The best books to give - and receive - as gifts

Michael Fry, comedian

Giving: I read Strong Female Character by Fern Brady during my downtime at the Edinburgh Fringe and loved it. I first became aware of Fern during lockdown, and she has fast become one of my favourite comedians. In this well-written memoir, she speaks candidly about her life as an autistic woman, and how the systems around her often failed to recognise and accommodate her neurodiversity. As an allistic man it’s an eye-opening insight into an experience outside my own.

Getting: Topographia Hibernica by Blindboy Boatclub (out November 2023). I’ve always been a fan of the short story as a medium, and Blindboy as a cultural commentator and creator. I’ve previously bought, and have been bought, his short story collections so this is as close to a perfect gift as you could get for me!

Aoife Moore, journalist and author

Giving: I made a decision to read more female fiction after I finished my book [The Long Game: Inside Sinn Féin], so I gave Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent to my cousin Grace after I finished and loved it. It’ll make a great Christmas gift to anyone who loves getting stuck into a book. I couldn’t put it down.

Getting: I have so many good books on my list but I’m really keen to read The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue because it’s been all over my Instagram with people telling me they loved it. Irish fiction is having a real moment this year, so I’m hoping to get The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, too. I’ll be putting these on my “Santa” list (my mammy).

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Fia Moon, musician

Giving: All the books I’ve read this year were gifts, or borrowed from friends, so it feels comforting to share and compare the experience. The books I’ll be giving are Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty and Start with Why by Simon Sinek. I listen to Daily Jay on the Calm app most days, so I already know Shetty is full of nuggets of wisdom. It’s very interesting hearing how he spent three years training as a monk, and how he now helps others with that experience. I loved Start with Why, by Simon Sinek, too. It’s about why we are motivated to do what we do, and where that comes from in personal life and in business.

Getting: A gift of a book feels very meaningful, as you have to think about whether it will resonate with someone’s mind, and whether they’ll connect with it. I’d love to be given The Glorious Guinness Girls, by Emily Hourican. […] There’s a big old house at the bottom of our garden. At first, I didn’t realise the significance of it [but] I now know that it was Arthur Guinness’s party house. Ever since I learned this, I’ve been fascinated to read the book and hear the stories of what happened there. The second book I’d like to be given is All About Love, by Bell Hooks. I’ve seen it on my roommate’s shelf. I always trust her judgment on books, and she highly recommends this one. It’s not just about romantic love, but tells stories from the writer, and other perspectives, on how love can come in many shapes and sizes, and the importance of it in modern society.

Catherine Ryan Howard, author

Giving: I thought How I Became a Famous Novelist was hilarious when I first read it as an unpublished writer, but the longer I’m in this game, the funnier this novel by The Office and 30 Rock writer, Steve Hely, gets. I’d bundle it with copies of The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews, Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life, and a notebook way too fancy to ever actually use, to make the perfect Christmas gift for the writers in my life.

Getting: All I really want for Christmas is the time to read the books I bought this year but haven’t got to yet. If Santa could bring me a few days where I’ve nothing else to do but crack the spines on my copies of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck, that’d be great.

Brian Leddin, Green Party TD

Giving: Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari makes the argument that if you want less use and abuse of drugs and substances then you really should be looking at decriminalising and liberalising the laws. Having read the book, I think the argument is quite compelling. We can’t argue that we don’t have huge social problems that are linked to drug use and abuse […] I think we should at least be thinking about how we can solve some of those problems. Another book I’ve recommended lots over the years is Happy City by Charles Montgomery. It’s basically about how we design cities. If a fundamental objective is that the people living in them have happy lives, then what are the things we would do in terms of managing and developing the city? Fundamentally, it comes down to […] being able to get around (good transport networks), greenery (people who live in greener cities tend to be happier), and community.

Getting: Making Things Right is by Norwegian author Ole Thorstensen [tr. Seán Kinsella]. It hinges around a challenge a guy has in getting his loft converted, but it’s actually a more philosophical book. As I understand it, it talks about the relationship between client and contractor, the philosophy of using different materials, [and] how it’s important to aspire to very high design. The reason it’s compelling to me is [because] one of my colleagues recommended it. There’s something about Norwegian culture and philosophy that I think we can learn a lot from.

Francis Brennan, hotelier

Giving: Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry is set in the mind of a retired policeman, Tom, living in South Dublin. I’ll be gifting this to some family members. A coffee, a cafe and a travel back in time is on my list for Margaret Ryan who looks after all my marketing. She would love Before the Coffee gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi [tr. Geoffrey Trousselot] – a brilliant book for a coffee lover! Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner is a beautifully written story about a holiday in a hotel, and the other guests – this will be a must for my brother, John.

Getting: Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent is a dark, compelling tale from a writer I greatly admire. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley is based on a true story and would be perfect for Christmas fireside reads and turkey sandwiches!

Colin Walsh, author

Giving: Christmas is a great time to wrap up on the sofa and get lost in a rollicking story. For pure page-turning pleasure, The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis is unbeatable fun. A knowing and playful fever dream of 80s nostalgia, sexual paranoia, and murder, you can gift this book to folk with very different reading tastes and they’ll all devour it over the holidays.

Getting: Winter Papers, the arts anthology edited by Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith, is a gift I ask for every December. Year on year, it’s guaranteed goodness, a literary selection box. Requesting a title like Nihilistic Times for Christmas brings back teen memories of asking for The Anti-Christ (I’ll never forget my mam’s face), but I’d love to get Nihilistic Times: Thinking with Max Weber by Wendy Brown. Brown is one of the most lucid and pragmatic minds on the left, while Weber was politically conservative and a total visionary. Their combined and clashing insights may not exactly scream “festive cuddles”, but this book should definitely be interesting.