Christmas Gift Guide – Books for Adults*

Our next Christmas Guide compilation consists of a selection of books which are great as a gift for those who enjoy reading or discovering new things. We share London Peculiar by Peter Ashley, published by ACC Art Books which shares about quirky and peculiar places in London.  The next book, Henry’s Tale by David Pipe would be a perfect gift for any dog lover.  A Memoir by Robin Bennett titled Life’s A Banquet is a good guide book to negotiating your way through life and learning more about the author. The Pot Luck Pub Quiz Book from Carlton Books is perfect for anyone who gets excited about heading the to pub for a dose of pub quiz and finally a thriller which is part of a trilogy titled Black Lies by author G.D Parker. Hope you enjoy the book selection here and do click the link if you want to purchase the items and remember to leave a comment.

London Peculiars

The London Peculiars by ACC Art Books is a really interesting handbook for the offbeat explorers, armchair adventurers and admirers of the weird, mysterious, and fantastic. The author and photographer, Peter Ashley wrote this book after hearing about strange unheard places from random pub conversations and knowledgeable taxi drivers pointing him in Peculiar directions, discovering places within London, most of us would never know existed. What’s great about this book is that you can simply sit at home and learn about these places from the comfort of your own chair, whilst sipping tea or wine! Or you can use it as a mini-guide and try and locate them on a trip to London. The book contains the location of Bank’s Cat, a stuffed cat that sits on a hatbox in a Gentleman’s outfitters, and the whereabouts of Sir Richard Burton’s Tomb! You can also find amongst the pages, Twinnings (Tea) original flagship shop, The Michelin Building, and Trafalgar Squares Ex-Police post.  The book is set out into 8 sections some of which include London Trade (section 3) which features old trade buildings and curiosities,, London Letters (section 5) which features images of descriptions of old lettering that can be spotted about London town, and London Miscellany which has random sites that have been spotted and documented upon, which you might completely miss had you not read about them in this funny and descriptive book.  This is the perfect gift for a quirky friend or family member that may or may have not been to London, but will find these places intriguing to know about. Its short paragraphs make it an easy read and it is filled with dry humour throughout. A fabulous Christmas present or stocking filler for someone who loves all thing London and peculiar places. Priced at £15, you can purchase a copy here.

Henry’s Tale 

Life is a Banquet 

Life is a Banquest is an unofficial guide book to negotiating your way through life and in a way a memoir written by Robin Bennett. The book is entertaining and thought-provoking but very wordy and shares the real-life story of Robin from childhood and how he went from working as a gravedigger at age 21 to go on to establish the Bennett Group at age 23.   Although I was not familiar or aware of Robin, somehow by the end of the book I got to know him a lot better and learnt more about his upbringing and how he handled certain situations.   The book was a great insight into learning about Robin, his family and how he reacted to the random situations which was thrown at him… and how he created the opportunities and made a success of himself.  This is a lovely gift to give during Christmas to someone who is into collecting and reading auto-biographies or who loves to reading about others’ success.  You can purchase a copy of his book on Amazon for £7.19 here.

The Pot Luck Pub Quiz Book

Black Lies

This is the second book in the 3-part trilogy of The Black Series by author GD Parker. The book is set in current times but has a slightly dystopian outlook, as it incorporates Science Fiction elements. The book is a thriller, and if you like to be on the edge of your seat and possibly at times scared sat in your living room, his latest novel Black Lies is definitely for you. The book is fast-paced and well written so easy to read, but in terms of content its not for the faint-hearted. The book shares about Cara Wright’s life when it is turned upside down when her husband, Charlie is exposed with a dark secret that goes against humanity.  This book would make a great gift for a Technological Science Fiction Thriller lover (gosh that’s a mouthful!) as it opens up the possibility of technology getting deep into someone’s mind and see what they’ve seen, hear what they’ve heard, see their thoughts.  Both the e-book and paperback can be purchased on Amazon for only £1.99 and £7.99 respectively.

You may also want to read this:

Book Review: The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

Book review: Tick Tock by Mel Sherratt

Book review: What Happens Now? by Sophia Money-Coutts

* We were sent copies of these book in return for a feature. All opinions are our own.