A bookish gift guide
With Christmas looming ominously through the grey air of this wet, dark November day I thought I’d give you a hand with some shopping tips, because I don’t want to do my teaching prep. In the past I’ve done a gift guide but actually basically all of the people on that previous guide are excellent people to spend your money with so rather than repeat all of that I’ll point you back to the original post and hope that most of the links are still working.
In the meantime I’m going to recommend some books for all ages!
Fiction
Published this year….
Any of the Laurie Colwin re-releases put out by W&N this year. All three are truly delightful (and they’ve just added a fourth). Funny and smart and absolutely perfect for fans of people like Nora Ephron (though Colwin is less biting than Ephron) and Lorrie Moore.
Cannon- Lee Lai- I could look at Lee Lai’s character drawings all day. They’re so perfectly reduced and pared back but elegant. ‘A darkly funny and emotionally raw exploration of friendship, identity, and unraveling under pressure.’
Florrie- Anna Trench. ‘As well as being a book about football this is also a book about seeing the life you want on the horizon and reaching out, as best you can, to meet it. A tender, quiet book which packs a gently devastating punch.’ This was my offical quote for Anna’s lovely book. Would also suit readers age 14+ I think.
Consider yourself kissed- Jessica Stanley. Give your mum/aunt/sister/friend the gift of bedding down with a delicious book during the festive lull. This is a perfect ‘curling up on the sofa to read a chapter and accidentally reading five chapters ‘book. (Yes this is a bit of a gendered recommendation and I don’t wholly mean it as I think there’s a tonne that male readers would get from this book which is very smart and funny and often very romantic)
You could also….pre order someone MY book? Or buy it for yourself!
And some reliable books I give as gifts often…
These aren’t my all time favourite books but they do feel like easy crowd-pleasers.
The Signature of All Things- Elizabeth Gilbert. The richest, most page-turny historial novel (a genre I barely ever read). Had no idea I could care this much about moss research. Good for someone who wants to be pulled into some addictive reading during the holidays. (I hate this cover)
See also Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg (Mum, Aunt, Sister, Partner’s Mum have all recieved this at one point or another).
Breath by Tim Winton (the cover on this edition is not ideal). A book about surfing and striving for something beautiful and tricky formative friendship and sexual awakenings. Short.
New (ish) Non fiction
Question 7- Richard Flanagan. Not light at all but immensely readable, sharp, humane and thoughtful. One of the best things I read this year, I just love writing that draws links and makes connections in the way that Flanagan does.
Children of Radium- Joe Dunthorne- Also not the lightest of topics but you will absolutely tear through this book It reads like a thriller in some ways, you simply have to find out more. Which is a feeling I rarely have with non-fiction.
Helen Garner. Specifically the diaries but really any Helen Garner (fiction or non fiction) is worth your time. I’m keen to get my hands on the Mushroom Tapes about the poison mushroom murder case that gripped Australian news this year (and world news too).
Cry When the Baby Cries- Becky Barnicoat. Perfect for Parents who are feeling done-in and might want to feel a bit of solidarity with their fellow done-in parents. So funny, yet moving when it needs to be, plus great cartooning.
And some reliable non fic favourites….
I wanted to recommend Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman but it doesn’t seem to be evry available at the moment. So instead try a more recent Kalman- Women Holding Things. Beautiful paintings, unambiguous title. Buy for someone who is a nightmare to buy for because they buy the things they want when they want them and so really you need an unusual and delicious object that they might not already have. This is it.
This is the Place to be- Lara Pawson. Loved this when I read it a few years back and bought it for a handful of people. Have now realised that enough time is passed that I might read it again and i’m feeling excited by that. Short, punchy autobiographical writing on wide ranging subjects. Like Helen Garner and Richard Flanagan Pawson writes in a way that I find deeply enviable and admirable and that I will never be able to do, ever.
Look Here by Ana Kinsella- A great gift for Londoners who like a wander. I am keenly braced for Ana’s debut novel next year.
The Wager- David Grann. My Dad mostly reads books about the sea, so no surprises that he loved it but my Mum loved it too (weirdly, she really likes disaster movies so this scratched that itch I think) and Owen loved it (who likes anything about the dark heart of man) and I love it (I think for the pure escapism, everything in this book is miserable but in a very different way than our current world is miserable).
Picture Books
If you make a call on a banana phone- Gideon Stern & Emily Hughes
If this book doesn’t get a UK co-edition then UK Children’s publishing has lost it’s mind. Frankly.
A gorgeously playful, kind-hearted and gentle book about silliness, making friends and chatting to a gorilla on a banana phone. Cannot recommend enough. I bought my copy from Shelf Editions where it is currently sold out but Helen says more are coming! Absolutely worth tracking down. I promise.
Also newly published is The House with the Little Red Door-Grace Easton. A festive themed slice of gorgeousness with flaps and rich, cosy illustrations. The kind of book that feels like a treat.
And from the archives some perennial favourites that I think might not be on every shelf and so might make good presents!
Tadpole’s Promise by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross. I think this is just the best thing ever. The sheer audacity of the end of this book delights me! I’m not telling you anything else just advising that you get a copy.
Need a house? Call Ms Mouse by George Mendoza & Doris Susan Smith. If you grew up obsessed with the detail of the tiny mouse homes in Brambly Hedge then this is for you. Ms Mouse is an architect and this is a selection of her finest animal specific homes. Joy joy joy!
A special mention to my own, third, picture book from 2019. It’s the best one I wrote, I think, and it was very unceremoniously released into the world to very little fanfare but I think it’s good and it means a lot to me.
My other books are listed here.
Misc
OK so Hors Scene by Jon McNaught is only available in French at the moment so it might feel like a niche recommendation BUT if your teenage child is learning french this would be VERY readable for them. Also if you remember a decent amount of school-level French, you’ll be able to make it through this book I think (I managed). And it’s so flipping beautiful to look at that even if you don’t read French you’ll have plenty to keep you occupied here.
Is there a book you buy over and over as a gift? Pop it in the comments and help extend book christmas a bit further.
All the best,
Lizzy