Enjoy Life

Christmas book reviews

Whether you are looking for a gift, or perhaps a festive treat for yourself, Simon Evans suggests the pick of this years Christmas books

In Isle of Dogs (Ebury, £22) Clare Balding travels the nation exploring the many ways that dogs affect and enrich people’s lives, Countdown dictionary queen Susie Dent discovers Interesting Stories About Curious Words (John Murray, £14.99), revealing the curious tales behind everyday phrases and sayings we take for granted, Countryfile presenter Adam Henson recalls the joys and challenges of Christmas On The Farm (Sphere, £22), and Nick Rennison takes a month by month look at the most notable moments from 1974 (Oldcastle, £14.99)…

ABBA, The Official Photo Book (Bonnier, £30) is a brilliant illustrated history of the pop legends, with many behind-the-scenes and private images, Cliff Richard looks back over 65 years in music in his memoir A Head Full of Music (Ebury Spotlight, £25), and Amazing Grace, by James Walvin (University of California Press, £16.99) is the story of a simple Christian hymn, written in a remote English vicarage and first sung in St Peter and St Paul Church in Olney in 1773, that still touches the hearts of people all over the world…

Whatever Happened to Slade?, by Daryl Easlea (Omnibus Press, £25), is an excellent in-depth history of the much undervalued band whose Merry Xmas Everybody has become such an important part of the festive season, and Living The Beatles Legend, by Kenneth Womack (Mudlark, £25), is the ultimately tragic story of Mal Evans, the gentle giant former Cavern bouncer who became a valued part of the Fab Four’s inner circle, as roadie, fixer and friend, from the early days right up to the split…

More than 30 years after landing the life-transforming lead role in Aspects of Love, Michael Ball lifts the curtain on life in the West End in his memoir Different Aspects (Bonnier, £25), and  Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics (White Rabbit, £40), is the first collection of the Man in Black’s lyrics, lavishly illustrated with never-before seen visual material and with commentary from Cash’s family…

Over the past 50 years Gary Newbon has been one of the unsung giants of sports broadcasting, and in his entertaining memoir Bloody Hell: A Life In Sports Broadcasting (Biteback, £20) he looks back over his extraordinary career, and Fingers On Buzzers, by Jenny Ryan and Lucy Porter (Bonner, £14.99), is a lively history of the great British TV quiz, from Mastermind to Pointless, with lots of fun facts and memories, and it also has plenty of ideas for hosting your own family quiz…

 Marking 400 years since the publication of the First Folio, in Shakespeare’s House (The Arden Shakespeare, £25), Richard Schoch looks at the hidden history of the Bard’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, examines how it has become the chief shrine to our greatest playwright and asks what that changed status tells us about changing attitudes to Shakespeare himself, and 100 20^th-Century Shops, by the Twentieth century Society (Batsford, £25) celebrates the most architecturally significant shops that have helped shape both Britain’s high streets and our spending habits, ranging from the grandeur of grade II listed Liberty’s of London to the brutalist Cumbernauld Town Centre, now threatened with demolition…

Linda McDougall’s biography of Marcia Williams (Biteback, £25) seeks, successfully it must be said, to reclaim a place in history for this much maligned and misunderstood woman, long-time political advisor to Harold Wilson and overseer of four general election victories, Labour Takes Power, by Denis MacShane (Biteback, £25), provides a riveting account at the first term of the Blair government, from 1997 to 2001, as documented in the diaries of someone who was a regular visitor to Downing Street during those years, and, from the other end of the political spectrum The Best of Enemies, by Norman Fowler (Biteback, £25), chronicles the years of Conservative rule from 1980 to 1997, from the uniquely privileged point of view of someone who held many prominent Cabinet positions under both Margaret Thatcher and John Major…

The Wine List (Union Square, £20) is an informative and accessible exploration of the relationship between culture, politics and history and wine, by award-winning sommelier Grant Reynolds, and in A Garden A Day (Batsford, £20) Ruth Chivers explores gardens across the ages in 366 daily entries, from the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon to a vegetable patch on the International Space Station…

There’s some great feel-good festive fiction, including Ali McNamara’s magical It Always Snows in Mistletoe Square (Sphere, £8.99); there’s a surprise in store for lonely mum Chloe in Jo Thomas’s Countdown to Christmas (Penguin, £8.99), and romance could beckon as Libby Pugh finds herself snowed in with a bunch of old university pals in Karen Swan’s Christmas by Candlelight (Pan, £8.99).

Love is in the air as a Cotswold town prepares for its festive musical celebration in A Concert for Christmas, by Helen Hawkins (Allison and Busby, £19.99), three estranged women are unexpectedly reunited in A December to Remember, by Jenny Bayliss (Pan, £8.99), and Alice, Kate and Naomi aim to keep festive spirits high, despite the best efforts of a thief, in Christmas at the Wartime Bookshop (Penguin, £7.99), the latest instalment in Lesley Eames’ heart-warming World War Two-set series…

There’s also a stockingful of gentle festive mysteries to enjoy this year, including Alexandra Benedict’s twisty whodunit The Christmas Jigsaw Murders (Simon and Schuster, £14.99), Andreina Cordani’s intriguing locked room brainteaser The 12 Days of Murder (Zaffre, £14.99), and Denzil Meyrick’s 1952-set Murder At Holly House (Bantam, £16.99), which finds Inspector Frank Grasby involved in the bizarre case of a body found up a chimney.

Fans of Richard Osman’s cosy crime novels will enjoy The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, by Leonie Swan (Allison & Busby, £16.99) as the OAP residents of a house share for the elderly and unruly find themselves solving one murder while covering up another, a shattering family secret is revealed in Polly Crosby’s haunting mystery Vita and the Birds (HQ, £9.99), and slightly darker fare is provided by the ever-reliable Lynda La Plante in Alibi (Zaffre, £9.99), the latest in her engrossing Trial and Retribution series… 

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