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Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2011 (view source)

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{{newreviewplain
|title=Amazon Kindle
|rating=4
|summary=Are ebooks the future of books? Is it the right time to get an ebook reader? We thought about it long and hard. Yes we did. We don't often think about things this long or this hard, because it hurts. But sometimes, cogitations are necessary. We wouldn't be here at Bookbag if we didn't love books but we knew that more and more people were enjoying ebooks. It was time to find out what it was really like to have up to 3,500 books in your pocket or your bag. 3,500! Yikes!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B0051QVF7A</amazonuk>
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A carefully chosen book is always a welcome gift, but it's not always easy to know which books are good and which have had the benefit of clever marketing. We've picked out the best books which we've seen this year and we think that you should be able to find something for everyone on your gift list.
==Fiction==
'''Crime'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage
|author=Andrea Camilleri
|title=The Track of Sand
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=It's the twelfth of Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano novels but reads well as a standalone and you might be introducing someone to an author with a great back catalogueto explore.
We keep saying that [[The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin|Ian Rankin]] doesn't need our help to sell books but that could well be because he's hard to beat. His [[The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin|latest ]] is the second in a new series (no need to have read the [[The Complaints by Ian Rankin|first]] but that's good too) and promises well for the future.
Domestic Violence and obsession feature in [[Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes]]. It's a book with a rather dull cover - but what's inside is superb.
When we mention 'Swedish Crime Novel' and the name 'Larsson' you might well jump to conclusions about who we mean, but we've been impressed by [[Until Thy Wrath Be Past:: A Rebecka Martinsson Investigation by Asa Larsson and Laurie Thompson (Translator)|Asa Larsson]] and we think you will be too.|isbn=0330507664
}}
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'''Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage
|author=Laini Taylor
|title=Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Horror fans, whether adult or young adult, will love [[Mister Creecher by Chris Priestley]], an ''interlude'' in the story of Frankenstein's monster. Chris Priestley just gets better and better!
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>144472262X</amazonuk>1444722654
}}
'''General Fiction'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage
|author=S G Browne
|title=Fated
If you'd like a couple of other suggestions then you might like to look at [[The Secrets of Pain by Phil Rickman]] and [[The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern]].
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0749954728</amazonuk>Browne_Fated
}}
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'''Literary Fiction'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage
|author=Hector Tobar
|title=The Barbarian Nurseries
|summary=It's been the year with a very contentious shortlist for the [[Man Booker Prize 2011|Booker Prize]]. Any of the books on the longlist would make a good present, but you might want something a little different.
In ''[[The Barbarian Nurseries'' by Hector Tobar|The Barbarian Nurseries]] Hector Tobar looks at a middle-class American family who have struggled hard to live the American dream. Their two young sons go missing with their surly Mexican maid and the situation soon turns into a nightmarish media circus.
For a big book (in all senses of the word) have a look at [[A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe]] or for a slim volume which packs in half a dozen literary prizes we recommend [[Accabadora by Michela Murgia and Silvester Mazzarella (Translator)]].
It's 50 years (how did that happen?) since [[Catch 22 by Joseph Heller]] was first published and there's an anniversary edition which will delight first-time readers or bring back memories for those who were there at the time. Another timely reissue is [[The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe]].|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0701184167</amazonuk>1444726773
}}
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'''Historical Fiction'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage
|author=Alma Katsu
|title=The Taker
When you mention the name 'John Buchan' most people think of [[The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan|The Thirty-nine Steps]] but we'd like to suggest [[A Lost Lady of Old Years by John Buchan|A Lost Lady of Old Years]] set in the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6. It's a book to work at but it's tremendously rewarding.
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846058171</amazonuk>
}}
'''Women's Fiction'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage
|author=Ann Hood
|title=The Red Thread
If you'd like some more suggestions have a look at our [[Top Ten Books For Your Auntie]] and [[Top Ten Books For Your Girlfriend]].
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0393339769</amazonuk>
}}
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'''Biography'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage |author=Sarah BakewellFrances Wilson|title=How to Live: A Life Survive the Titanic or the Sinking of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an AnswerJ. Bruce Ismay|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Every bit as good as its quirky title suggests, Montaigne's ideas are still relevant half Within a millennium later. A must-read for those with existential angst or pretensions to erudition. It's also going to matter of months it will be one the centenary of the sinking of the ''theTitanic'' . There will be a slew of books of 2010to commemorate the event, but this one looks at what happened from a slightly different perspective and we found it readable and informative.
