by George Giannakos and Robyn Yager | Slowing down a little and breaking out a good book is never a bad idea. But what to read? You could walk into any bookstore and roll the dice on a recent release, but here’s another option: pick up a book that you last put down 5, 10, or 20 years ago. For the next book in Scout’s Read It (Again) series, we’ve picked Charles Dickens’ classic 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol.

Why You Should Read It (Again): Chances are high that you’ll see some form of Dicken’s classic novella, “A Christmas Carol” in the days leading up to the twenty-fifth. And with Christmas landing at the end of the calendar year, the books’ many Ghosts (of Christmas Past, Present, Future) help to facilitate the kind of personal reflection that gets muted by the seasons’ rampant consumerism. It’s also a quickie; short and sweet.

Pair It With: Keep it traditional with some a good old fashioned Egg Nog. It’s arguably one of the few things more evocatively “Christmasy” than Dickens’ Scrooge and Tiny Tim. There are several bars around town doing proper ones right now, but there’s no better place than home next to a decorated tree and a fire. To get you started, here’s an Egg Nog recipe from 1888.

OTHER CLASSIC PAIRINGS