Struggling to come up with presents to blow your dad’s socks off this Christmas? Do your younger siblings’ current interests elude you? Turnaround are here to help, with personalised gift ideas for everybody on your list.
For your life-long best friend:
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
Let them know you’re aware they’ve probably hated your guts for some periods of your conjoined lives, but that you’re also totally cool with that, and actually you hated them too, but really it was all part of your unending, uncompromising love for each other.
For the friend who always suggests that new sculpture exhibition over a trip to the pub:
We Go to the Gallery by Miriam Elia
Have a collective LOL at the absurdity of contemporary art and gain brownie points for supporting an independent artist at the same time.
For the one who read A Brief History of Seven Killings *before* it won the Booker:
Francis Plug: How to Be a Public Author by Paul Ewen
This will tickle anyone familiar to the world of sipping free wine at the launch of someone’s book you haven’t got around to reading just yet. Now it’s available in a truly gorgeous paperback, infinitely smoother than the bumbling would-be author at its heart.
For your Jedi Knight who’s watched The Force Awakens trailer at least once a week since November 2014:
Star Wars: Shattered Empire by Greg Rucka, Marco Checchetto & Angel Unzueta
As part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens campaign, this graphic novel is the canonical prequel to December’s new movie, taking place directly after the events of Return of the Jedi. There are a few new Marvel Star Wars comics series out now, but this collection is the most finely crafted and the most exciting of them all.
For the teen niece who’s started questioning the patriarchy:
This volume of girl-love, cutesy crafts and interviews with boss-ass ladies will have her brimming with positivity and pride for herself and her sisterhood.
For the younger sibling four months into their liberal arts degree:
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
No doubt they’ve been lumped with a load of theory and are having their eyes opened to the multitudinous discriminations happening in the world around them. This short volume will give them an unmatched insight into what it means to be black in America today, and will give them a headstart should they have any James Baldwin on their reading lists.
For the one with a taste for cocktails outside of the standard mojito-to-margarita range:
A Visual Guide to Drink by Ben Gibson & Patrick Mulligan
Booze and infographics become the perfect mix in this gifty hardback that will wow anyone from the mixologist snob on down to the die-hard Bucky fan.
For the recent grad spending their post-uni haze hopping around Europe:
You Have Me to Love by Jaap Robben
This translated tale of a shattered family living on an island between Scotland and Norway will get under their skin big-time, and is a tactical move if you’re looking to lure your wanderer back home by inducing severe unease and a yearning for the banal normality of British life.
For the family friend who finally left London to land their dream home with room for a little library:
The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenstrom
Start them off on a collection of Archipelago titles with this translation by J. M. Coetzee. Archipelago paperbacks all take the same format and style, with jackets in a sparse range of muted colours that look extremely elegant when shelved together.
Somebody we haven’t covered? Tweet us @TurnaroundUK and we’ll try and find a book for you!
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Post by Heather