Music For fans will love of political biographies we can recommend [[Syd BarrettSupermac: A Very Irregular Head The Life of Harold Macmillan by Rob ChapmanD R Thorpe]] - a biography of the 'lost genius. It', who formed Pink Floyd but left s the group within a year fruit of their initial success, over thirty years research and failed to – or perhaps never wanted to – sustain gives a career for balanced look at the man with an aristocratic background who was also the remaining 38 years great-grandson of his lifea crofter.
For another impartial biography, this time of a pop legend, we can recommend [[John Lennon: The Last Resort Life by Douglas RogersPhilip Norman]] is . It will tell you everything you want to know about the man who had premonitions that he would come to a stunning memoir of Zimbabwe under Mugabe as told by the son of two of the last white farmers in the countrybad end.
If we haven't suggested something that you fancy then have a look at at [[Top Ten Biographies and Autobiographies]].
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0224082264</amazonuk>1408809222
}}
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'''Cookery'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage |author=Xanthe MiltonYotam Ottolenghi|title=Eat Me!: The Stupendous, Self-raising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie GirlPlenty|rating=4.5
|genre=Cookery
|summary=The most amazing Not necessarily a book of baking recipes we have ever come across. The only disadvantage is that for the purist vegetarian, but for those who enjoy vibrant food where the cover individual flavours sing out this book is bright pink..a gold mine. It will also do nothing if you're on a dietwas the Best Cookbook in the Observer Food Monthly Awards 2011.
Unless Still on the vegetarian theme High Fearnley- Whittingstall had a brief spell as a vegetarian in 2011 and he shares his recipes with you're vegetarian or vegan everyone needs in [[Leith's Meat Bible River Cottage Veg Every Day! by Max Clark and Susan SpaullHugh Fearnley-Whittingstall|River Cottage Veg Every Day!]]. You might not know it, but you do. It's everything We can tell you need that it was a mackerel which tempted him back to know about cooking meat.the sins of the flesh!
It's not necessarily strictly a cookery book for the purist vegetarian , more a history, but if you're interested in food then we think that you'll enjoy [[Plenty A History of English Food by Yotam OttolenghiClarissa Dickson Wright]] will redress the balance a little. For anyone who enjoys vibrant food where the individual flavours sing out She always knew that she would write this book is a gold mine.- and we always knew that we would read it!
If there's nothing here which appeals to you then have a look at our [[Top Ten Cookery Books]].
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0091925118</amazonuk>0091933684
}}
'''History'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage |author=Mary BeardNigel Jones|title=Pompeii: The Life of a Roman TownTower|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=An in-depth investigation of all things Pompeii. This small, rather unremarkable (pre-event) Italian town is gone over by Beard with the proverbial fine tooth comb; how the local people lived, loved, worked and played are examined and also debated here in this book. If you'd like had to make this choose a generousand thoughtful present you can pair building which encapsulates English history then it with [[The Parthenon by Mary Beard|The Parthenon]] by would pobably be the same author published earlier in Tower Of London and here we have a vivid account of the yearTower, from its Norman beginnings as a prestigious fortress and palace, to its years of service as prison and torture chamber, and eventually premier tourist attraction.
Those with an interest in the For more of English history of horse racing will enjoy you might like to consider [[The Masters A History of MantonEngland in 100 Places: From Alec Taylor Stonehenge to George Todd the Gherkin by Paul MathieuJohn Julius Norwich]] - a very readable look at the history of the racing stable from 1870 through to the 1960s. It's social as well as racing history and highly recommended.
For some American history we can recommend [[We Die Alone American Caesars: Lives of the US Presidents, from Franklin D Roosevelt to George W Bush by David HowarthNigel Hamilton]] is . We've read it through from cover to cover and we've dipped into it to illustrate a superlative real-life story, point. It's one of a near-death experience or three for a soldier trapped in enemy territory in the Second World War. Chillingthose books you'd hate to be without. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846684714</amazonuk>0091936659
}}
'''Politics and Society'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage
|author=Chris Mullin
|title=Decline and FallA Walk-on Part: Diaries 2005 to 20101994 - 1999|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Excerpts from Another irreverent look at the life of an MP. This volume - the Mullin Diaries from 2005 through last to be published, but the end of the author's time in Parliament and first chronologically - covers the implosion election of the New first Labour administrationgovernment for nearly two decades. It's highly Highly recommended and you could pair it with [[A View from the Foothills by Chris Mullin|A View from the Foothills]] which was published at the beginning of the year.
