There was a time when all anybody wanted in their Christmas stocking was a partridge, a pair tree and maybe a few maids a-milking.
These days people are somewhat more demanding. Christmas just wouldn’t be the Yuletide season without a good book in the proverbial sock.
Luckily, each year brings its own crop of top-notch reads, among them prize-winning novels, absorbing travelogues and informative political and historical tracts to suit every taste.
This is Daily News Egypt s list of books topping this year’s Christmas wish lists.
1. Me Cheeta, by Cheeta
This fictional memoir of a chimpanzee in Hollywood has been hailed by many as the funniest book of the year. Cheeta was Tarzan’s primate sidekick in the days of Johnny Weissmuller, and was for some decades superbly placed to take notes on the seedy side of the movie business. By turns scurrilous, litigious and downright bitchy.
2. Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama
Barack Obama’s re-issued autobiography is essential reading for anyone eager to know the inner workings of the next US president. It is a superbly-written tale, incorporating frank accounts of how Obama dealt with the various challenges placed before him, including his mixed-race origins, broken home and recreational drug use.
3. Stephen Fry in America, by Stephen Fry
Good travel writing requires two basic ingredients: an interesting location and a competent chronicler. While many a scribe has wandered the United States, few have possessed the wit, erudition and insight of Stephen Fry, who is among the greatest living British comedians. A polymath and general linguistic genius, Stephen makes a journey across all 50 states in a black taxi cab, in search of the real America.
4. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling
This latest offering from the creator of Harry Potter consists of five magical fairy tales with clear moral messages. The book sold over half a million copies in the UK within the first 10 days, and has a worldwide print run of eight million. With illustrations by Rowling herself, this book confirms the author’s ability to mesmerize both children and adults with a weakness for wizardry.
5. The Forever War, by Dexter Filkins
New York Times correspondent Dexter Filkins takes readers on a harrowing journey through the horrors of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The series of dispatches begins in the late 1990s with an eye-witness account of life among the Taliban. Later, Filkins finds himself in Saddam Hussein’s ruined palace and among the marines fighting through Fallujah. Carnage and mayhem abound.
6. How Shall I Tell The Dog?, by Miles Kingston
When this renowned English journalist and humorist discovered he was dying of cancer, he responded with his trademark wit, writing a series of letters to his agent detailing proposals for books on his illness. These proposals were, in fact, more of a means of coping with his unfortunate circumstance, swamping the cold reality with a warm and sparkling humor.
7. Just After Sunset, by Stephen King
Diehard fans of the master horror writer will argue that Stephen King’s stories are not just a good read, but in fact proper literary works. Whatever the case, this collection of mostly new short stories heralds a return to the form in which King began his writing career, and is sure to keep you gripped through those long, spooky nights.
8. Netherland, by Joseph O’Neill
Set in New York and the novel is essentially a monologue by a Dutch businessman concerning his troubled marriage and a mysterious new acquaintance, a West Indian named Chuck who has a passion for cricket. O’Neill’s style has been likened to that of Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Saul Bellow. This is insightful and elegant writing of the first order.
9. Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith
Set in 1950s’ Russia, this detective story follows the investigation into a series of brutal murders, and is partly based on the real-life child killer Andrei Chikatilo, who did away with the murder of over 60 girls and boys during the 1980s. The key to Chikatilo’s success was the tendency of the Soviet regime to turn a blind eye to his crimes. This is an atmospheric page-turner with an important message.
10. The Age of the Warrior, by Robert Fisk
One of the great names of modern British journalism and a resident of Lebanon, Robert Fisk presents here a few of his best newspaper articles from the last decade. Among the topics covered are the war in Lebanon, the Palestinian struggle and the Armenian genocide. Fisk has a direct and often combative style, and is much loved for it.
