More Christmas-y reading and a few tie-in short stories for last week’s Make a Christmas Wish. I’m trying to make the Laurie Graham last – I love her books so much and I know there’s going to be a longer wait than usual for her next one, so against all my usual behaviour I’m trying to pace myself!
Read:
A Wicked Way to Win an Earl by Anna Bradley
Four Weddings and a White Christmas by Jenny Oliver
My Christmas Wish by Julia Williams
Dad’s Christmas Wish by Julia Williams
Granny’s Christmas Wish by Julia Williams
Anything for You by Kristan Higgins
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Started:
Princes at War by Deborah Cadbury
Still reading:
The Night in Question by Laurie Graham
No books bought, but several received as gifts – and they were all ones that I had asked for so that’s excellent news. I’m going to try to continue to restrain myself, although if I see some good bargains I may not be able to!
Here it is, slightly later than planned (don’t ask), the Christmas-themed book post! It’s Christmas Eve, I’ve finished work for Christmas and I’ve read my way through a whole stack of Christmas-themed reading to come up with some top recommendations for you to read on your Christmas break. As this is now too late to go to the shops, tonight’s links are to Kindle – but you can click through from that to buy the paperback if you want to. Or you can pick them up in the scrum at the Supermarket on Boxing Day.
For once I have some of my recommendations in paperback!
Asta is back in Ireland for the first time since she fled with a secret years ago. Now the secret is sixteen and desperate to know about her family. Asta was hoping to be in and out in a flash, but ends up snowed in with her madcap extended family. Will she gets the answers that she needs or will her trip home bring more complications?
I think this is my favourite of the bunch – it might well have been BotW last week if it wasn’t for the fact that I wanted to feature it in this! Clare Sandy has featured on this blog before (with A Very Big House in the Country and What Would Mary Berry Do?) and this is such a joy. I was trying to sum this up and I came up with Ballykissangel meets Marian Keyes and your favourite romantic comedy movie. This book is wickedly funny but also touching and paints a vivid picture both of Asta’s London life and the village in Ireland. It is so much fun – and very Christmassy – but without feeling contrived or saccharine. It is a fabulous story that happens to be set at Christmas.
Last Christmas Livvy was knocked over in the supermarket car park and now she’s dead. But she’s not ready to let her husband and her son go, so she’s hovering on the edge of the afterlife – fuming over her husband’s new girlfriend and fretting about whether her son’s coping without her. When she gets a last chance to make it right, will she take it – and what is right anyway?
This is so clever. I started it thinking it wasn’t going to be my sort of book and then got totally sucked in. I found Livvy quite a tough character to like, but I was totally rooting for her husband Adam and her son Joe. This is not a sweet and fluffy Christmas book – it’s funny, but it made me cry too. I had moments of wondering whether it would all turn out right (in my opinion) in the end, but when I got to the end I had that warm and fuzzy feeling inside that you get from a good story well told.
Other top tips – I’ve already mentioned Trisha Ashley’s latest A Christmas Cracker on the blog, but I thought it was worth repeating that this is a great festive read – warm and witty and romantic. I’ve got Jenny Colgan’s latest (in paperback anyway) A Christmas Surprise waiting for me still – it’s the third Rosie Hopkins book. And there’s my Novelicious colleague Cressida McLoughlin’s A Christmas Tail which I read through the year as the four part Primrose Terrace series. For some Christmas crime, try Mavis Doriel Hay’s recently republished the Santa Klaus Murder or go equally golden age with a dose of Inspector Alleyn with Ngaio Marsh’s Tied up in Tinsel (which I can only find on Kindle as an omnibus with Clutch of Constables and When in Rome).
