Gift guide: The best books for Christmas presents

WANDER the pages of our Christmas book guide for 2017, where we’ve picked 40 of the year’s best books to wrap up and put under the tree.

A photo from Burn City: Melbourne’s Painted Streets by Lou Chamberlin, Hardie Grant Travel, $30.

WANDER the pages of our Christmas book guide for 2017, where we’ve picked 40 of the year’s best fiction and nonfiction to wrap up, put under the tree, and give to someone you love.

FOR THE SPORTS FAN

A THOROUGHLY UNHELPFUL HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN SPORT

TITUS O’REILY

Michael Joseph, RRP $35

Sports broadcaster O’Reily has put together an enjoyable romp through our nation’s great and not-so-great sports moments. O’Reily cheekily examines the Olympics and why Australia is only important every four years and how soccer is our biggest threat since communism. But between the laughs lies an insightful study of everything from cricket to Quidditch.

UNBREAKABLE

JELENA DOKIC WITH JESSICA HALLORAN

Penguin, RRP $35

In 2001, tennis player Dokic felt the wrath of Australian fans when she switched nationalities to play for Yugoslavia. Dokic’s book reveals how she was forced to do so by her manager/father Damir, and the many years of abuse she suffered at his hands. A study in what truly makes a champion.

ALI: A LIFE

JONATHAN EIG

Simon & Schuster, RRP $50

Some of literature’s biggest names (Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe) have had a crack at capturing the quicksilver Muhammad Ali. This attempt, at 600 pages, comes close. It’s a revealing and detailed account of “The Greatest”.

Titus O’Reilly’s A Thoroughly Unhelpful History of Australian Sport.

Unbreakable by Jelena Dokic with Jessica Halloran.

FOR THE GREEN THUMB               

DREAMSCAPES

CLAIRE TAKACS

Hardie Grant, RRP $70

No digging required in this stunning book by Takacs, a renowned Victorian photographer who takes readers on a delightful amble through some of the world’s most impressive and Surprising gardens. From gardens conceived by famous designers such as Fernando Martos and Piet Oudolf to Martha Stewart’s private paradise, this is a beautiful book for green thumbs to leaf through.

GRAND MELBOURNE GARDENS

DAVID WILKINSON & KIMBAL BAKER

Thames & Hudson Australia, RRP $70

Touted as a glimpse inside the city’s most enchanting gardens, this books pays beautifully illustrated homage to more than 40 plant-filled vistas. Alongside gardens in private and stately properties, from the Pratt family’s Raheen to Lindsay Fox’s Eulinya, are public spaces, Flemington Racecourse with its famous roses and Birrarung Marr. As well as a nod to the gardeners, it provides plenty of inspiration.

LIFE IN THE GARDEN

PENELOPE LIVELY

Penguin, RRP $35

This is best described as a horticultural memoir, filled with tales of her own gardens, interspersed with a stroll through gardening’s history, famous practitioners and admirers. With Katie Scott’s gorgeous illustrations, it’s perfect for bookworms and green thumbs.

Grand Melbourne Gardens by David Wilkinson & Kimbal Baker.

Dreamscapes by Claire Takacs.

FOR THE ARMCHAIR  TRAVELLER                                            

VAN LIFE

FOSTER HUNTINGTON

Hachette, RRP $40

For those with a hankering for wanderlust, Van Life hits the road with Huntington who in 2011 swapped his job as a designer for Ralph Lauren in New York for a vagabond existence in a Volkswagen van, travelling across the US. The three-year trip spawned the wildly popular Instagram hashtag #vanlife, and some say, an entire movement where modern nomads crisscross the globe in all manner of vans.

SAD TOPOGRAPHIES

DAMIEN RUDD

Simon & Schuster, RRP $45

Fancy a dip in Calamity Lake? How about a climb up Pointless Mountain? An amble along Broken Dreams Drive or a jaunt over to Nightmare Island? These dour destinations are visited in this travel tome with a difference. Writer and traveller Rudd explores the world’s most depressingly named places and discovers the histories, folk stories and facts behind them.

A TASTE OF PARIS

DAVID DOWNIE

Pan Macmillan, RRP $40

Indulge a gourmand in your life with this wander through Paris’ patisseries, boulangeries, Belle Époque bistros and Marie Antoinette’s vegetable garden. Packed with fascinating accounts of food and foodies, perhaps give
this one with a robust red.

Van Life: Your Home on the Road by Foster Huntington.

