Treat Your Shelf: Christmas Book Recommendations - Part 1
Treat your shelf this Christmas! We have some amazing books in this year’s autumn-winter catalogue for you and your nearest and dearest to experience. Books that will keep everyone warm and cosy while letting imaginations run wild, be it from the comfort of a favourite chair, the kitchen stove, an airplane seat, a frost tinted garden or a very comfy bed...and beautifully designed so they look great on your book shelf!
Check out the first blog in our recommendation series that will have your loved ones grinning from ear to ear this Christmas.
The Dad who owns a sock shop
Put the novelty socks down! if your dad owns his own personal sock shop at this stage, now is the time to treat your Dad to something a bit different. If he talks about spending more time in the garden these days The Extra Room by Ireland’s best known gardener Diarmuid Gavin is the perfect gift. Diarmuid is passionate about beautiful garden design and he knows that making your outdoor space work for you can change the way you feel about your home and improve the quality of your life. In this dip-in and dip-out book packed with diagrams, plans, pictures and stunning photography, Diarmuid demonstrates how to approach garden design and planting so that your outdoor space becomes a unique, beautiful and useful outdoor room. Perfect for anyone with green finger ambitions! Available online and in all good bookstores.
If gardening is not up his street, Paisanos: The Forgotten Irish Who Changed The Face of Latin America by Tim Fanning is an amazing book that uncovers the extraordinary tales of romance, adventure, war and rebellion of the forgotten Irish men and women who changed the face of Latin America forever. President Michael D. Higgins describes it as "An important and necessary volume on the role played by Irish men and women in the emergence of the new, modern and independent republics of Latin America… a welcome contribution to the literature on the history of our exiles and their descendants, this is an exciting and accessible book that is a pleasure to read". Pick up a copy online and in all good bookstores.
Your Significant Other
It’s never easy to pick out a gift for that special someone in your life, no matter how long you’ve been together. We’ve selected two laugh out loud books that will keep you in the good books (at least for the Christmas period). Couples who laugh together stay together apparently!
The first book we recommend is the hilarious Adventures of a Wonky Eyed Boy by Jason Byrne. This book is for any Irish person that grew up in Ireland in the 70s and 80s. Especially for anyone who grew up in suburbia. This laugh-out-loud memoir captures the childhood adventures of an accident-prone youngster in 1970s and 1980s suburban Dublin. Jason Byrne’s childhood adventures are nostalgic, heart-warming and, above all, hilarious. Available online and in all good bookstores.
The next book Flabyrinth by Jules Coll is catered towards a female audience, that being said he who dares read it might learn a thing or two! This book is for every woman who’s ever looked in the mirror and felt crap: a funny, filthy and uplifting account of one woman’s quest to leave body insecurity behind. Flabyrinth is the story of Jules’s escape from maximum insecurity prison. As well as sharing her journey from thin to fat and back again, it’s a hilariously refreshing and honest take on what it feels like to be a girl! Get it online and in all good bookshops.
The Kitchen Connoisseur
Is your loved one a kitchen connoisseur? Treat them to the gift of creating amazing dishes that tickle everyone’s tastebuds this Christmas. We have an amazingly varied cookbook range this Winter that will excite any budding or already blossomed chef, and when you as the gift giver reap the rewards in the form of delicious food, everyone is a winner!
We have Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook, a definitive family cookbook that will be a lifesaver in every family’s kitchen, The Brother Hubbard Cookbook by Garrett Fitzgerald will take your tastebuds on a trip to the Middle East without moving from your kitchen and Sophie White’s Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown, one part cookbook, one part memoir, ninety
All books are available online and in all good bookstores.
The one who loves the chats
There’s one in every family. Sometimes there’s more than one. It might be you! For the conversationalist in your life we recommend Letters of My Life by former politician Mary O’Rourke, the No.1 bestselling author of Just Mary. This second book offers an illuminating insight into one of Ireland’s best-loved figures. On the eve of her 80th birthday, Mary has written a letter to 20 people, past and present, close and distant, living and deceased. Every letter is heartfelt; every letter offers gratitude for the difference the recipient made to Mary’s life. Available to buy online and in all good bookstores.
Children’s corner
For the special children in your life we have two bestselling books that are sure to make them smile! First up we have Historopedia, as seen on The Late Late Toy Show (ages 7 - 12+), the time-travelling journey through Ireland by best selling authors of Irelandopedia Fatti and John Burke. Time travellers of any age will be totally absorbed by Fatti Burke’s detailed illustrations and her father John’s fabulous facts to be discovered on every page. The second book we recommend is the 2016 Irish Book Awards Specsavers Junior Children’s Book of the Year, Pigín of Howth (ages 4- 8) by Kathleen Watkins with illustrations by Margaret Anne Suggs. This No. 1 bestseller introduces the popular pig about town Pigín as he goes on adventures with his many friends around his hometown of Howth, a beautiful seaside town on Dublin Bay. Pigín is friendly, curious, impeccably dressed and has the nicest manners a pig could possibly have. A great reading companion! Both of these amazing books are available online and in all good book shops!
The mysterious teenage girl
It’s never easy to know what the mysterious female teenager is thinking let alone what they might what for Christmas. We’re here to help! The debut novel Oasis by YA author and Galway native Eilis Barrett is is a page-turning dystopian fantasy that will keep them engrossed for hours. The main character in the book ’Quincy Emerson’ lives in the city of Oasis, quarantined with the remaining survivors of a deadly virus that almost wiped out the human race. In its quest to keep the virus out of the city Oasis has lost its humanity as it strives for perfection in an imperfect world. Quincy must decide whether to take her fate into her own hands or remain under the control of the sinister city. This coming of age adventure set in a world without freedom, love or friendship captures your imagination from the first paragraph. Available online and in all good book shops.
We hope our list of recommendations helped you with your Christmas book shopping list! Watch out for our next list of recommendations for more of the special people in your life. Follow us @GillBooks on Twitter, @gillbooks on Instagram and like us on Facebook for the latest author news.
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