Shorter reads
If you want something a bit shorter but still festive, there’s a bunch of excellent short stories and novellas too. Some of my favourites were revisiting characters from other books that I’d read earlier in the year. So you can see what happened next to the Winter family in Harriet Evans’ A Winterfold Christmas or you can catch-up with the residents of Hazy Hassocks in Christina Jones’s Mitzi’s Midwinter Wedding. There’s also a new Christmas short from Katie Fforde – A Christmas in Disguise – which I enjoyed, but wanted to be longer. And if you’ve been following the residents of Cherry Pie Island all year, then the final part of that, Four Weddings and A White Christmas is out as well (I’m halfway through it!). There’s also the final part of Cathy Bramley’s Wickham Hall series White Christmas. And don’t forget Silent Nights – the short crime story collection that was BotW a few weeks back.
And there you are. Have a happy Christmas and I hope you all get what you wished for. I’m back at work at 6am on Boxing Day, please think of me as you’re waking up with your hangover!
Disclosure: I bought my own copy of all of the books and novellas in this post except for: Silent Nights and The Santa Klaus Murder which came via NetGalley, Snowed in for Christmas which I was sent by the author and Make A Christmas Wish which I won in a twitter competition. In addition I received the Trisha Ashley via NetGalley – but bought myself a copy as well!
This week’s BotW is Bricking It by Nick Spalding. I read a lot of books last week, many of them good but Christmas-themed – and of them more in the next few days. But Bricking It made me laugh despite the tonsillitis so it was an obvious choice for my non-festive Book of the Week!
Bricking It tells the story of Dan and Haley Daley, who have inherited a run-down farmhouse from their grandmother and decide to do it up to make some extra money. And of course the road to profit does not run smoothly. There’s an eccentric architect, a gang of builders, a TV crew and a few skeletons in the cupboard. Oh, and a bit of sibling rivalry too!
I thought Bricking It was a bit different from the usual run of house renovation stories. Haley and Dan both have their issues to deal with and that gives the book a great heart as well as a lot of jokes. If you’re off work for Christmas but not feeling in the mood for a Christmas-set book, this may well be the perfect solution to read curled up in front of the Christmas tree after you’ve finished wrapped (or unwrapping) your presents!
Well this is what a week of Tonsillitis will do for the to-read pile! And a reasonable mix of actual books and ebooks too. I finally called time on Lair of Dreams this week – I tried again to get into it and I couldn’t. It’s been lingering way too long, so I’ve reluctantly given up on it.
Read:
Paint the Town Dead by Sybil Johnson
Bricking It by Nick Spalding
A Talent for Trickery by Alyssa Johnson
311 Pelican Court by Debbie Macomber
Agatha Raisin and the Blood of an Englishman by MC Beaton
74 Seaside Avenue by Debbie Macomber
Snowed in for Christmas by Clare Sandy
Christmas at Lilac Cottage by Holly Martin
The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham
Make a Christmas Wish by Julia Williams
A Christmas in Disguise by Katie Fforde
Started:
The Night in Question by Laurie Graham
A Wicked Way to Win an Earl by Anna Bradley
Still reading:
n/a
I managed to control myself and no books were ordered from my sickbed. Which is impressive. I did do some shopping – but it wasn’t for me!
This week’s BotW is brought to you courtesy of heavy duty cold pills, painkillers and a bout of tonsillitis. It’s all fun chez Verity I tell you. So this post is late arriving and somewhat shorter than I intended. Also it may not make sense. I’m quite highly medicated and it feels like razors are playing at the back of my throat.
This week’s pick is One by Sarah Crossan. I devoured this in one sitting after a late shift (when I should have been sleeping). One is the story of conjoined twins Grace and Tippi, told from Grace’s point of view and in free verse. They’ve beaten the odds and made it to 16, but now they’ve got to go to school because the money to home-school them has run out. But something is happening to them, something that Grace doesn’t even want to think about.
I was absolutely gripped by Grace and Tippi’s story. Free verse (or verse altogether) isn’t often my thing, but I thought it really worked to tell the girls story, saying a lot in not a lot of words and packing a big emotional punch. It also gives the book an air of uniqueness – which goes with the girls themselves.
