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What books did you get for Christmas?

74 replies

tobee · 27/12/2017 13:50

Just being nosy!

What books have you had for Christmas this year? Fiction and/or non fiction.

Hoping to be given more books this weekend when we see more family. Smile

OP posts:
DaphneCanDoBetterThanFred · 31/12/2017 23:30

I was really lucky this year (harnessed the power of the amazon wishlist!) and got:

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
"When the Richardsons' friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family - and Mia's.
Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of long-held secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood-and the danger of believing that planning and following the rules can avert disaster, or heartbreak."

The Man in the High Castle - Philip K Dick
"Philip K. Dick's acclaimed cult novel gives us a horrifying glimpse of an alternative world - one where the Allies have lost the Second World War. In this nightmare dystopia the Nazis have taken over New York, the Japanese control California and the African continent is virtually wiped out. In a neutral buffer zone in America that divides the world's new rival superpowers, lives the author of an underground bestseller. His book offers a new vision of reality - an alternative theory of world history in which the Axis powers were defeated - giving hope to the disenchanted. Does 'reality' lie with him, or is his world just one among many others?"

The Company - Max Barry
"Stephen Jones, a young recruit with shoes so new they squeak, reports for his first day in the Training Sales Department and finds it gripped by a crisis involving the theft of a donut. In short order, the guilty party is identified and banished from the premises and Stephen is promoted from assistant to sales rep. He does his best to fit in with his fellow workers - among them a gorgeous receptionist who earns more than anyone else, and a sales rep who's so emotionally involved with her job that she uses relationship books as sales manuals - but Stephen is nagged by a feeling that the company is hiding something. Something that explains why when people are fired, they are never heard from again; why every manager has a copy of the Omega Management System; and, most of all, why nobody in the company knows what it does."

The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
"Leaving Swindon behind her to hide out in the Well of Lost Plots (the place where all fiction is created), Thursday Next, Literary Detective and soon-to-be one parent family, ponders her next move from within an unpublished book of dubious merit entitled 'Caversham Heights'. Landen, her husband, is still eradicated, Aornis Hades is meddling with Thursday's memory, and Miss Havisham - when not sewing up plot-holes in 'Mill on the Floss' - is trying to break the land-speed record on the A409. But something is rotten in the state of Jurisfiction. Perkins is 'accidentally' eaten by the minotaur, and Snell succumbs to the Mispeling Vyrus. As a shadow looms over popular fiction, Thursday must keep her wits about her and discover not only what is going on, but also who she can trust to tell about it ..."

Uprooted - Naomi Novak
"Agnieszka loves her village, set deep in a peaceful valley. But the nearby enchanted forest casts a shadow over her home. Many have been lost to the Wood and none return unchanged. The villagers depend on an ageless wizard, the Dragon, to protect them from the forest's dark magic. However, his help comes at a terrible price. One young village woman must serve him for ten years, leaving all they value behind. Agnieszka fears her dearest friend Kasia will be picked at the next choosing, for she's everything Agnieszka is not - beautiful, graceful and brave. Yet when the Dragon comes, it's not Kasia he takes."

FixItUpChappie · 31/12/2017 23:34

A YA book called "The Bone Witch" - I've devoured it and am almost done. Very enjoyable Smile

TheCommoner · 01/01/2018 13:18

@OhCome, you are a woman after my own heart. Lear is a wonderful book - all those colour pix! Have you read Uglow's The Lunar Men?

annandale · 01/01/2018 13:23

Not exactly but my FIL arrived for the day bearing Munich by Robert Harris. Terrific page turner, much appreciated.

sinceyouask · 01/01/2018 13:25

The Heart Goes Last. Have never read a bad Atwood.

Disobedience. Was disappointed by The Power but absolutely loved The Liar's Gospel so have high hopes of this.

SealSong · 01/01/2018 13:29

Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari, looks amazing. amazon link

OComeHalsallYeFaithful · 01/01/2018 13:34

@TheCommoner it's on the shelf but as yet unread. I'm still partway through 'A Gambling Man' (and have 'Nature's Engraver', the Thomas Bewick book, and 'In These Times' to look forward to.....I have a bad stockpiling habit Blush).

Happy reading!

tobee · 02/01/2018 00:36

I've very much enjoyed finding out what you've all got! Xmas Smile

OP posts:
Butterymuffin · 02/01/2018 00:42

Got Mary Beard's Women and Power which I'm really looking forward to, plus loads of vouchers so I'm noting down ideas from here!

