A plaintive cry I hear at this time of year is how daunting it is to walk into a well-laden bookstore and be faced with kilometres of books. But the spot-on, well-chosen gift will delight the recipient.
Here is a suggestion: instead of lunging at the stacks closest to the entrance or till, go to the specific shelves on topics you know your family or friends are keen on – from science to cooking, architecture, biographies, armchair travel or sport.
This selection may help you find out how to choose a book for a gift, rather than make any particular recommendations.
Books for Clever Clogs
There is a nice NewScientist volume out for those who like such arcane questions as “Why don’t penguins’ feet freeze?”
This latest is Why Are Orangutans Orange? and has entertaining questions on everything from eggs to goo. Yes, goo.
Also on sale is Tweeting the Universe: Tiny explanations of very big ideas by Marcus Chown and Govert Schilling, scientists who answer 140 of the universe’s biggest questions, like “What would happen if we didn’t have the Moon?”, in tweets of 140 characters.
Richard Dawkins continues his crusade to make us less gullible than he thinks we are with The Magic of Reality: How we know what’s really true. How Dawkins knows what is true is a separate debate, but this is a rather nice, well-illustrated volume which gives simplifed answers to such questions as “Are wealone?” and “What is a miracle?”
I thought it was a useful book to have around for those who realise that it’s the questions, and not the answers, that provide insight.
For those who want to grapple with the South African situation and yet still end up feeling as if there is hope, Professor Jonathan Jansen’s We Need to Talk is hard-hitting but inspirational as always.
Books about our Best Friend
Dog Walks Man is by John Zeaman, who moved to the suburbs to live out the American dream: house, two kids and a dog, Pete, a standard poodle.
As the kids predictably drop out of walking “their” dog, Zeaman takes over. How to make the routine walks, 365 days a year, worthwhile?
Gradually he widens their territory, finding joy in landfill sites and other unexpected areas. It’s a lovely, lyrical meditation of the now-ness of dogs – the optimism that each walk brings them, the adventure they feel certain will happen.
Somewhat grittier is Finding Jack by South African Gareth Crocker. It has reached a world-wide audience divided between those who think it is either splendid or soppy.
I fall into the besotted group, and cheered and shivered at the struggle a Vietnam veteran endures to find the beloved “war dog” he was forced to leave behind. This novel is based on a number of such true stories, and should be a humdinger for guys who like action and hounds.
Books about the Posh
Wait for Me by Deborah Devonshire, the last of the eccentric Mitfords, is a treat for those who have followed the fabled antics of that barmy aristocratic family, with its fascists, communists and duchesses (Debo).
If you can forgive Lady Antonia Fraser’s need to tell us how much the Nobel-winning playwright Harold Pinter adored her, then Must You Go? My life with Harold Pinter is rich reading for insight into the literary giant’s life. For that reason I wouldn’t have missed it, though she did slightly annoy me at times.
Best of all is From a Clear Blue Sky: Surviving the Mountbatten bomb by his grandson (and survivor) Timothy Knatchbull. It is a spectacularly good book I will be reviewing in the “Best of 2011” column soon.
Books for Fun
Other People’s Money by Justin Cartwright cuts to the bone of the current crippling international monetary crisis, yet it is a pacey, ironic read with some wise words about why chinless wonders shouldn’t be trusted. Smart and funny.
Alexander McCall Smith can be relied on to turn out an annual slew of books for his fans. Number 12 in the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, again featuring the ever-patient Mma Ramotswe.
I admit to a soft spot for these sweet novels. I also liked the bite of 44 Scotland Street – The Importance of Being Seven. If ever there was a henpecked boy in need of rescuing from being overmothered (and oversmothered), it is dear, poor Bertie. (Smith says he gets letters pleading with him to “save” Bertie from his ghastly mother).
He has also produced another snide addition to the world of academic politics, Unusual Uses for Olive Oil, in which Prof Dr Dr (Hon Causa) Mortiz-Maria von Igelfeld obsesses as usual over all the perceived slights, jealousies and minutiae in which universities specialise. Hilarious, if you’ve ever taught in one.
Books for Tree Huggers
Nothing wrong with tree huggers. We planted a fever tree in memory of the late great tree champion, Wangari Maathai, after she died this year.
Finding out more about the world you live in is one of the greatest gifts you can bequeath to anyone: there are plentiful, glorious books on the natural history shelves in bookstores.
One of the nattiest this season is Eugene Moll’s What’s That Tree?A starter’s guide to trees of Southern Africa, with useful photographs.
Books for the naughty-minded
Yes, every family has those inclined to a smutty or irreverent mind. Often they are the most fun to have around – just like these books. Smut by Alan Bennett is a charmer – two little stories cobbled together in a deceptively genteel environment. No one behaves well. Hooray!
Among my favourite books this year were the two autobiographies by Stephen Fry, Moab is my Washpot and The Fry Chronicles. They are gaspingly frank, hilarious and utterly without restraint.
They will horrify those awful relatives who think that homosexuals are wicked. Think what fun it would be to give them these as gifts. - The Argus