It’s fascinating, touching and will probably leave you in tears. Its a YA book that I can see being read in schools in the years to come. Well worth a look. One is out in Hardback and should be available from all the usual suspects like Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles, Kindle, Kobo and Audible.
Now I’m off back to my sick bed. Apparently they don’t give antibiotics out for this type of tonsillitis these days and I just have to ride it out. How fortunate I have such a big to-read pile to keep me company!
I’m really struggling with Lair of Dreams – I just can’t get into it, but I hate giving up on a book, so I’m going to give it one more week and try to break through and see if I can get into it. I developed a cold after last weekend’s nights and thought it was getting better until it struck back with a vengeance on Friday and the weekend, so comfort reading has been the order of the day, rather than the Christmas new releases that I should be looking at!
Read:
Mitzi’s Midwinter Wedding by Christina Jones
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley
Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander
One by Sarah Crossan
First Season and Bride to Be (double pack) by Jane Ashford
Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days by Christina Jones
A Winterfold Christmas by Harriet Evans
Started:
Paint the Town Dead by Sybil Johnson
Still reading:
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
I didn’t buy me any books this week. I have bought other people books as part of their Christmas presents – but that doesn’t count does it!
So, after gifts for him, her and children, for Part Four of my Christmas book recommendations, I’ve come to books I want for Christmas. As you know I read a lot of books and have a big backlog anyway, but this is my wishlist. Perhaps it’ll give you some more ideas for gifts – or maybe it’ll give you some ideas about what to ask other people to get you!
Fiction
I’m hoping to find some Deanna Raybourn in my stocking. I’ve really enjoyed her Lady Julia Grey series, and I’m hoping that Santa will bring me some of her standalone books – which are more expensive over here as they’re US Imports – like Night of a Thousand Stars, City of Jasmine or A Spear of Summer Grass (which after months of being c£7 for Kindle has dropped to £2.99 at time of writing, but I now can’t buy because I might be getting it for Christmas!) or the first book in her new series A Curious Beginning.
Another American import on my Christmas list is The Lure of the Moonflower – the final book in Lauren Willig‘s Pink Carnation series. I’m desperate to know what happens – I have the second last book sitting on my shelf ready to read, but I don’t dare start it because I know as soon as I read it I’ll want to read the last one *now* and then i’ll end up buying it before Christmas comes!
I’ve seen glowing reviews, but heard mixed word of mouth on Elena Ferrante‘s Neapolitan trilogy, so I’m curious to read them but can’t justify buying them myself with the to-read pile in its current state. So if anyone fancies buying me My Brilliant Friend, I’d really appreciate it! I’m also after the last in the Tales of the City series – The Days of Anna Madrigal.
Regular readers will know of my love of detective stories and cozy crime, so I’d be delighted if the latest Grantchester novel from James Runcie turned up on Christmas Day – Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins is in a rather expensive US paperback edition or hardback (which would match the ones I already own better) at the moment. I’d also be happy to find the next book (that I don’t own) in the Tasha Alexander‘s Lady Emily series (Dangerous to Know), or one of Catriona McPherson‘s Dandy Gilvers that I haven’t read (like …and the Reek of Herrings),
Non Fiction
I don’t tend to buy myself a lot of non fiction, what with the pile being so big and so much of it coming out in hardback first, so Christmas is a a really good opportunity for me to get a few things that I can’t justify buying with the to-read pile in its current state!
I mentioned in my Gifts for Her post that I’m not big on Roman history, but I do quite fancy Mary Beard‘s latest SPQR, but hardbacks do tend to linger on my shelf somewhat, so perhaps her Confronting the Classics might be a better choice and likewise fill in some gaps in my education. Also on the history front, I really want to read Anita Anand’s Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, especially after seeing the documentary based on it on BBC One a few weeks back – which is still on iPlayer for a few more days. I’m a big fan of Helen Rappaport‘s books (she’s a great speaker too) and I’d quite like her Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses, even though I usually find the Russian Revolution too unbearably depressing!
