None of my friends are surprised to get a book from me for Christmas – the suspense is which one? For me, the gift is not just the read, it’s the conversation that follows. Alongside my December Monthly Read, Brightly Shining, these are the books I’ll be slipping under the tree this year...
How to End a Story: Diaries 1995-1998 by Helen Garner
My Helen Garner obsession began with This House of Grief, and it’s showing no sign of abating. These diaries capture the emotional wreckage of the end of her marriage – raw, incisive and, as she puts it, ‘bareknuckle’. I can’t wait to pour over them with a fellow reader.
Bread of Angels by Patti Smith
If Just Kids immortalised ’70s New York, this memoir widens the frame. Patti traces her life from her post-war childhood through to present day. In many ways, it’s a more intimate book, detailing the decade she and her husband Fred spent away from the public eye, quietly raising their children in Detroit. There is beauty and grace in everything Patti writes, and this is no exception.
Book Of Lives by Margaret Atwood
For fans of Margaret Atwood, this is the ultimate Christmas gift. At 600 pages, it feels substantial, and believe me, it is. Her life is as quirky and surprising as her fiction, from a childhood spent in the remote Canadian woods to her love affairs with fellow poets and writers. It’s a literature lover’s feast, detailing the inspiration and historical threads behind her iconic novels, from The Handmaid’s Tale to The Blind Assassin.
For more inspiration, check out which books Dua gifted last year here, and a few non-literary gifts she’s got in mind for her loved ones here.
