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Original poster

What books did you get for Christmas?

86 replies

Georgiemc · 26/12/2025 18:52

I received The Safekeep by Yael van de Wouden and Heart the Lover by Lily King

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ilovepixie · 05/01/2026 22:23

looselegs · 31/12/2025 14:09

Complete sets of Enid Blytons Malory Towers, St Clares and Famous Five, as well as a 1959 edition of Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder all the way from America.
Plus 5 J D Kirk books.
Happy me!

Ooh lucky you. My kind of books too.

Rocknrollstar · 05/01/2026 22:07

The Flame by Leonard Cohen. His last book of poems and writings.
I also received an Amazon voucher so I can stock up my Kindle.

Purplebunnie · 05/01/2026 21:53

ThirdBanana · 05/01/2026 21:38

@PurplebunnieChurch Going is my favourite book at the moment. It is lovely.

I've read Steeple Chasing and a Tomb with a View, fascinating and quite sad at times.

I dip in and out of Forgotten Churches: Exploring England's Hidden Treasures by Luke Sherlock. The illustrations by Ioana Pioaru are exquisite. Luke has his own independent bookshop in Frome - Sherlock and Pages and they aways have some interesting books that I don't seem to see anywhere else. I follow him on Instagram he's always in a beautiful church.

ThirdBanana · 05/01/2026 21:38

@PurplebunnieChurch Going is my favourite book at the moment. It is lovely.

ThirdBanana · 05/01/2026 21:38

A book about trains. And another book about trains.

Purplebunnie · 05/01/2026 21:36

I received Church Going: A Stonemason's Guide to the Churches of the British Isles - Andrew Ziminski -
Written on the Dark - Guy Gavriel Kay
Not really looked at either yet as I'm just not in the mood. Presuming this is due to being ill from 20th December. I Haven't even opened my main Christmas present. It's been the worst Christmas ever so perhaps I will enjoy them in a few weeks I love Kay's writings and was really looking forward to this.
Did get a lovely otter bookmark as well😁

Purpletoes · 05/01/2026 19:29

I have fallen out of reading over the last few years but have joined a book club at work.
Currently reading The Names by Florence Knapp which I think I will nominate for book club. Will look through the books on this thread

Dappy777 · 03/01/2026 18:36

I was given Richard Holmes’ new biography of Tennyson. Absolutely loving it atm. Tennyson was a more interesting character than you’d expect. He’s been stereotyped as a stuffy, anti-intellectual Victorian. In reality, he was a brilliant man who read Homer in Greek and could recite passages of Virgil and Dante in the original Latin and Italian. He even taught himself German so he could read Goethe. Imagine Carol Ann Duffy or Steven Armitage translating passages of the Iliad from Ancient Greek!

It’s amazing the way a writer can fall out of fashion. W. H. Auden called him “the stupidest poet” in the English canon, and other 20th-century critics (mostly left-wing) also ridiculed and vilified him. Holmes has done a great job of restoring his reputation. But as always Holmes offers a fascinating look at the wider world - at the way people were realising how old the Earth was and how vast the universe. It’s also fascinating to read how people like Tennyson responded to the discover of dinosaurs.

HelenaWilson · 03/01/2026 01:13

St Clares were my favourite of Blyton’s school stories
And me.. Would love to read them again

Here you are:
Search: fadedpage.com
(I preferred Malory Towers)

Search: fadedpage.com

https://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Blyton,%20Enid

SnowFrogJelly · 03/01/2026 00:59

MissyB1 · 31/12/2025 14:48

Fabulous selection! St Clares were my favourite of Blyton’s school stories 😊

Show quote history

And me.. Would love to read them again

looselegs · 02/01/2026 19:13

MissyB1 · 31/12/2025 14:48

Fabulous selection! St Clares were my favourite of Blyton’s school stories 😊

Show quote history

And mine! Can't wait to get into them again and feel that nostalgia!

Ilovethatforyou · 31/12/2025 15:11

Fifthtimelucky · 26/12/2025 22:44

Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton
The Real Jane Austen - A Life in Small Things, by Paula Byrne
Patchwork - a graphic biography of Jane Austen, by Kate Evans
Diddly Squat - The Farmer’s Dog, by Jeremy Clarkson.

Won’t start any of them until I have finished Educated, by Tara Westover, which I am currently half way through.

How are you finding Educated @Fifthtimelucky ? I love that book!

yoshiblue · 31/12/2025 14:50

Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin (delayed book club read)
Queens Gambit - Walter Tevis

Also a small Waterstones voucher that I’ll spend in the new year! 🎉

MissyB1 · 31/12/2025 14:48

looselegs · 31/12/2025 14:09

Complete sets of Enid Blytons Malory Towers, St Clares and Famous Five, as well as a 1959 edition of Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder all the way from America.
Plus 5 J D Kirk books.
Happy me!

Fabulous selection! St Clares were my favourite of Blyton’s school stories 😊

Mysterian · 31/12/2025 14:12

I've been badgering a friend to read The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy for some time, so I got her a copy for Christmas. Then I realised I hadn't read it for ages and bought myself a copy too!

looselegs · 31/12/2025 14:09

Complete sets of Enid Blytons Malory Towers, St Clares and Famous Five, as well as a 1959 edition of Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder all the way from America.
Plus 5 J D Kirk books.
Happy me!

ChaosDreamV2 · 31/12/2025 10:48

A Mind of my own by Kathy Burke - loved it, read it over two days.

Vintageroses · 31/12/2025 10:42

Bluff - Francine Toon
The black feathers - Rebecca Netley
The wrong sister - Clare Douglas
Paper girls - Alex smith

I’ve just started Bluff, liking it so far.

nepkoztarsasag · 31/12/2025 01:42

Bismarck's War - Rachel Chrastil
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick
Pure Invention - How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World - Matt Alt
House of Lilies - Justine-Firnhaber-Baker
Failed State - Sam Freedman

MaybeMaybeNotJ · 31/12/2025 01:04

Moby Dick

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 31/12/2025 00:05

sort of for Christmas but with an amazon birthday voucher Boleyn Traitor. It arrived today.

ResusciAnnie · 30/12/2025 23:09

Life Impossible (or something like that) by Matt Haig and The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths. My dad buys everyone books for Xmas and I have a backlog going back years but am determined this year and have already started the Matt Haig one!
And I got a notebook from DS ❤️

Lunatone · 30/12/2025 23:07

I received:

The Middle Bridge Mystery by J.B. Harris-Burland
A Daughter of Art by Alice and Claude Askew

Both somewhat obscure mystery novels from the early twentieth century; should be interesting reading.

Greenpeanutsnail · 29/12/2025 23:16

I was given a gift card to spend on kindle books!

Manename · 29/12/2025 14:08

I have got out of the habit of reading. Got a book voucher and bought Ann Cleaves murder in my backyard and the day of the roaring Nina Bhadreshwar. Hoping to ease myself back with things that are simple