From this year’s crop of celebrity autobiographies and memoirs, my picks would be Sue Perkins‘ Spectacles and Drew Barrymore‘s Wildflowers or maybe Grace Jones‘s I’ll Never Write My Memoirs which is about an era which I’m fascinated by and was hoping that The Boy would ask for, but he hasn’t! She’s not a celebrity in the traditional sense, but I’m an occasional reader of The Bloggess and Jenny Lawson‘s second book Furiously Happy is on my want list – I’ve read the kindle preview and am really interested by it. It’s only in hardback at the moment, but as I still haven’t got her first book, Let’s Pretend this Never Happened, I would be happy to receive that instead/as well!
Those who know me in real-life know that I don’t wear a lot of make-up. But despite this, I do watch a lot of YouTube make-up videos. And Lisa Eldridge is one of my favourites. Consequently I’d really like her history of make-up Face Paint, but can’t justify buying it for myself. Hint. Hint. At the quirky end of the book spectrum, I’ve got a fancy for How to Climb Mount Blanc in a Skirt, and either of Shaun Usher‘s Letters of Note books – the new one sounds fabulous
On the aspirational home front, I’d really like Marie Kondo‘s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying because I am a bit of a hoarder – even when it’s not books! I’m sure The Boy would be delighted if I could find away of jettisoning some of my stuff happily, although obviously he’d be even happier if I could stop acquiring the clutter in the first place!
Miscellaneous
I know my reading habit can intimidate people and scare them off buying me books (in case I already have it or have read it) but I’m always delighted to get a book voucher – be it a National Book Token or a Kindle voucher and I try to spend them on something I consider a treat – like a nice hardback or an ebook that’s over my usual price limit. After chortling over their Bad Sex Awards for years, I’ve been eyeing up a subscription to Literary Review but can’t really justify buying myself it!
What don’t I want? No cookery books please (unless it’s a Mary Berry I don’t already have) as I still haven’t worked my way through everything I want to cook from the ones that I already have and the cookery book shelf is getting full. Don’t buy me the Booker shortlist – I’ve got so much to read already, I’ll never get around to them – as my attempts to try and improve my award-nominated book hit rate show!
And finally, if you really want me to love you forever, you could pre-order me a copy of The Rogue Less Taken from Sarah MacLean – one of my favourite purveyors of smart, funny and sexy historical romance – and do it from her local Indie bookshop Word in Brooklyn, because I really want the US version (the UK one doesn’t match my collection, but I’ll link you to it anyway in case you want it for you), and Word will send it to me signed and with bonus goodies. But even nightshift brain can’t really justify spending $22 shipping a $7.99 book to the UK. Even if I did do it for Never Judge a Lady by her Cover last year – which is also not as nice in its UK edition, which is something I never though I’d say about an American edition of a romance book. But if you do, let me know, because I may yet weaken and buy it anyway, and it would be stupid for two of us to do it….
Finally something I can take a photo of! And US romance authors don’t really do UK signings!
So there you go, Books for Him, Books for Her, Books for Kids and Books for Me. And still to come from me before the big day will be a round-up of Christmas-themed reading. I know. I’m spoiling you.
After Books for Guys and Books for Girls, I give you Books for Kids! I buy books for all my nieces and young cousins every year. I think boys and girls should be encouraged to read books with male and female protagonists, so hopefully there’s something for everyone, but obviously these are going to be influenced by what I’ve read and what the girls have read and told me they liked. I don’t have kids, so if some of my suggestions seem really obvious to those of you reading who are parents, I’m sorry.