[[The End of Nothing but the PartyTruth: The Rise and Fall of New Labour Selected Dispatches by Andrew RawnsleyAnna Politkovskaya]] covers much is a selection from the later writings of the same time frame and is a good read although it's definitely not an easy readcampaigning Russian journalist who was murdered in 2006. At 912 pages itIt's for the reader a tribute to someone who is enthusiastic about their politicsshould not be forgotten.
Fascinating and thought provoking, In [[The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World by Garrett KeizerTina Rosenberg|Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World]] is Tnia Rosenberg illustrates how peer pressure can be used for good. It's a sprawling book but it'must read' for anyone who lives with, near, or even as far away as possible from, anything that makes a noises very readable.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846683998</amazonuk>1846685249
}}
'''Popular Science'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage |author=Alex BellosDavid Crystal|title=Alex's Adventures The Story Of English In Numberland100 Words
|rating=5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=A perfect look at all David Crystal is a god when it comes to language and with 100 carefully selected words he tells us an awful lot about the cool, amazing English we speak today. It's a fun and fascinating things going on in the world of maths. Part history of maths, part general trivia, it works perfectly for anyone with even book that would make a vague interest in maths. Highly recommendedgreat gift.
[[Why CanAlex't Elephants Jump? s Adventures In Numberland by Mick O'HareAlex Bellos]] is a perfect look at all the usual excellent Christmas bestseller from cool, amazing and fascinating things going on in the New Scientist's Last Word columnworld of maths. Everything is as great as Part history of maths, part general trivia, it has been works perfectly for anyone with even a vague interest in previous years, with no sign of getting stale or unoriginalmaths. It's another highly Highly recommended for all the family.
Look beyonf the quirky title because [[We Need To Talk About Kelvin Free Radicals by Marcus ChownMichael Brooks]] is might sound very geeky, but it's a brilliantly written popular science bookhistory of those scientists who have broken the rules, showing what everyday played things can tell us about their own way, and challenged the universeperception of scientists and quiet, methodical and logical. Geeky people will find it fascinating Michael Brooks' writing is as clear and a particularly enjoyable read. Heartily recommendedengaging as ever.
Need some further suggestions? have a look at our [[Top Ten Books For Slightly Geeky People]].
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0747597162</amazonuk>
}}
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'''Teens'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage |author=Jenny DownhamJonathan Maberry|title=You Against MeRot & Ruin
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=A book about love, loyalty and choices. Beautifully written and tremendously moving, itIt's a worthy follow up to super-duper post-apocalyptic zombie novel in the phenomenally successful [[Before I Die by Jenny Downham|Before I Die]]style of a revenge Western. Both books would make It's tense and exciting, full of action, and has a generous present for the teen that likes real life storiesgreat cast of characters. TheyIt ticked all Bookbag'll also love s boxes and we loved it.  [[Luke and Jon Mister Creecher by Robert WilliamsChris Priestley]]isn't a retelling, a gorgeous tale sequel or a prequel in Mary Shelley's story of grief, friendship and moving on. Moments of great clarity add true depth to this funny, sad, wise and truthful bookFrankenstein but an interlude. It has something 's truly classy horror for everyonethe teen market - a genre which is flooded with some truly mediocre offerings. We can also recommend  [[Losing It When You Reach Me by Keith GrayRebecca Stead]]: short stories is easy to read and about virginity by some of our leading writers for teens. Disparatetime travel, thoughtfulfriendship, sweet and funny redemption - they add a great deal to the conversation about teen sex that age old themes, but we all have, most importantly the teens themselvesnever tire of their retelling.
The teen that likes fantasy For an engrossing and sci-fi will enjoy [[Dark Life by Kat Falls]] and [[Dark Life by Kat Falls]]. Ou reviewers intense look at London during the punk explosion in the 1970s have also found much to recommend a look at [[Beautiful Creatures Naked by Kami Garcia and Margaret StohlKevin Brooks]]. It's long, deepWe say our obsession with image is something new, and totally enthralling - a Southern Gothic romantic fantasy to be savoured. If yu're lookng to give two books then you could link but is it ? As ever with [[Beautiful Creatures: Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl|the sequel]] which has just been publishedBrooks, this one comes recommended.
You'll find some For fans of these books in our paranormal romance the best ongoing series is probably the [[Top Ten Teen Books of 2010Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl|Beautiful Creatures]] along with series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. The third book was published this year but all three books would make a few other suggestionsgreat present.
