The Book(ish) Christmas Booklist!
Book ideas for all manner of picky recipients
It’s here! Lots and lots of lovely book suggestions for everyone on your list. (The picture above features just some of the titles. And if I’ve missed someone - let me know!) It has taken me days, and I have achieved almost zero Christmas shopping, but oh, how I have enjoyed myself, imagining a family of highly demanding readers. (Obviously, all of these books will suit many lucky recipients, but allow me my fun.)
As this post is so l-o-n-g, the committee and I* have taken the decision to do a separate non-fiction round-up, so hold on to your Santa hats and jangly reindeer ears for that little gem.
*I am the committee.
Right, who are we buying for…?
The grandmother who does the crossword every day, swears by a brisk walk and a 6pm sherry, and is terrifyingly sharp.
How to Age Disgracefully has her name all over it. Clare Pooley’s joyous, unexpected and hilarious tale of a senior citizens’ club like no other has one of the most indomitable, brilliant heroines you will ever come across. The Night in Question is a mystery set in an old people’s home - yet there is nothing remotely fogeyish about it’s spirited is its heroine. It manages to be both heartbreaking and hopeful. Murder at the Castle finds retired Angela Merkel at a loose end - handy that, as there’s a mystery solve. If the real-life Angela is anything like this fictional depiction - she’s a hoot.
The exacting (some might say picky, but I wouldn’t dare) thriller fan who demands a book which is more than the sum of its parts.
Charlotte Philby’s The End of Summer has a brilliant protagonist: a crooked, ruthless, loving grandmother whose continent-hopping pursuit of crime and riches is about to catch up with her. But it’s also a historical family saga, a study of mothers and daughters and a deeply enjoyable thriller. There’s more travelling to and fro in time in the tremendous The God of the Woods, in which history seems to be repeating itself when a girl vanishes from a summer camp - in the same woods where her brother went missing. Chris Whitaker’s All the Colours of the Dark is one of the stand-out thrillers of the year - a haunting tale of abduction, survival and the lengths we will go to for those we love.
You begin to wonder when Janice Hallett’s capacity for invention will wane - there is no sign of in The Examiner: secrets, lies, backstabbing, rivalry and quite possibly murder simmer on an art course. Note that her murder-at-the-village-panto The Christmas Appeal makes a terrific stocking filler. Bella Mackie’s What a Way to Go is a whodunnit with an enjoyably ghastly Succession-style family and a victim - an oleaginous, faithless hedge funder - who is mourned by no one. So when he is impaled at his own birthday party - there are more suspects than you can shake a stake at. Grimly entertaining and arch social commentary.
The not-so-secret romantic
To keep reading, give yourself and (ahem) me a Christmas present of a paid subscription. Still only £5 a month. The stocking filler which keeps on filling (your reading list/shelves).