Christmas stocking

  

    Julie mentioned in her comment yesterday which book she's hoping to get for Christmas. In this house there is something of a resistance movement to getting me books on the part of my family as they can actually see the extent of the piles of the-as-yet-unread and they say I can't possibly want/need any more - but we know different, don't we?

    I've asked for a modest few titles, one of which is After the Armistice Ball by Catriona McPherson which has been so warmly recommended by 'people of taste'.

    But what about you? Which books would you be pleased to find in your Christmas stocking?

Comments

[claire]

I would love to receive a Persephone, preferably a Marghanita Laski.

[abs]

I have asked Father Christmas for...

American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Staying Alive; Real Poems for Unreal Times - Neil Astley
Cakes and Ale - William Somerset Maugham
Somewhere Towards the End - Diana Athill
Lethal Legacy - Linda Fairstein

Makes my reading habits look fairly bizarre!

[Dark Puss]

There is a lot of sheet music I fancy! Father Christmas needs to be provided with a full "outbound" stocking if I am to acquire any more books.

[Verity]

I would love one of the Persephone books that I don't yet have, or any of the non Elinor Brent Dyer Girls Gone By Books... Sadly FC doesn't bring me books.

[LizF]

Since my Christmas list of books is:
The Ivington Diaries - Monty Don
The Village - Marghanita Laski
Conquest - Juliet Barker
Rain Gods - James Lee Burke
A Touch of Dead - Charlaine Harris

your reading habit sounds as varied as mine!

[Jodie]

I think I asked for 'The Girl with Glass Feet' which looks very sweet.

[Sophie]

Oh, I hope you enjoy 'After the Armistice Ball'. The latest in the series has just been published, which is definitely on my Christmas reading list!

[Mary McCartney]

I too hope you enjoy After the Armistice Ball - have you looked at Dandy Gilver's website? A number of parcels have been arriving here and I believe them to contain the Ivington Diaries, Nigel Slater's latest and three unknown Persephones. Goody!

[Sakura]

I'm not sure why, but I've never asked for books for Christmas. I always buy them myself. I suspect my family think I have too many books! But if I were to ask for a book this year, it will have to be either 'Penguin by Design' or The Paris Review Interviews boxed set!

[Darlene]

As I work in a library my family is also under the mistaken impression that I wouldn't want books under the tree. When this topic was delicately brought up yesterday my husband confessed to trying to find a copy of Delia's new Christmas cookbook for me. We haven't had a copy in sight at the shops here yet.

[catharina]

We celebrate the fifth of december(St. Nicolaas)as well as Christmas and I received
William Maxwell: So Long, See You Tomorrow
Carson McCullers: The Ballad of the Sad Café
and the Collected Poetry of Ida Gerhardt(Dutch poet).
Maybe some Christmas presents will find their way to me too. Hopefully it will be:
Lisa Appignanesi: Mad,Bad and Sad and the Collected Letters of Ida Gerhardt, as I hope to read her complete oeuvre in 2010.

[Ruth M.]

I'm with Sakura on this ... I prefer to pick out and buy my own books. It's such a personal, sensual experience, feeling its weight, smoothing my hand over the cover, flipping the pages for that new paper scent... and like love at first sight, when the feeling strikes you just have to go with it

[Claire (Paperback Reader)]

I have been quite reserved this Christmas and only asked for three books: The Cat Inside by William S. Boroughs, To Bed With Grand Music by Marghanita Laski and The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson.

[Julie Fredericksen]

There is always a book or a bookstore gift card under the tree for each of us. I've already told you which one I asked for. Dan will probably get me a Barnes and Noble gift card. I'll have to see if B&N has "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" or "The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

From Kristen's list, I think I'll get her "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro and "Middlesex: A Novel" Dan hasn't said, so I think he'll get Stephen King's "Under The Dome".

PS - I already got "Testament". That was quick!

[sandpiper]

I have, in the past, asked for things from my Amazon wishlist. But people always tend to buy you the ones you didn't want *quite* so much... so I'm afraid I ask for vouchers usually.

abs - American Gods is fab, although it doesn't feel like Gaiman somehow. Somewhere Towards the End I picked up from a charity shop yesterday for £2; I seem to be spending my Christmas shopping time getting more books for me than the intended presents. Oops.

[Erika]

Meg Rosoff--and I am being given 4 of hers! Also not books but the Penguin Books board game and a subscription to Literary Review of books'--the latter of which I am also being given. This leaves the game and I am hoping.