Top Books for Christmas

Our choice of the best books to give this Christmas

The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt

Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

   

Lean IN.  Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

 

Sheryl Sandberg

 


Ask most women whether they have right to equality at work and answer will be a resounding yes, but ask same women whether they'd feel confident asking for a raise, a promotion and some reticence creeps in. This title looks at what women can do to help themselves, and make small changes in their life that can effect change on a universal scale.
   

The Interestings

Meg Wolitzer

From bestselling author Wolitzer comes a dazzling, panoramic novel about what becomes of early talent, and the roles that art, money, and even envy can play in close friendships. The summer that Nixon resigns, six teenagers become inseparable. Decades later the bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed.

   

Doctor Sleep

Stephen King

Stephen King returns to the character and territory of one of his most popular novels ever,The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals. 
 

   

The Good Lord Bird

James McBride

From the bestselling author of The Color of Water and Song Yet Sung comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown’s antislavery crusade—and who must pass as a girl to survive.

An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBride’s meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival.

   

Proof of Heaven

M D Eben Alexander

A SCIENTIST’S CASE FOR THE AFTERLIFE ... Near-death experiences, or NDEs, are controversial. Thousands of people have had them, but many in the scientific community have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those people. A highly trained neurosurgeon who had operated on thousands of brains in the course of his career, Alexander knew that what people of faith call the “soul” is really a product of brain chemistry. Then came the day when Dr. Alexander’s own brain was attacked by an extremely rare illness. This story would be remarkable no matter who it happened to. That it happened to Dr. Alexander makes it revolutionary. No scientist or person of faith will be able to ignore it. Reading it will change your life.
   

Life after Life

Kate Atkinson

Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can - will she?
Wildly inventive, darkly comic, startlingly poignant - this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best.

   

Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot

Bill O'Reilly

A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln.  Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor; recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy--and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.  The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader. This may well be the most talked about book of the year.

   

Jamie's 15-Minute Meals

Jamie Oliver

 This book is completely devoted to what we are asking for - super quick, tasty, nutritious food that you can eat everyday of the week. In creating these recipes Jamie's made sure they're methodical, clever, sociable, fun, with beautiful food full of big flavours. It's a classic book that will arm you with the skills to create wonderful meals, shockingly fast. He's taken inspiration from all over the world, embracing the tastes that we all love, playing on classic chicken, steak and pasta dishes, looking at Asian-inspired street food and brilliant Moroccan flavours, putting together great salads and so much more. And these are some of the quickest and easiest meals Jamie's ever done. These recipes have been tested and tested to ensure that this book is a reliable companion for you and your family.

   

Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn

How well do you know your lover? The art of marriage truly is the art of war in the new novel from the CWA award-winning author of Sharp Objects and Dark Places.  'What are you thinking, Amy? The question I've asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears.  So what did really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? And what was left in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war...