The Gift of Words: 10 books that belong on everybody’s gift list...

Portable, personal and agreeably permanent — books make the best Christmas presents. Here are ten that belong on everybody’s gift list...

SCIENCE AND NATURE

SPACE: THE HUMAN STORY

TIM PEAKE

Only 628 people have ever left Earth, so when one of them writes a book on the subject it’s worth a look. “Major Tim”, of course, has plenty of personal insight to offer — the physical and psychological pressures, the changed perspective on life, the danger, the humour and even the ennui — but he’s also spoken to astronauts of all eras to make this a true survey of mankind’s mission to the stars. And the pictures are amazing.

RT Shop price £19.50 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

 

PLANET EARTH III

MATT BRANDON, MICHAEL GUNTON AND JONNY KEELING

The only thing more eye-wideningly incredible than watching whales breach or spirit bears hunt on David Attenborough’s latest series? Getting to revel in that glorious imagery one gorgeous image at a time. The 250 rich-in-colour, rich-in-detail pictures in this book are the best way of doing that; and, similarly, reading the text allows some of the facts to sink in better than when watching on TV.

RT Shop price £25 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

 

THRILLERS

THE EXCHANGE

JOHN GRISHAM

Remember The Firm? It’s been 30 years since Grisham’s global bestseller was published, but there was the small matter of a Tom Cruise movie version to keep this lawyer-for-the-Mob story fresh in your mind. And now, there’s a sequel: Mitch McDeere is back — and entangled in a $100 million hostage situation with murderous Libyan terrorists. The plot is every bit as twisty-turny as readers have come to expect from Grisham; read it now and smugly tell friends you know what’s going to happen when the movie is made.

RT Shop price £19.50 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

 

THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE

RICHARD OSMAN

If you like your crime a little more local — set in the recognisable world of Ryman, Robert Dyas and Oliver Bonas, all name-checked in his Kent-based novels — turn to Richard Osman. There’s a reason his gazillion-selling Thursday Murder Club novels have done so well: they combine clever plots with warm, rounded characters and a deliciously British sense of humour. This fourth instalment is pitched perfectly in the worlds of art and antiques forgers and their darker hinterland, and you really don’t need to have read the previous three to enjoy it.

RT Shop price £19.50 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

GREAT LIVES

MY NAME IS BARBRA

BARBRA STREISAND

Streisand’s no flash-in-the-pan starlet: her six-decade career has seen her conquer the highest heights in the worlds of writing, directing, singing and acting. So no surprise that her memoir isn’t the usual slim, self-congratulatory volume: instead we get a 992-page confessional of her life, loves, disappointments, diva moments and even near-miss at becoming romantically involved with Prince Charles. No punches go unpulled, no bullying leading men go unnamed, no opportunity for self-reflection goes untaken — and not a single page drags.

RT Shop price £28 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

 

MAKING IT SO

PATRICK STEWART

There’s no shortage of excellent anecdotes in Stewart’s long-awaited autobiography – being upstaged by a priapic dog while performing Shakespeare, being “blanked” by Queen Elizabeth when she knighted him, borrowing Paul McCartney’s car for a joy-ride to Bath — but there’s a lot more to it than that. The actor started life in more-than-modest circumstances, raised by an alcoholic father in a one-up one-down house in West Yorkshire. And it’s all here…

RT Shop £22.50 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

STOCKING FILLERS

RADIO TIMES 5-STAR FILM GUIDE VOLUME 1

Getting RT’s experts to agree on a whittled-down list of just 250 films — from the 1000-odd they’ve given five stars to over the years — wasn’t always pretty. But the result is a definitive guide to the world’s best movies, from 1902’s Le Voyage dans la Lune to 2023’s Oppenheimer, as well as all the information you need (where to stream or rent them), and plenty you don’t (reviews come complete with trivia gems).

RT Shop price £9.99 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

 

EVERYTHING TO PLAY FOR: THE QI BOOK OF SPORTS

JAMES HARKIN AND ANNA PTASZYNSKI 

Santa’s elves aren’t the only ones gearing up for Christmas; the QI elves have also been busy coming up with this ticklish compendium of sporting curiosities. From professional pillow-fighters to Premiership football and its sometimes highly creative terrace chants, some are snigger-out-loud funny, some head-shakingly bizarre, but none are dull. Look out for the stories on David Attenborough’s involvement in the evolution of the tennis ball, and Michael Palin’s disgrace at a conker championship.

 

RT Shop price £14.99 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

HISTORY

 

UNRULY: A HISTORY OF ENGLAND’S KINGS AND QUEENS

DAVID MITCHELL

What do you get if you ask a comic to write a history book? A surprisingly good history book. Perhaps inevitably described as “Horrible Histories for grown-ups”, this is a highly readable survey of our country’s kings and queens from Arthur to Elizabeth, written by panel-show star Mitchell. Erudite, entertaining and the sort of work that will grace anyone’s downstairs toilet.

RT Shop price £21 incl p&p

BUY NOW

 

 

SAS: FORGED IN HELL

DAMIEN LEWIS

For a secretive outfit operating in the shadows, the SAS has certainly spawned a lot of books — but this one tells the less-often-heard tale of the Regiment’s early days during the Second World War. It’s “against all odds” stuff, with the new force sent to punch through the enemy’s coastal defences in advance of an Allied invasion in 1943. Writer Damien Lewis keeps things edge-of-the-seat, as usual — expect this book, like several of his others, to be snapped up by Hollywood soon.

RT Shop price £19.50 incl p&p

BUY NOW

BOOK REVIEWS BY ED GRENBY