Take your pick: Ideas for festive book gifts

A good book at Christmas can be an escape from all the noise and indulgence that the festive season brings, and makes an ideal gift for family and friends.

Whether your loved one is a fan of thrillers, romances, cookery, memoirs or history, there’s something for everyone - so check out this selection of gift books to give your loved one this Christmas.

Festive cheer

A Book For Christmas, by Selma Lagerlof (Penguin Classics)

This enchanting collection of Christmas tales by the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish author is now available in English for the first time. Folklore, magic, miracles and festive wonder are all explored.

The Secret Santa Project, by Tracy Bloom (HarperCollins)

In this funny festive novel about romance and friendship, a woman is throwing herself wholeheartedly into the Secret Santa office moment, when unlikely pairings and inappropriate gifts are swapped.

Murder Under The Mistletoe, by the Reverend Richard Coles (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Cosy crime-lovers can snuggle up with this Christmas novella from the famous clergyman, in the third book in the bestselling Canon Clement series. It begins on Christmas Day at Champton Rectory, when Canon Daniel Clement and his mother Audrey are joined by guests at a party which is going swimmingly until two attendees meet under the mistletoe - and one of them falls down dead.

The Christmas Cottage, by Sarah Morgan

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Christmas Book Club comes a festive story in which a woman in need of a reset is invited to spend Yuletide with a friend and her family in a Cotswolds cottage. Her newfound peace is disrupted as long-buried secrets resurface. It’s about family reuniting, forgiving past mistakes and starting over.

Laughter and long life

Killing Time, by Alan Bennett (Faber & Faber)

This novella from the acclaimed dramatist, playwright and author takes a look at lockdown life in a council home for the elderly, with a cast of colourful characters like an ex-cruise ship hairdresser, a delusional archaeologist and a keen knitter. He weaves in the apprehension of old age with the comedy ageing can create - the missing teeth, the fading memories, the deaths - and the release Covid brings to its residents as protocol breaks down and they make the most of the time they have left.

Literary gems

Orbital, by Samantha Harvey (Vintage)

This year’s Booker Prize-winner is Harvey’s fifth novel and sixth book, charted over a single day in the life of six astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station. In those 24 hours they see 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets over their silent blue planet, spinning past continents and cycling past seasons, but they also see the fragility of human life while they are so far from earth.

The City And Its Uncertain Walls, by Haruki Murakami (Harvill Secker)

A new novel from the Japanese international bestselling author begins when a young man’s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes and he sets his heart on finding the imaginary city where her true self lives. His search will lead him to take a job in a remote library with mysteries of its own.

Special edition

And Then There Were None (Ultimate Mystery Edition), by Agatha Christie (HarperCollins)

Reviving the long-standing tradition of ‘A Christie for Christmas’, the esteemed author Agatha Christie’s masterpiece And Then There Were None has been re-crafted into an ultimate mystery edition, ideal for hardback collectors, where the final solution will be sealed in an envelope at the end of the story.

Ten strangers are lured to an island mansion on an isolated rock near the Devon coast by generous hosts, who are mysteriously absent. Each guest is accused of a terrible crime. Then one by one, they start being bumped off.

History

The Rest Is History Returns: An A-Z Of Historical Curiosities, by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook (Bloomsbury)

An ideal book for throwing random history facts at the Christmas guests, or in fact anyone who’ll listen, this second book from the creators of the hit podcast takes us on a dizzying A-Z through the past - from the Aztecs to zigzags.

Romantasy

Quicksilver, by Callie Hart (Hodderscape)

After a 10-way auction for this originally self-published romantasy, there’s much buzz around this, the first in an enemies-to-lovers trilogy following a thief, a handsome fae warrior and a centuries-long conflict.

Thrillers

Midnight And Blue, by Ian Rankin (Orion)

Thriller-lovers will welcome the latest page-turner from the best-selling Scottish crime writer, who brings us the newest instalment in his Rebus series, adapted for TV, in which the Edinburgh detective finds himself in prison, surrounded by people he’s either put away or who hate him because he’s a copper. All seems a bit dismal, until a murder in a locked cell sees all of his instincts kick in.

The Waiting, by Michael Connelly (Orion)

Want a bit of excitement this festive season? Ask for a copy of this page-turner which sees LA detective Renee Ballard pursuing a cold case and unearthing a DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer from 20 years earlier.

Life stories

Diddly Squat: Home To Roost, by Jeremy Clarkson (Michael Joseph)

Fans of Prime TV series Clarkson’s Farm will enjoy this companion, in which he records the crops that failed, the mushrooms which went mouldy and the ups and downs of farming sheep, pigs and cows. Clarkson navigates each hurdle with punchy wit, while at the same time bringing to light the serious problems farmers face.

For more farming life tales, bag a copy of Clarkson’s TV sidekick Kaleb Cooper’s new book, It’s A Farming Thing (Quercus, £20) which delves more into the young entrepreneur’s start in life, his reluctance to venture far from Chipping Norton and his colourful money-making ventures.

My Animals And Other Animals, by Bill Bailey (Quercus)

Love animals? You’ll enjoy this. The comedian and Strictly winner in 2020 is now focusing his energies on a memoir told through his lifelong love of all creatures great and small. He recalls stories of the animals he has encountered over his life, including birds, dogs and chameleons called Posh and Becks, as well as those who have occasionally joined him on stage. It’s heart-warming, life-affirming stuff for animal lovers everywhere.

Cookery

Gino’s Air Fryer Cookbook, by Gino D’Acampo (Bloomsbury)

If you’re buying a loved one - or yourself - an air fryer for Yuletide, chuck in a copy of this, in which D’Acampo creates Italian classics in the popular kitchen gadget, including roasted pumpkin lasagne, aubergine parmigiana, cannelloni with spinach and ricotta, polenta chips, whole sea bream with lemon, even the perfect chocolate fondant.

Travel

The Travel Bucket List (various authors) (DK)

Perfect for wanderlusters who want to travel the world or simply cross locations off their bucket list, from wine tasting in Tuscany to exploring the icy plains of Antarctica. It features 500 of the world’s best places and experiences to inspire travellers, from road trips like Route 66 to natural wonders like Mount Fuji and epic festivals like Glastonbury.