Sad Topographies by Damien Rudd.

FOR THE MUSIC LOVER                 

BON: THE LAST HIGHWAY

JESSE FINK

Penguin, RRP $35

In 1980, the body of legendary AC/DC frontman Bon Scott, 33, was discovered in a car in London, and rumours about the cause of his death have swirled ever since. Fink’s book meticulously explores the man and the many myths about Scott’s life and death, and his hell of a ride in between.

STICKY FINGERS

JOE HAGAN

Penguin, RRP $35

Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner hand-picked Hagan to write this book, but he hates it, with the pair involved in a public feud after its publication. Why? It’s a far more candid offering than most of its kind, a 500-page account of the life and times of Wenner and the magazine he co-founded, trawling through the good, bad and very, very ugly.

DETOURS

TIM ROGERS

HarperCollins, RRP $35

Now this is a rock biography. In a year when this genre promised much but fell a little short, along came You Am I frontman Rogers with his tender, funny, heartbreaking and raw tale that’s a little bit about the music, a lot about the man, and utterly readable. Not just for lovers of rock, it’s also for lovers of good writing.

Bon by Jesse Fink.

Detours by Tim Rogers.

FOR FICTION FANS                            

THE CHOKE

SOFIE LAGUNA

Allen & Unwin, RRP $33

It’s impossible not to feel petrified for 10-year-old Justine. Abandoned by her parents, she is being raised by her Pop on the Murray. But he is tormented by his time on the Burma Railway and what he did to his wife. A beautiful piece of writing that backs up Laguna’s status as a Miles Franklin Award-winning author.

THE ZOO

CHRISTOPHER WILSON

Faber & Faber, RRP $25

The Zoo is a ripping modern homage to the likes of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley but
is completely original in its execution. Yuri Zipit is 12½ and lives alone in his father’s staff apartment near the elephant enclosure of The Kapital Zoo in the Great Socialist Motherland. Yuri is brain damaged but there’s something about him that makes people confide in him, even the Motherland’s feared and paranoid leader, Josef Iron Man.

THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB

SOPHIE GREEN

Hachette, RRP $30

This gem set in 1978 in the Northern Territory follows the fortunes of five women thrown together by circumstance, fate and a love of books. Initially, isolation is the only common thread tying Sybil, the matriarch of Fairvale Station, her UK-born daughter-in-law Kate, best friend Rita, Texan jackaroo Della and mum of three Sallyanne. But it’s not long before the lives of these five strong women are transformed by their special companionship.

GET POOR SLOW

DAVID FREE

Pan Macmillan Australia, RRP $30

A novel about the nation’s most reviled book reviewer written by
a real Aussie book critic, yes please. Ray Saint finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of a gorgeous young gal he has just met and fallen in love with. This is a cracking psychological thriller by an author who knows his words.

WHY MUMMY DRINKS

GILL SIMS

HarperCollins, RRP $25

When Scottish “mummy blogger” Sims wrote a post about why she broke with her habit of green tea after a stressful day with kids, and got “s---faced” on pink wine instead (as a “preventive measure” for when her husband asked if she had a nice day lying in the sun) it was shared 50,000 times overnight. Now Simms has put out a hilariously irreverent and candid novel.

Get Poor Slow by David Free.

The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club by Sophie Green.

Sofie Laguna’s The Choke.

Why Mummy Drinks by Gill Sims.

FOR LITERARY FANS                       

FIRST PERSON

RICHARD FLANAGAN

Penguin, RRP $40

More than 25 years after Flanagan was asked to ghostwrite conman John Friedrich’s autobiography, he revisits a difficult personal and professional period in this fictionalised account of a struggling writer trying to support a family while coping with the demands of an egomaniac. It is a story of frustration and the moral dilemmas of the writer.

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO

GEORGE SAUNDERS

Bloomsbury, RRP $30

Master short story writer Saunders’ first full-length novel is a strangely beautiful tale of Abraham Lincoln mourning his 11-year-old son Willie, caught between life and death, heaven and earth in the realm known as the Bardo. Winner of this year’s Booker Prize, it is a gothic masterpiece that has been widely acclaimed.

THE PASSAGE OF LOVE

ALEX MILLER

Allen & Unwin, RRP $33

Miller refers to this recent release as his fictional take on autobiography. This is about a man of a certain age looking back on his life and trying to make sense of the human heart. At the book’s heart is the narrator’s struggle to become a writer over the years of his first marriage, when he is trapped with a highly strung and self-destructive wife he can function fully neither with nor without. A brilliant exploration of love, need and creativity.