Under Fives
An oldie but a goodie to start for the upper end of this age group – Janet and Alan Ahlberg‘s The Jolly Christmas Postman. They need to be past the ripping things apart stage and be able to cope with the little letters without losing them. Mog is everywhere this Christmas, and it’s totally deserved – Judith Kerr writes wonderful children’s books. My favourites are obvious ones like The Tiger Who Came to Tea and all the Mog books, but also The Great Granny Gang. Jon Klassen‘s books have gone down well with the little people I buy for – I’m still getting fish drawings based on This Is Not My Hat. I also like Chris Naughton‘s books like Oh No! George – but Little Sis-the-teacher reckons she prefers her picture books with more detail so you can get the kids to describe them. And finally, if you haven’t already seen them, Oliver Jeffers‘ books are gorgeous – I love Lost and Found.
Five to Eight year olds
The Nieces are in love with Jenny Colgan‘s Polly and the Puffin – we got a postcard with a puffin on it from their latest holiday and a note saying it was because of the book. If you want to give something educational, but also absolutely beautiful and engrossing, go and find a copy of Aleksandra Mizielinska andDaniel Mizielinski‘s Maps in your local bookshop. I think this is gorgeous and it teaches stuff subtly as well, a bit like Richard Scarry did for younger kids. Their Welcome to Mamoko is equally beautiful. I’m also debating buying My Sewing Machine book for the nieces – as they have a Grandma who is big into sewing and patchwork – but I’m not sure it’s fair to let her in for the extra work!
Eight to Twelve year olds
School Ship Tobermory by Alexander McCall Smith went down well with Eldest Niece (just under this age bracket, but a keen reader) – who wouldn’t love a story about a boarding school that’s on a tall ship? I read it and thought it was fun and clever and modern. In Waterstones last week I saw some lovely new editions of Noel Streatfeild‘s Shoe Books. I haven’t read them all, but Ballet Shoes is amazing – although I was a little annoyed there wasn’t a similarly pretty version of White Boots (which I still have on my shelf upstairs) which is sometimes called Skating Shoes to make it fit the series. If you want to give some classics, my local branch of The Works had a variety of Enid Blyton Boxsets – including Famous Five, Secret Seven and The Faraway Tree – although I can’t find all of them on the website.
Finally a photo I hear you cry! Is this the most picture challenge gift post of the set? Just you wait…
Also mentioned here before are Robin Stevens‘ Wells and Wong mysteries – I can’t wait for Eldest Niece to hit the right age (I think murders are a bit scary for her yet), Murder is Unladylike is the first one, but First Class Murder is the latest and is all you’d hope for from a book that is boarding school story meets Murder on the Orient Express. For the top end of this age bracket, I’d also suggest Simon Mayo‘s Itch (which I’ve read) and its sequels Itch Rocks and Itchcraft (which I haven’t) which are sciencey thriller chase stories.
Teen/Young Adult
No surprise that I’m going to recommend Gail Carriger‘s Finishing School series. Her books are one of my obsessions – I’m currently working my way through her audiobooks on my walks too and from work. Etiquette and Espionage is the first one, and would be a great gift for someone who has read St Clares/Malory Towers or similar when they were younger. I really enjoyed the Geek Girl series earlier this year, which would make a great choice for a girl who is into her clothes and fashion, but which isn’t afraid to show the less glamourous side of modelling as well as the difficulties of not fitting in at school.
This is the third Geek Girl book – I read the others on Kindle, but at least I have this one to photograph!
I read Jenny Valentine‘s Fire Colour One back in the summer and it would make a good choice for someone who’s read The Fault in Our Stars (they’ll almost certainly already have TFIOS, but I’ve put the link in anyway), but doesn’t quite want to cry as much again. One which will make you cry (especially if you’ve read other Pratchetts) is the final Tiffany Aching book The Shepherd’s Crown. I spoke about it at length earlier this year, but I really think that this book is the culmination of a brilliant series. If you’ve got someone who’s read Harry Potter and/or The Hobbit and is looking for the next move, start them on The Wee Free Men and you may be the originator of a Discworld love affair. If you’re buying for someone who’s not as much of a reader, may I suggest the first Lumberjanes book. I loved this graphic novel, and even The Boy pronounced it “quite good, but it ended just as it got interesting”, which presumably bodes well for Part Two.
