Recommend me a great book

[ScarlettDarling]

I’ve got a good friend who is retiring next week and is looking forward to finally having time to read. We’ve collected at work for a beautiful gift for her but I’d like to buy her something personal from me. I’ve decided a book would be good but can’t get past just thinking of my own all time favourites. So has anyone got any suggestions of a book which they’d love to be given as a gift?

An anthology of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea stories has just been released. It looks beautiful with illustrations and previously unpublished work. At £35 I won't be buying it I don't think (particularly as I still have my 30 year old paperback copies). Would love to be given it though!

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Well, what does she like? What authors and genres does she read?

The shadow of the wind

What is your friend interested in?

Does she like fiction / biography...?

I would always be happy reading anything by:

Kate Atkinson
Sarah Waters
Iain Banks
John Irving
Evelyn Waugh
Nancy Mitford
Armistead Maupin
Douglas Adams
Helen Dunmore
Alexander McCall Smith

My friend has hardly read at all for years as she's had no time so I don't know which genres/authors she likes. That's why I'm asking for recommendations which have mass appeal.

Thanks for the suggestions above, I'll have a browse.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
It’s the perfect novel.

Just finished a thousand splendid suns, that was very good.
My favourite book was called
The storyteller. It was recommended on here, I couldn’t put it down.

If she hasn't read a book for years, then maybe she'd like a book of short stories as an 'easy in' to reading again?

I can highly recommend Victoria Hislop's book titled The Last Dance. There are 10 short stories in the book - although some of them are quite 'dark'!

Otherwise, perhaps one of Bill Bryson's books?

Any more info about your friend to help steer us towards the right books? I'm
presuming she is in her 60s and in the U.K.? Does she have any hobbies or interests? Does she travel, garden etc etc

I have a friend who is fascinated by the 20s and 30s and loves biographies of people from that era (eg Anne de Courcy).

What are your favourite books? Anything you would like to share with her? I have a friend who has given lots of other friends copies of Tender is The Night by F Scott Fitzgerald

Is she going on holiday anywhere where she might like to read a book that is set there? (Eg Driving Over Lemons in Andalucia)

Biography. ,Aylesford of a favourite tv star.

Or get her a kindle?

Or look on Book People. You can get sets of books at good prices.

Eg man booker prize 2018 shortlist

Dorothy l sayers

inspector morse books

My friend is late 50s, loves Tuscany, gardening, good food. She's very musical too.

My all time favourites are Gone with the wind and Wuthering Heights but I'm guessing she'll have read those years ago when she had the time to read!

I haven't read it but Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro is supposed to be very good (and musical).

Dear Francesca by Mary Contini is a family saga / recipe book celebrating Italian Food.

Or if you just want a straight recipe book The Silver Spoon is one of my all-time favourites. Italian food sorted by vegetable. I grow my own vegetables so when I have a glut of courgette or borlotti beans I consult The Silver Spoon for inspiration.

I came on to say Night Circus too.

Or We are all completely beside ourselves

Loads of good suggestions, am fancying The night circus for myself, just downloaded it to my Kindle!

jamie Oliver cooks italy

Not fiction, but what about this book?

A book token so she can choose.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim:
www.amazon.co.uk/Enchanted-April-VMC-Designer-Collection/dp/1844087611/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ref=plSrch&keywords=the+enchanted+april+virago&dpPl=1&dpID=61LHaAcqChL&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1544862453&sr=8-1
Charming story about women running away from English winter to Tuscan warmth and a beautiful garden...

I’m with redredrobins. Vouchers are always thought of as such a cop out gift, but I don’t think that should apply to book tokens - don’t underestimate how much pleasure there is in the act of actually going to a bookshop and choosing what book you want to buy.

Agree with redredrobin. Get her a book token. There’s no such thing as a ‘universally good book’ guaranteed to appeal to any reader. I read a huge amount, and thought The Kite Runner was a simplistic morality tale, and The Night Circus overly whimsical and fey, yet they are liked by many on here. This year’s Man Booker winner, Anna Burns’ Milkman, which I think is brilliant, got a very poor review in the N.Y. Times.

You can’t second-guess someone’s tastes.

In browsing all of your suggestions I came across a book I read and loved a couple of years ago, "All the light we cannot see". She is interested in Ww2 and it's just a beautiful story. I think I'll get that and a book token with a personal message written on. Thanks for all the help.

Glad you're sorted OP.

Just came on to say I'm another Night Circus fan.