THE PARTY

ELIZABETH DAY

4th Estate, RRP $30

Emotionally destitute Martin Gilmour creates a new life for himself through a suffocating friendship he orchestrates with ridiculously wealthy Ben Fitzmaurice. Lies and deception, obsession and hypocrisy unfold over decades in a taut psychological tale not scared to slap the conservative establishment in the face and boast a really unlikable main protagonist.

First Person by Richard Flanagan.

The Passage of Love by Alex Miller.

Lincoln in The Bardo by George Saunders.

The Party by Elizabeth Day.

FOR BIOGRAPHY LOVERS           

WEDNESDAYS WITH BOB

DEREK RIELLY

Pan Macmillan, RRP $30

A rollicking ride into the mind of one of Australia’s favourite politicians, 87-year-old Bob Hawke, through a series of interviews Rielly conducted on Wednesdays with the former PM over a year. It is captivating from the early pages, where Hawke announces candidly he needs to “have a leak off my balcony”.

THE TRAUMA CLEANER

SARAH KRASNOSTEIN

Text Publishing, RRP $33

Sandra Pankhurst cleans up the mess left behind from murder or suicide. But this transgender woman is more fascinating than her job. Born male, Pankhurst has dabbled in prostitution and drugs, had gender reassignment surgery, married, divorced and run businesses.

ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG NATURALIST: THE ZOO QUEST EXPEDITIONS

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

Hachette, RRP $40

The world’s most famous nature lover regales with the stories behind his famous documentaries. Attenborough takes readers back to his big broadcasting break when he was asked to search for rare and elusive animals for London Zoo’s collection, and to film the expeditions for the BBC’s Zoo Quest.

Wednesdays With Bob by Derek Riley.

The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein.

FOR AMATEUR DETECTIVES                                           

FORCE OF NATURE

JANE HARPER

Pan Macmillan, RRP $33

From the author of the acclaimed The Dry, comes a second Aaron Falk mystery with crisp, atmospheric writing offering readers a heady sensory experience right to the last page. The premise is simple but gripping: five women hike into the bush for a corporate retreat, but only four come out.

UNDER THE COLD BRIGHT LIGHTS

GARRY DISHER

Text Publishing, RRP $30

Victorian crime fiction king Garry Disher returns to his police procedural best with a new character, a former homicide squad investigator dragged out of retirement to work cold cases. Old-school bloodhound Alan Auhl is methodical and not well liked but has a big heart and is determined to seek justice.

THE STUDENT

IAIN RYAN

Echo Publishing, RRP $25

It’s early 1990s regional Queensland and antihero Nate really is something of a bum.
But his life of squalor quickly changes: a girl is dead, his best mate is missing and he’s out of dope. A pacy little regional noir filled with hard-hitting, one-punch sentences from a young crime writer.

Force of Nature by Jane Harper.

Under the Cold Bright Lights by Garry Disher.

FOR NON-FICTION FANS               

THE WILD BOOK

DAVID SCARFE

Hachette, RRP $40

A must-read if you’re heading for the wilderness and want to unleash your inner child. Far from a survivalist guide, Scarfe describes an almost endless list of things to do and create in the great outdoors: from building a pizza oven and outdoor shelter, to making daisy chains, calling like a bird, how to skim stones and perfecting those knots.

DAVID SEDARIS DIARIES, A VISUAL COMPENDIUM

Hachette, RRP $65

Since 1977, diarist, satirist and funny guy Sedaris has kept roughly four diaries a year — 153 and counting. This colourful compendium — a partner to his last release, Theft by Finding Diaries Volume 1 — is bursting with colourful ephemera, from posters, postcards and photographs to wacky little illustrations and junk Sedaris has collected and attached to each diary entry.

100 AUSSIE THINGS WE KNOW AND LOVE

BUNNY BANYAI, ILLUSTRATED BY ANNA BLANDFORD

Hardie Grant Travel, RRP $20

There are endless post-Christmas lunch laughs in this fun-packed book that captures our national love of everything from mysterious fried goods (the Chiko Roll) to odd greetings of affection (“G’day d---head”) to an iconic insect repellent and Paul Kelly.

