Buy Me A Book for Christmas 2019 edition

This has actually been quite hard to write this year – some of the books that I wanted, I’ve just bought myself (stress brings on book-buying, you all know that) and others I was lucky enough to get advance copies of, or borrow from the library.  Until a few weeks ago, The Starless Sea would have been on this list, and we all know what happened there… But truthfully, there’s always books that I want, so here are this year’s top picks that I’m hoping to find in my stocking…

Home Work by Julie Andrews

I should be getting this.  I mean I sent a group message to my family saying that if they wanted to buy me a Christmas book, this was what i wanted and could they please fight it out between them but make sure I got it.  I read the first volume of her memoirs (Home) back in my pre-blog Essex days and liked it, but was annoyed that it finished before her Hollywood pinnacle.  This is that part of her story – and she’s been on the chat shows to promote it and I’m very excited.  Mary Poppins and the Sound of Music were big parts of my childhood – and I still watch them now.  I’ve always been really interested in behind the scenes Hollywood stuff and she’s had a fascinating life.  How much more could it be up my street?

Glittering Hour by Iona Andrews

I loved Iona Andrew’s debut Letters to the Lost four years ago and this is her new novel.  It’s another spit time narrative – with one story in the 1920s and the other a decade later.  According to the blurb it has a Bright Young Thing, an artist, forbidden love and tragedy. Letters to the Lost made me cry, so I’m fairly sure this will too.  But sometimes you need a weepy novel to read, preferably curled up by the fire. It’s out in paperback too, which we know I prefer for fiction.

The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis

This is set in the 1950s, as the Blacklist is starting and follows two women living in a famous New York hotel and trying to get a Broadway play off the ground.  I’ve read a lot about the Red Scare this year, and I love stories about buildings and the people who live in them.  You may recall seeing The Dollhouse on the WiB list a few weeks back.  Well this is the Fiona Davis that I really wanted to read, but that the library didn’t have!  It’s only in hardback (or expensive ebook edition) at the moment, so if it doesn’t turn up in my stocking, then I’ll have to wait for the paperback in summer 2020…

Beyond that, it’s a bit tricky.  I mean you could buy me some of the nice hardback Terry Pratchetts that I seem to have started acquiring – I’d like Going Postal, Mort and Making Money next please. Or maybe one of the Virago hardbacks I’m missing – like The Birds or Strangers on the Train. Or just a book token. I can always find a way to spend it…

Happy Christmas!