Best Books for Christmas

This year more than ever, a great book is a joy… and a welcome gift. Book Club Editor Patricia Carswell picks the best.

Best factual: The Spirit of the Blitz, Paul Addison & Jeremy A. Crang (Oxford University Press, hardback, £30)

During the Second World War, public morale was painstakingly monitored and meticulously recorded by a division of the Ministry of Information called Home Intelligence. Spirit of the Blitz recounts the story of Home Intelligence and reveals the contents of its reports between September 1940 and June 1941 – a time when the country was enduring night after night of air raids.

Perfect for any history enthusiast, the book provides an absorbing and often surprising insight into the real attitudes and reactions of the public to everything from the bombing and evacuation to food shortages and news reporting. References to stockpiling, profiteering, wild rumours, bored children unable to attend school, demands for financial help from the government and the challenges of cooking with limited ingredients may prompt comparisons with recent events.

Best historical fiction: The Glorious Guinness Girls, Emily Hourican (Headline Review, hardback, £20)

When in 1918 Fliss is sent to live with the wealthy Guinness family as a companion for their three daughters, she is thrown into a world of tennis parties and practical jokes. Beyond the grand house, though, political tensions are growing, and Fliss’s brother Hughie is becoming increasingly involved.

Seeking safety, the Guinnesses leave Dublin for the excitement of London, and the older girls are soon caught up in the dazzling world of the Bright Young Things. Fliss, meanwhile, is preoccupied by what has happened to Hughie and her plans to make a life of her own.

A fictionalisation of the lives of the Guinness daughters and their society friends, this is a spirited evocation of life in 1920s Dublin and London, vividly portraying the conflict in Ireland and the contrasting dizzying whirl across the water. An immensely entertaining read.

Best contemporary fiction: The Chalet, Catherine Cooper (HarperCollins, ebook and paperback, £7.99)

An ill-humoured, impatient ski guide, two testosterone-fuelled brothers vying to impress each other with their off-piste bravado and blizzard conditions… high in the French mountains the scene is set for a disaster, and that’s exactly what ensues.

Twenty years later, a group of skiers, all with different agendas, are staying in a luxurious chalet when their holiday is disrupted by a body turning up and a storm closing the roads.

Against the glamorous backdrop of the high-end, luxury ski chalet—all fur throws and champagne—this adrenalin-charged, fast-paced novel makes for superb, wintry, escapist reading and will keep you guessing and guessing again until the last page. A word of warning, though: don’t be surprised if the person you buy it for starts googling ski-ing holidays before Christmas is over.

Best food and drink: Which Wine When: What To Drink With The Food You Love, Bert Blaize and Claire Strickett (Ebury/Penguin Random House, e-book £4.99, hardback £9.99)

You might as well buy two copies of this book right from the start because as soon as you leaf through it you’ll want your own copy. Which Wine When is a refreshingly unpretentious, down-to-earth guide to pairing wine with food. Not just fancy dinner party food, either. Although it does suggest pairings for more rarefied dishes such as venison and salmon en croute, there’s not an ounce of snobbery here. It applies equal enthusiasm to its recommendations for wines to go with family favourites like spag bol and cauliflower cheese, snacks and nibbles and even takeaways as unstarry as hamburgers and chicken nuggets (yes, really).

There are a useful glossary and a helpful section explaining wine tasting basics. With this on your shelf, the only reason to make a fool of yourself when it comes to wine is if you drink too much of it.

Best stocking filler: What Would HM the Queen Do? Mary Killen (Ebury, hardback, £9.99)

Over the course of her long reign, HM the Queen has had to deal with more than her fair share of difficult situations, from family break-ups to political crises. She has faced each challenge with poise and dignity and what’s more, at the age of 94 is still going strong, sifting through complex state papers, hosting visiting dignitaries and enjoying regular exercise. So what is her secret?

In this half-fun-whole-earnest guide to life, etiquette expert and star of Gogglebox, Mary Killen, isolates the principles and qualities that guide Her Majesty, from continuity and punctuality to thinking ahead and treating everyone the same. Illustrated with little-known facts and anecdotes, Killen extracts advice for the rest of us to follow so that in any given situation we can ask, what would HM the Queen do?