THE ART OF CARTOGRAPHICS

JASMINE DESCLAUX-SALACHAS

Hardie Grant Travel, RRP $50

For visual adventurers or style-ophiles, this book is a winner. It is a collection of beautifully reproduced images of maps from around the world, portraying the physical environment of an area, as well as maps of human activity encompassing culture, economics, politics and even transport routes.

100 Aussie Things We Know and Love by Bunny Banyai.

The Art of Cartographics by Jasmine Desclaux-Salachas.

The Wild Book by David Scarfe.

David Sedaris Diaries, A Visual Compendium.

UPSIDE-DOWN DOGS

SERENA HODSON

Hachette, RRP $20

This is a book every dog lover will drool over. Photographer Hodson could not fake the amazing empathy with our four-legged loved ones displayed in this delightful series of portraits of doggies doing what doggies do best — being carefree, silly and loveable.

Upside-Down Dogs by Serena Hodson.

British bulldog Simon in Serena Hodson's Upside-Down Dogs.

URN CITY: MELBOURNE’S PAINTED STREETS

LOU CHAMBERLIN

Hardie Grant Travel, RRP $30

Melbourne’s street art has attracted photographers from around the world, and the latest book capturing some of the extraordinary talent exhibited on the walls where we live rises to the challenge of getting these urban ornaments on the page. We are not talking graffiti, but intricate, beautiful and often moving art by painters, stencil artists and other contemporary visual artists (local and international).

CAMPING WITH KIDS

SIMON MCGRATH

Hardie Grant Travel, RRP $20

This is a great stocking filler for families that already enjoy an active outdoorsy life or those who want to get more into outdoor adventuring. Between the stylish covers is a huge array of easy-to-follow tips, games, cooking ideas, suggested activities, map reading and even knot-tying instructions, all presented in bite-sized bits to dip in and out of.

KARL, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING

DR KARL KRUSZELNICKI

Pan Macmillan, RRP $35

Making science sexy is what Dr Karl does best. This book brings out his ability to pick quirky, interesting and offbeat ways to get everyone interested in the subject. It is a fascinating collection of explanations, thoughts and explorations of scientific matters — big (what would happen if the Earth stopped spinning?), everyday (why are some people chronically late?), vast (is there life on other planets?) and even a bit silly (can shouting at your computer kill the hard drive?).

Camping with Kids by Simon McGrath.

Karl, The Universe and Everything, by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.

THE BEST POLITICAL CARTOONS 2017

EDITED BY RUSS RADCLIFFE

Scribe, RRP $30

Mark Knight’s hilarious rendering of Donald Trump as Captain Making America Great Again (whose suit is bursting at the gut-seam with an uncomfortable excess of “facts”), sets the tone for this cheeky and very timely book. But President Trump
is only one of the many familiar political faces given the merciless cartoon treatment in a year that turned out to be a scribbler’s dream.

BARABAIG: LIFE, LOVE AND DEATH ON TANZANIA’S HANANG PLAINS

CHARLES LANE

River Books, RRP $100

Melbourne-born Lane was Oxfam’s head of operations in Tanzania, where he lived for 10 years in the 1980s, becoming close with nomadic cattle herding group the Barabaig. His photos capture intricate facets of their culture, as well as the intact nature of their traditional lifestyle. A great gift for someone interested in authentic, not voyeuristic, anthropology.

Barabaig, Life, Love and Death on Tanzania's Hanang Plains by Charles Lane.

The Best Australian Political Cartoons 2017, edited by Russ Radcliffe.

FOR LITTLE BOOK LOVERS         

THE VERY NOISY BABY

ALISON LESTER

Affirm Press, RRP $25

The prolific and much-loved Aussie kids’ writer has done it again, producing a delightful book for younger children. Littlies will love relating to the story about a particularly noisy bub, while parents will enjoy the rhythm of reading the story aloud.

The Very Noisy Baby by Alison Lester.

MALALA’S MAGIC PENCIL

MALALA YOUSAFZAI

Penguin, RRP $25

Children will be mesmerised by the quiet voice, but forceful message from the Nobel prize-winning Pakistani-born activist — and likely outraged at the injustices she describes. The subject matter might seem heavy, but Malala’s unique telling imparts to readers a sense of hope.

Malala's Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai illustrated by Kerascoet.

JULIA DONALDSON AND AXEL SCHEFFLER

Scholastic, RRP $25

The award-winning writer and illustrator — responsible for such classics as The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom — have another hit on their hands. As with their previous books, the rhymes are faultless and the illustrations simple, yet masterful.

The Ugly Five by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.