And thank goodness for Lumberjanes. Just you wait until tomorrow though. That’s even worse!
Finally, if in doubt, there’s always a book token. But lots of your old favourites from when you were that age may still be in print, but out of fashion, so the kids may not have them. my mum’s getting My Naughty Little Sister for one of the little girls she buys for this year. I bought Eldest Niece The Worst Witch for her birthday in the summer (and I’ve heard a passage from The Worst Witch being used in a school entry reading comprehension test!) and I think she’s since asked for more of them. Meg and Mog, Hairy McLairy, The Enormous Crocodile and Peace at Last are all still out there too.
Miss Parts 1 and two? Here’s Books for Him and Books for Her. Coming next, the final part: What books do I want for Christmas?
After the Books for Men extravaganza yesterday, here’s the books for Her post. My mum and my sister both get books from me as part of their Christmas present, and it’s often tricky, because I pass them my favourite books through the year so I have to try and find something different! As with yesterday’s post, my links are to Amazon, because lots of these are 3 for £10, or reduced in some way – thus freeing up more money to spend on yourself other presents.
Fiction
I find fiction recommendations easiest, but some of this is depending on what sort of present your buying the book as. Most of my book purchases are as stocking fillers or extra presents, rather than the whole present – so I give a lot of “lighter” fiction. My mum’s asked for Anne Tyler‘s A Spool of Blue Thread for her Christmas book (I’m sure she won’t mind me telling you) and tells me that she just loves her other books, so if you know someone who’s read her Booker nominee from this year, it might be worth checking out the back catalogue too.
I’ve mentioned Beatriz Wiliams‘ A Hundred Summers in a BotW post and that’s definitely worth a look. I also have her latest – Along the Infinite Sea – on my to-read pile, but I haven’t managed to get to it yet.
In a shameless plug for a friend, I loved Kirsty Greenwood‘s Vintage Guide to Love and Romance when I read it on holiday earlier this year (back in my early days of reviewing for Novelicious and before I’d met the lady herself). Equally Lucy Robinson‘s The Day We Disappeared or Mhairi McFarlane‘s It’s Not Me It’s You would make great stocking fillers and although they came out earlier in the year (all on the same day in fact!) they aren’t summery books, so would be fine to give in December!
If you want to buy hardcover, I loved Laura Barnett‘s The Versions of Us (which I mentioned along with Vintage Guide in my Summer Recs list, but hey, when a book’s good, it’s good)- it’s Sliding Doors meets One Day and every bit as amazing as that sounds. The paperback is out on December 31st.
I liked After You so much I’ve posted it to a friend so she can read it
Also only in hardback or ebook at the moment is Jojo Moyes‘ much awaited sequel to Me Before You, After You. I read this last week, and whilst I didn’t love it the way I loved Me Before You (see BotW squeals here), it’s still a good read – and would be a gift option if you know someone who cried their way through Lou and Will’s story and wants to know what happened next. Another hardback option would be Paula McLain‘s latest Circling the Sun. I’ve just lent my copy to mum – who has been raving about The Paris Wife, which she finished last week.
I always find non-fiction harder to recommend. I’m a history graduate so a lot of my non fiction reading falls into that and I also find it easier to recommend fiction for women. Probably because I read mostly fiction, but I’m sure someone will say this is unconscious bias, the patriarchy etc. Still I’ll have a go.
Finally a book I still have! So I’ve taken a fresh photo of it and everything!
You may remember this from a previous BotW post – but I need to give another mention to The Astronaut Wives Club, which would I think would go down well with loads of people – Mad Men fans, history fans, Americana fans etc.
The Roman Empire is not my period (I like my history modern enough that I can identify with the people, so usually post c1450) but I found How to Manage Your Slaves both funny and fascinating. It’s got a lot of facts packed in there, but wears it lightly and is very readable.
