeeze nearly all their new titles into a few weeks, and since 1944 a catalogue of every published book — the Bókatíðindi — has arrived free in the letterbox of every home. Families leaf through it the way others leaf through toy catalogues: marking who wants what.

The tradition was born of war. During World War II, import restrictions left Icelandic shops with almost nothing to give as presents; paper, however, was not so tightly rationed. So that small, isolated, book-loving country made the book its default gift. And never let go.

The result is one of the strangest, most enviable nights on the calendar: on Christmas Eve the books are exchanged and, in many homes, that is the whole celebration — everyone with their own book, something warm to drink, and hours of reading into the small hours.

Iceland today publishes more books per inhabitant than almost any other country. There they say everyone carries a book in their belly: the only question is when it comes out.