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‘A book is a gift you can open again and again…’ – Bookstoker’s Christmas present ideas

As much as I love Christmas, I’m not so sure about the shopping part of it. My heart sinks when I look at the number of Christmas presents I need to buy over the next few weeks. I do enjoy buying books for people though, and there’s nothing quite as satisfying as finding the perfect book for someone you love. We’ve been trawling the bookshops and the newspapers to find the most interesting or beautiful (or both) books out there, and hopefully help you find the perfect book for someone.  Here’s what we found.

Merry Christmas!

Michele, Meg, Jane and Julie

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Costa Book Awards 2016 – Short-list

Twenty books to choose from, four in each of the five categories: Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Books – there’s is definitely something for everybody on the Costa Book Awards short-list. And it’s a great place to start you Christmas shopping.

In the Novel category we have Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End, Maggie O’Farrell’s This Must Be the Place, Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent, which we loved, and Rose Tremain’s The Gustav Sonata which we weren’t so keen on (full reviews are in the links).

There are also some interesting debut novels to look out for: Susan Beale’s The Good Guy, Kit de Waal’s My Name is Leon, Guinevere Glasfurd’s The Words in My Hand and Francis Suppford’s Golden Hill. 

Winners in each category will be announced 3 January and the overall winner of Costa Book of the Year on the 31 January.

Costa Book Awards 2016 – Short-list

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In praise of the loo book

World Toilet Day 2016

The parlor may have its charms, but the Japanese toilet truly is a place of spiritual repose.

In the Praise of Shadows, Junichiro Tanizaki

It seems every country has a sort of skewed and hallowed reverence for the quietest room in the house. I’ve recently discovered, however, that the ‘library in the loo’ is primarily an English occupation (sorry I can’t speak for the rest of Britain), but my Scandinavian and European friends looked at me in puzzled amusement when I recommended a book for the loo.

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From book to film – without disappointment

Often we despair when a film version is made of our favourite book.  The images we’ve created in our heads don’t match up with what the film director had in mind. The locations look wrong, the casting doesn’t work. BUT occasionally, they do get it right. And what a thrill that is! Here is a list of some fabulous films that will inspire you to read these equally great books on which they were based. Do you have any to add? Let us know.

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Best audiobooks 2016

As many of will know, we here at Bookstoker are big consumers of audiobooks and we know that many of our followers are as well. There’s nothing like a good audiobook for killing time stuck in traffic, while out walking or doing housework. And with Amazon’s great invention Whispersync for Voice, you can switch seamlessly between reading on your Kindle and listening on Audible. Your Kindle or Audible will automatically pick up where you left off. Genius!

From old classics to popular new publications we’ve enjoyed these audiobooks for being brilliant books, perfectly narrated.

Our top 10 this year are…

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Nobel Prize for Literature

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Confused by all the literary prizes?

Here’s an excellent overview of the most important ones coming up this Autumn: The Nobel Prize for Literature (13 October), The Man Booker Prize (25th October) and the National Book Awards (16th November) including all the short-listed or long-listed books.

The New York Times

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Books being made into movies

Lots to look forward to on the film front over the coming months. I can’t wait to bring my kids to see Mark Rylance as the BFG in Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book The BFG. I won’t be the last one to see Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones in Dan Brown’s Inferno either.  Set in Florence, Venice and Istanbul, it should be worth it for the stunning locations alone! Emma Watson and Tom Hanks will star in the film version of Dave Eggers’ The Circle. Martin Scorsese is also making a film of Silence by Shusaku Endo, a story set in 17th century about Jesuit priests trying to bring Christianity to Japan. Will try to read that before it comes out. And there’s more…

More books being made into films

 

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Andrew Solomon on Literature and Medicine

Wanted to share with you this thought-provoking article by Andrew Solomon (lecturer on psychology and politics and author of award winning Far From the Tree) about medicine and literature, where he rejoices the surge in interest in books discussing medicine. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve read and reviewed two of the books he discusses: Henry Marsh’s Do No Harm and Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal.  Truly life-changing reads!

Literature About Medicine May Be All That Can Save Us by Andrew Solomon

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Top Ten Agatha Christie Detective Novels

Sixty-six detective novels and over 2 billion copies sold, Agatha Christie’s success as an author is beaten only by Shakespeare and the Bible. If you haven’t already read them, where should you start? To help you, we’ve chosen our 10 favourites. And don’t forget that these books are great for children aged 11 and older too (very little graphic violence, although they do have sometimes have a spooky atmosphere.)

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