Grunkalunka · 02/01/2018 10:55

I'm tempted by Women and Power too - seems expensive for a slim volume though.Any ideas for a big thumper of a read?

whitehandledkitchenknife · 02/01/2018 11:09

I got "In the Name of the Family" by Sarah Dunant, which chronicles the power play and machinations of the Borgias and Machiavelli in Renaissance Italy. Well researched and beautifully crafted.
Love Sarah Dunant.

carbuncleonapigsposterior · 02/01/2018 17:03

How Hard Can It Be, which I am reading at the moment, and enjoying
Lincoln in the Bardo
A friend tracked down a couple of books by a favourite author of mine, Amanda Craig, "A Private Place" about a school catering for the children of the rich, famous, liberal and deluded and "A Vicious Circle" exposes the horrors of our hospitals and slums and the transformations caused by motherhood.

frasier · 02/01/2018 17:37

This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. Have not started it but Stephen Fry gave it a good review so I think I'll enjoy it.

MercedesDeMonteChristo · 04/01/2018 19:45

I read Mary Beard's book towards the end of last year. I agree with all previous comments, she is fabulous. I also saw her speak at a conference once and she was fabulous.

traviata · 05/01/2018 12:01

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. Read it immediately and loved it.
Thin Air and Dark Matter - both by Michelle Paver.
Exit West - Mohsin Hamid.
The History of Wolves - Emily Fridlund.
Hot Milk- Deborah Levy.
Testosterone Rex and Delusions of Gender - both by Cordelia Fine.
Clay and Rain - both by Melissa Harrison
Happy - Nicola Barker.

Most of these were on my wishlist. I am very happy with my haul.

Halsall · 06/01/2018 00:15

I loved His Bloody Project too, traviata. Just found the end a bit of an anti-climax, but then it was pretty inevitable....! I immediately found and downloaded his first book to my Kindle, and have his latest on the wish list now. Definitely a writer I want to get to know.

ElenaGreco123 · 06/01/2018 10:19

I had the new Hillary Clinton book.
I ask for books in advance, otherwise people get me stuff what I have already read.

My wishlist is full based on your recommendations. Thank you Flowers

user1485851222 · 06/01/2018 18:22

These are some of the ones I received

What books did you get for Christmas?
Invisimamma · 06/01/2018 21:00

Love this thread, i’ve just filled a whole new amazon wish list (spent my vouchers already). I got a real mixed bag this year.

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed - looking forward to this the most!

Slade House - David Mitchell - apparently it’s very dark.

Underground Railroad by Colson whitehead

The daily struggles of Archie Adams aged 2 and a half - for a bit of humour.

Yesterday - Felicia yap

Sweet little lies - Caz Frear

Sunset Song - I’m Scottish and that’s a bucket list one for me as I’m ashamed to say I’ve never read it.

I don’t get to read much, just on my commute if Im lucky enough get a seat! So it’ll take me a while to get through those but now I really fancy Women & Power recommended here!

5foot5 · 08/01/2018 16:22

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser
This is a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Finished this and really enjoyed it but think her daughter sounds despicable

Too Marvellous For Words by Julie Welch
A light hearted account of the author's experiences in a girls boarding school in the 1960s. A sort of real life Mallory Towers. I am half way through and finding this fun

The Making of The British Landscape by Nicholas Crane
Not started yet. This is next on the list

MipMipMip · 08/01/2018 22:15

Oathbringer - the latest in The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Halfway through my second reading of it (I forced myself to have as break between and read a couple of others). Just checked and it's nearly 1300 pages but so worth it!

tobee · 09/01/2018 00:37

Ooh that photo of a stack of books! How lovely is that for Christmas?

OP posts:
SnapesTears · 10/01/2018 10:03

Elmet - Fiona Mozley
The Book of Dust - Philip Pullman
Pride:The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike
The new Jamie Oliver 5 ingredient meals book.

traviata · 12/01/2018 09:39

Halsall I agree about the ending, but it still left a teasing ambiguity. I found myself thinking about it a lot afterwards. So many little hints and comments planted in the text that add up to more later.

snapestears that sounds like an extremely well balanced list - can you take a week off and just read your way through? Wink

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