Best children’s book: How to Spot an Artist, Danielle Krysa (Prestel, hardback, £11.99)

Artists aren’t just adults who exhibit paintings in a fancy gallery. Far from it. Artists come in all shapes, sizes, ages and colours, and that is the essence of this colourful, exuberant children’s book. It’s not about technique or instruction - this book aims to give any child with artistic leanings the confidence to view themselves as an artist, shout it from the rooftops and express it in everything they do.

Aimed primarily at young children, it tackles head-on the main obstacle in any budding artist’s way – the inner art bully that stops them from believing in themselves and shows them how to overcome it.

One word of warning: if you’re giving this book to someone else’s child, their parent may not thank you for the mess and glitter that will ensue, but tell them it’s all in the name of art.

Best coffee table book: Life Meets Art – Inside the Homes of the World’s Most Creative People, Sam Lubell (Phaidon, hardback, £39.95)

Coco Chanel once said that “An interior is a natural projection of the soul”. If that is so, this collection of brilliantly-curated photographs will allow you a unique insight into their owners’ inner lives. Each page features a picture of the home of one of 250 of the world’s most creative people with a commentary giving context and background.

Some are fairly predictable: Jane Austen’s prim dining room, the OTT excess of Elvis Presley’s lavish games room and the sleek, modern splendour of Frank Sinatra’s house in Palm Springs. But there are plenty of surprises: the replica of Michael Jackson’s white glove on writer Zadie Smith’s mantelpiece and the religious frescoes in Jimmy Page’s London home.

Fascinating reading for anyone interested in interiors or the celebrities who live in them.

Best garden book: American Gardens, Monty Don and Derry Moore (Prestel, hardback, £35)

In his exploration of American gardens in the BBC series of the same name, Monty Don came to the conclusion that there was no such thing as the definitive American garden. Gardens in the United States were, he said, as diverse as the people, climate and landscape that made up the country.

In this book, which expands on the series, Don celebrates the skill, dynamism and optimism of American horticulturalists across the whole nation. Travelling across the country with acclaimed photographer, Derry Moore, he introduces us to stately, formal estates such as the British Embassy in Washington DC, Italianate splendour in Florida, prairie wildness in Missouri and desert-style planting in Phoenix Arizona and California where cacti are placed alongside eastern shrines.

It’s a wonderful celebration of the eclecticism of American style, with gorgeously lush photographs.

Best puzzle book: The Ordnance Survey Great British Treasure Hunt (with a foreword by Julia Bradbury) (Trapeze, paperback, £14.99)

This isn’t the first puzzle book the Ordnance Survey has produced, but it’s certainly the most fun. This time, we’re sent on a treasure hunt by the redoubtable Aunt Bea, who requires us to solve clues, brain-teasers, word games, codes and mathematical puzzles, as well as navigate our way around the country with the help of the famous OS maps, to find hidden treasures.

Brilliantly, the puzzles are presented with four different levels of difficulty so it really is suitable for the whole family. Whatever the weather, this is sure to keep everyone entertained throughout the Christmas holidays.

Best autobiography: Limitless, Tim Peake (Century, hardback, £20)

Tim Peake never set out to be an astronaut. His main aim as a child was to keep his remote-controlled aeroplane from crash landing (with mixed results). Other than annual caravanning holidays with the accompanying privations in a confined space, there was little in his early life to suggest he would one day be heading into space.

Peake’s refreshingly honest autobiography takes us from his school days, where his principal challenge was being small and ginger, into a career in the Army Air Corps, which led to him becoming an Apache helicopter pilot, flight instructor and test pilot. It was only when his wife spotted an advertisement from the European Space Agency that he embarked on a second career as an astronaut.

Modest and self-deprecating, Peake’s enthusiasm for life and honesty about the wonder, fear and exhilaration of life in space is fascinating and inspiring in equal measure.