And another one I still have! Hurrah!
I won a copy of Sali HughesPretty Honest last year, literally a day after I’d told my mum to buy it for me for Christmas. I haven’t read it cover to cover, but I have dipped in and out repeatedly and found it really good. I think this would work for a lot of people without being seen as being judgy. And if if you have a teenage girl to buy for and you want to do more than just buy a make-up gift set from Boots or the current books from the latest YouTube sensation, this could be just the job.
Boom. Three. Doesn’t this look well illustrated compared to the fiction section?
I have the paperback of Lena Dunham‘s Not That Kind of Girl sitting on my to-read pile, I haven’t read it yet, but I bought it because I’d heard a lot of good things about it. And if you know a Girls fan (I don’t have Sky Atlantic) then this might make a good choice, but watch out, because it came out in hardback for last Christmas. Also out in hardback last year and in paperback all over the place now is Amy Poehler‘s Yes Please which I really want to read and which might work if your giftee hasn’t already had it.
Miscellaneous
There are some people for whom a really pretty book is just the job. Foyles used to have a helpful section of this sort of book in the front of their old Charing Cross Road store – I’m sure there’s an equivalent in the new store (even if I haven’t spotted it yet). Virago’s VMC Designer Collection are great for this – they look gorgeous and the books are good too. They started coming out a couple of years ago so some of my favourites – like Barbara Pym‘s Excellent Women – are harder to get hold of, but new ones are still appearing – like Daphne Du Maurier‘s The Birds and Patricia Highsmith‘s The Talented Mr Ripley. Penguin also do a nice line in cloth bound classics – like this Sense and Sensibility.
My OCD tendancies are yet to find a satisfactory order for these, but they’re so pretty I don’t care!
I also love Bookishly’s range of prints – their Pride and Prejudice one would make a lovely gift – if you’re buying for a friend, several of the quotations you can chose from are not romantic. However exercise caution if you are thinking of getting someone an e-reader cover. I’ve been caught out on sizes and variations before – all the various kindles seem to be subtly different. There are some gorgeous ones out there though – I’ve bought one which looks like an actual book from Klevercase before, but check the model you’re aiming for very carefully.
So there you go. Coming next: Children’s book recommendations.
I am the person who gives everybody they possibly can a book for Christmas. My immediate family all get a book AND a “normal” Christmas present. I buy young relatives books as often as I can. I even gift myself a Christmas book. So I thought that I would give you suggestions for presents – on top of a post about Christmas-themed books. This is the first of four post which I hope cover all eventualities. Most of the links are to Amazon – because quite a few of the books mentioned across the various posts are in their 3 for £10 promotion, thus saving you money to use to buy yourself books on other things.
Non Fiction
Men can be tricky to buy for – or at least I find them hard. I often end up buying biographies of sportsmen. The Boy in my life is a massive petrol head – he devoured motorbike Guy Martin’s Autobiography this last weekend, which had been sitting on the shelf since last Christmas and is out now in paperback. He’s said he’d quite like Martin’s hardback, When You Dead, You Dead. Also on his Christmas list this year is ex-F1 driver turned World Endurance Champion Mark Webber’s book Aussie Grit. The annual Jeremy Clarkson book will have been a fixture on many people’s Christmas lists for years, but if you fancy a change, The Boy really wants And On That Bombshell – a behind the scenes look at Top Gear, written by Top Gear’s script editor Richard Porter, who I’ve been following on Twitter for years without knowing what his day job was!
I have had *such* headaches taking the photos for these posts. I could cry. Honestly I could.
Away from the motorsports books he’s a big Bill Bryson fan – so The Road to Little Dribbling may also turn up in his stocking. One of his favourite books this year has already featured here as a Book of the Week – but A Year of Living Danishly is so good that I think it deserves another mention – particularly as Hygge starts in January and moving to a new country is often one of those things that gets mentioned in New Year’s Resolutions.