If you'd like to look at some teen books yourself then have a look at our [[Top Ten Teen Books That Adults Should Read]]. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0385613504</amazonuk>0857070959
}}
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'''Confident Readers'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage |author=David AlmondElliott Skell|title=The Boy Who Climbed Into The MoonNeversuch House
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=It's Omnia Halibut, aged twelve and a quarter, has lived her whole life on a vast estate which has been separated from the new David Almond outside for young readersgenerations by a huge wall with only one gate. Do you really need to know any more? With daftness She believes she knows every corner of her world, until a chance event sets her on a dangerous, enthralling adventure which uncovers a web of corruption and menace at the heart by the bucketload, it's a must readof Neversuch House.
[[Iggy and Me Spindlewood: Pip and the Happy Birthday Wood Witch Curse by Jenny ValentineChris Mould]] is the second outing for Iggy and Flo and if you're looking to give two books you could pair tale of an orphan who escapes a terrible fate as a cabin boy. Young readers will gallop through this book with [[Iggy , loving the excitement and Me by Jenny Valentine|the first]]. They're simple tales of family life menace, and brimming with humour and interest. They're also wonderfully readablewill soon be begging for the next book in the series.
For anyone who loves the old stories Slightly Jones is a Victorian detective-in-training and in [[Slightly Jones Mystery: The Orchard Book Case of Swords, Sorcerers and Superheroes the Glasgow Ghoul by Tony Bradman and Tony RossJoan Lennon]] is she travels to Glasgow to investigate thefts from a must havemuseum. ThereIt's Jason a great book for the history buff and the Argonauts, King Arthur, Aladdin, William Tell, Hercules, Sinbad, St George, Ali Baba, Theseus and Robin Hoodcrime fan. What more can we say?
For more detective stories we can recommend [[Pippi Longstocking Laura Marlin Mysteries: Kidnap in the Caribbean by Astrid LindgrenLauren St John]] is a true classic of children- it's literature, made all the more wonderful by Lauren Child's sublime illustrations. If the children in your life don't already have a copy of Pippi Longstocking, there's something very very wrong. Highly recommendedthoroughly good read from a highly-respected athor.
A classic makes a thoughtful Christmas gift so you might like to have a look at [[Top Ten Classics of Children's Literature]].
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1406314579</amazonuk>1847387438
}}
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'''For Sharing'''
{{toptennolinkFrontpage |author= Emily GravettAlex T Smith|title=Blue ChameleonClaude in the City
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Simple, sparse It's a fun story and minimalist it may be, but a little bit whacky and we think that it's superb, laced with humour and wonderful illustrationsone that parents will love as much as children. Emily Gravett does it again with an excellent It's simple enough for older pre-schoolers to enjoy as a shared book and silly enough for the very youngest older childrento enjoy reading for themselves. It's gorgeous, as is [[Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray]] - the classic alphabet tale of an apple pie, rejigged, and with a wonderfully lively dog trying to get some of that tasty goodness. Put issues of originality right out of your mind - as alphabet books go, this is up there book with the very best''shelf life''.
Educators are concerned about the number of children starting school who don't know any of the traditional fairy tales. We loved [[Me and You Best-loved Classics: Rapunzel by Anthony BrowneSarah Gibb|Rapunzel by Sarah Gibb]] is the Goldilocks tale from a fresh perspective, but the more you dig, the more Me and You will reveal. It's an utterly Absolutely gorgeous picture book that works on so so so many levelsartwork makes this story a joy to read.Perfect for princess-loving little girls!
If you're looking for something amusing then have a look at In [[Tortoise vs. Hare - The Rematch! Susan Laughs by Preston Rutt Jeanne Willis and Ben RedlichTony Ross]] we watch as Susan does a lot of things that normal children do. She laughs, rides a pony, paints a picture, plays on a roundabout and scares her granny with a jack-in- a hilarious-box. She is just a normal child, thrilling and wonderful look at the rematch between the tortoise and the harebut Susan needs a wheelchair. It's got all the energy of a Bugs Bunny cartoonlovely, transferred perfectly to a picture booknon-preachy message that we can all appreciate.
If you're looking for something seasonal we can recommend Who would believe that [[The Christmas Eve Ghost Kipper by Shirley Hughes]] and [[The Polar Express by Chris Van AllsburgMick Inkpen|Kipper]] is twenty one? This is a lovely anniversary edition of the classic book but with a ten-episode DVD as a bonus.
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0230704247</amazonuk>0340998997
}}
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We have advice if you're looking for [[The Best Gift for a Gamer]].
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