As we're now in advent and I am fielding phone calls from customers asking for suggestions for bookish presents I thought I might as well make a blog post out of some of my favourites. So here goes, in no particular order and including fiction and non-fiction:
The Blue Handbag by Fiona Robyn is sadly let down by the cover when it is worth so much more. A gentle story that stays the right side of sentimentality: funny, quirky and real. A real treat of a read.
Testament by Alis Hawkins. One of my Top Ten Books of the Last Ten Years and the January choice for the Cornflower Book Group.
England in Particular: A Celebration of the Commonplace, the Local, the Vernacular and the Distinctive by Sue Clifford and Angela King is wonderful compendium of everything English. Angela King also wrote the lovely The Apple Source Book: Particular Uses for Diverse Apples which is another treat of a gift.
Atticus the Storyteller: 100 Stories from Greece by Lucy Coats and illustrated by Anthony Lewis is a wonderful children's version of the Greek myths beautifully illustrated. The move to modern words and child appropriate language has been done beautifully. It is a satisfyingly large format book to share with your child; our five year old girl asked for over and over again. She even took it to show and tell. If you know any youngsters obsessed with monster real or imagined this is fabulous present choice.
After the Armistice Ball (the first Dandy Gilver Murder Mystery) by Catriona McPherson is a lovely traditional 1920s whodunit.
The Necropolis Railway: A Novel of Murder, Mystery and Steam (the first in the Jim Stringer Steam Detective Series) by Andrew Martin (review coming soon)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Simon Armitage - cracking modern translation of the medieval poem. The hardback is only a couple of pounds more than the paperback and is well worth it for the delicately illustrated smooth matt dust wrapped cover.
A Very Great Profession: The Woman's Novel 1914-39 by Nicola Beauman is a very readable mix of literary criticism and social history. A must for anyone interested in women's literature.
A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel is a study of how and why we read (not a topographical volume on the Berkshire town!).
The Lady Investigates: Women Detectives and Spies in Fiction by Patricia Craig and Mary Cadogan is another lovely piece of both scholarly and readbable literary criticism. It covers women detective from Wilklie Collins to Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh.
Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books by H. J. Jackson and Once Again to Zelda: Fifty Great Dedications and Their Stories by Marlene Wagman-Geller are two fascinating books about the side issues of literary work: what reader's scribble in their margins, and the nature of authorial dedications.
Brat Farrar by Josphine Tey. I love Tey's works and this one is just a very good story charmingly told. You can read my review here.
Lesley Castle by Jane Austen is one of her minor works out in a lovely new edition by Hesperus Classics. You can read my review here.
The Widow and her Hero by Thomas Keneally, another of my Top Ten Books of the Last Ten Years, shows the effects of war and the effects of telling war history on those left behind.
The Roar of the Butterflies by Reginald Hill, better known for Dalziel and Pascoe. This novel features incompetently lucky PI Joe Sixmith. Very warm and witty with a tight plot, like the child of P. G. Wodehouse and Ngaio Marsh.
A Jealous Ghost by A. N. Wilson is a witty reworking of a Henry James novel, The Turn of the Screw. You can read my review here.
A Month in the Country by J L Carr and if you can buy the Quince Tree Press edition so much the better. Carr started the press to publish his own works, "An author’s desire to be independent of the frustrations and irritations of the conventional publishing world was probably the incentive, but it developed to a positive pleasure in the design and production of a volume complementary to the text - there is a degree of unconventionality about all the productions." The Quince Tree Press versions are much superior in design to anything else available.
Some alternative presents for the book-lover include:
Hand made journals from the Carronvale Bindery in Scotland.
Graham Green Collection of DVDs. Green's novels are oh-so-filmable not least because he worked with the film industry so closely. This quartet includes The Fallen Idol, Brighton Rock, The Heart of the Matter, and The Third Man. I love them all.
Powell & Pressburger Collection of DVDs. Whilst these are not literary adaptations, they have a very literary quality to the screen plays and I am sure many of you would love these complex, multifaceted films. To have such a large selection together is a great treat, and this collection contains one of my favurite ever films I Know Where I am Going, and apparently I am in good company as wikipedia tells me that Martin Scorsese said, "I reached the point of thinking there were no more masterpieces to discover, until I saw I Know Where I'm Going!". The collection also contains Black Narcissus, A Canterbury Tale, A Matter of Life and Death, and the wonderful The Red Shoes with Moira Shearer, with another 6 films.
The links in the text above are the Amazon UK but you might also like The Book Depository which has free worldwide shipping.
Thankyou for that list - it includes the perfect present for someone I shall be giving to, and I hadn't come across the book before.
Posted by: Cornflower | December 07, 2009 at 05:49 PM
Ooh, good! I glad the post was a help Karen. Hope the recipient enjoys the book.
Posted by: Juxtabook | December 07, 2009 at 07:11 PM
Ooh! I hadn't noticed that Testament was the upcoming Cornflower Book Group read. I got a copy a while back on your recommendation, and now I may just have to move it up to the top of the pile and join the discussion!
And the Powell and Pressburger films are amazing--but a bit hard to come by on this side of the pond. I've seen the Red Shoes, I Know Where I'm Going, and Black Narcissus and loved them all. (Black Narcissus would probably be my favorite, but they're all wonderful!)
Posted by: Teresa | December 08, 2009 at 12:28 AM
Catherine - thanks for introducing me to the Jim Stringer Steam Detective Series - they look like the perfect present for my mum - crime fan and steam engine driver's daughter!
Thanks, as always, for your enthusiasm for Testament - I'm going to be interested (if that's the right word!) to see what the Cornflower book group thinks of it.
Posted by: Alis Hawkins | December 08, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Teresa - hope you enjoy Testament! maybe an online book group is the answer to your book group dilemas?
Alis - hope your mum enjoys Jim Stringer!
Posted by: Juxtabook | December 15, 2009 at 10:25 AM