Check out my attempts at artistic arrangements of the books. This was the best I could manage.
On the history front, I haven’t read Trumbo (yet) but it’s just been turned into a film and the McCarthy era is fascinating – particularly in the movie industry. I’ve also had quite a good hit-rate with Ben MacIntyre – my dad loved Operation Mincemeat, and Agent Zigzag and Double Cross have also gone down well with him and several other men of various ages that I buy for. His latest is A Spy Among Friends, about Kim Philby, which I haven’t read – but which may well end up in someone’s stocking this year.
Fiction
My Boy has got hooked (like me) on Janet Evanovich this year, so I’ve been on the lookout for pacey and fun thrillers for him. It’s tricky as it very often ends up with me buying books for me! I’m going to try and turn him onto the Fox and O’Hare series next – The Heist is the first one, The Scam is the latest. They’re basically Ocean’s 11 or White Collar but as a book. She’s an FBI agent, he’s a fraudster – but they have to work together to catch con-men.
Try not to look at the dents in the hardback spines, I know once you’ve noticed it’s hard to stop,but…
I’ve already mentioned The British Library Crime Classics series in the BotW post on Silent Night, but it bears repeating that there some really good titles in this attractive looking series which would make good gifts for an Agatha Christie fan looking for Golden Age Crime. And as the series is bring stuff back into print that’s been out of circulation for a long time, there’s much less risk that they’ll have read them already! On top of the ones I’ve already mentioned, try The Z Murders and Murder Underground. Speaking of Golden Age crime, Sophie Hannah’s Poirot continuation The Monogram Murders might also be worth a look.
Try and focus on the retro stylings of the book, and the shine of the table – which I polished specially
This is breaking my own rule about not mentioning stuff I’ve read for Novelicious before the review goes up there, but I’ve just finished reading TV historian Neil Oliver’s first novel Master of Shadows, and without preempting my review there too much, it is basically the novel version of one of those historical epic movies. Set in the fifteenth century. it follows a young man as he flees Scotland, becomes a mercenary and ends up entangled in the fall of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire. It was too gruesome for me, but if you have a Game of Thrones fan in your life, this could be a great choice for them.
The pile of book effect is wearing thin? I know. And this has foil on the cover so its a photo nightmare
My Boy has also expressed an interest in Timur Vermes’ Look Who’s Back, which has been sitting in my Library book bag for ages. In case you’ve missed it, this was a massive best seller in Germany – and tells the story of what happened when Adolf Hitler wakes up in 2011 Berlin. It’s already been made into a movie in Germany and Radio 4 have dramatised it over here. It’s meant to be laugh-out loud funny, but disturbing.
And finally, I’m not big on scary, but The Boy has film director David Cronenberg’s debut novel on his to-read pile. I don’t like recommending books that I haven’t read (or that people around me haven’t read) but Consumed has a good review average on both Amazon and Goodreads and pull quotes from Stephen King and JJ Abrams, so strikes me as a fairly good punt in a genre I’m really not very fluent in.
Still, at least I had enough books for this post to make a stack. Just wait til tomorrow…
Miscellaneous
If you want to give bookish gifts that aren’t actually books, then may I point you in the direction of American company Out of Print. They do the most gorgeous clothes with book covers printed on them and for each purchase they donate a book to a community in need. I’ve gifted their t-shirts to several men at various points – including The Boy, who loves them and stares wistfully at their website every time he sees me looking at it, but tells me he has enough clothes. The tees are soft, the print isn’t crunchy (if you know what I mean) and they wash well and hold their shape. If you’re in the UK I think we’ve already missed the cheap shipping international deadline, although they say you can upgrade, but TruffleShuffle stock a few styles, as do Amazon.
So there you are, hopefully I’ve recommended something for most tastes or situations – or at least provided a jumping off point. Coming next: Books for Her.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 