Booktrust staff recommends books for Christmas

Illustration © 2007 by Alison Jay from LISTEN, LISTEN reproduced by kind agreement of Barefoot Books, Ltd.

Hey there.

I love giving books as Christmas presents. My friends (and colleagues) make fun of me all the time for being like this. But buying a book's great. It's also fraught with difficulties. It's like the perfect mixtape. You find the book that you like that most suits the person you're buying it for. I've been thinking a lot about the books I've enjoyed the most this year and who I would gift each of those to. And what books I'm hoping to get under the Christmas tree. I thought I'd ask the Booktrust staff the same thing. So... here are the books we enjoyed the most this year and the ones we hope to get on Christmas Day.

Nikesh Shukla, Web Editor

Most enjoyed: I read a lot of graphic novels and short story collections. And I won't mention the one I picked up in Mumbai airport because it's not available (yet, hopefully) in the UK, which is a shame because Aerogrammes by Tania James is one of the most tender, funny, brilliant and time/space-spanning short story collection I've read in ages. The two books that stayed with me are Denis Johnson's startling Jesus's Son, a collection of short stories about addiction, where each sentence is a work of concise perfection, and the always-incredible Junot Diaz, whose This Is How You Lose Her, made me laugh and cry more than any other book released in the UK this year.

Hope to get: After devouring James Smythe's The Explorer, I'm really excited about reading sci-fi again for the first time in ages. I've always heard a lot of good things about China Miéville, so any of his books will do, but preferably his best one!

Trudi Kent, Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive and Office Manager

Most enjoyed: It was very hard to get it down to one favourite book I have read this year. Top three being Room, Emma Donoghue, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver and Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins. But I think of the three, The Hunger Games needs to come out top for pure grippability!

Hope to get: My wish list of books is rather long at the moment, but I think the one I would most like for Christmas is Alone in Berlin, Hans Fallada. I have heard fantastic things about it but have the impression it's quite serious so I probably need someone else to get it for me as I tend to go slightly lighter when buying books for myself. 

Anna Loudon, Creative Writing Projects Coordinator

Most enjoyed: the Game of Thrones series by George R R Martin - wading my way through the 6 books. Because it's fabulously plotted with compelling characters and Martin handles the craft of telling a huge story deftly and with amazing world-building skills.

Hope to get: The Richard Burton Diaries - passion, obsession, bitchiness about other actors, living with Liz Taylor and ridiculously expensive jewellery. What's not to love?

Ashley Wyeth, Booktrust Regional Manager (South West and South of West Midlands)

Most enjoyed: The Passage by Justin Cronin. It's a dark, searching  journey through a world of genetically-engineered vampires who bring about the end of the world as we know it, with one ray of hope in a strange young girl called Amy. Well written, creepy, touching, eery and with just a hint of 'this could actually happen' to give you a shiver.

Hope to get: The Twelve by Justin Cronin, the only-just-released sequel to The Passage.

Peter Jenkins, Fundraising Manager - Trusts and Foundation

Most enjoyed: Frances Spalding's biography of John Piper and Myfanwy Piper, making an oeuvre out of a mass of scattered fragments, with lightness and depth, rather like a Piper stained glass window.

Hope to get: Sue Prideuax's biography of Strindberg, hopefully as sharply written as her powerful biography of Edvard Munch.

Lizzie Poulton, Project Development Manager, Children and Young People in Other Settings

Most enjoyed: Patrick Gale- A Perfectly Good Man. I loved Notes From an Exhibition and initially I was underwhelmed by this book in comparison. But by the end I was gripped and sobbed for about 20 minutes after I finished it. Patrick Gale is a genius at capturing everyday human emotions and actions and portraying both the minutiae and epic sweep of ordinary people's lives.

Hope to get: I'd love to read Comfort and Joy by India Knight as I've been told it's great and really appropriate for this time of year. I'd also be really pleased with the new Barbara Kingsolver or I'd love a comic book from My Cardboard Life creator Philippa Rice- Soppy looks fabulous.

Katherine Woodfine, Web Editor

Most enjoyed: I've always enjoyed his books but 2012 was the year I became a true Terry Pratchett convert, when I read Dodger, his hugely entertaining spin on the story of Dickens' classic character the Artful Dodger. Intelligent, humorous and full of fun, it is also enormously warm and humane - a fitting tribute to the work of Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew.

Hope to get: Being a lover of all things Mitford I'm coveting Penguin's new Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford. Bringing together all of Nancy Mitford's books in a beautifully-designed volume, it also contains an introduction from fellow Mitford enthusiast India Knight.

Paula Sutton, Booktrust Regional Team Manager

Most enjoyed: Life, Death and Vanilla Slices by Jenny Éclair. I read this on my Kindle in a matter of days. It was very funny but also sad and thought provoking! I didn't know what to expect as I hadn't realised Jenny was also an author. I found myself reading it in her voice and laughed out loud at parts. It was a joy to read.

Hope to get: I would love to read another book by Jenny so this will be on my Christmas list. Camberwell Beauty has good reviews.

Maggie Eckel, Prizes & Awards officer

Most enjoyed: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr. It was everything I love in a book: really good writing and a story that drew me in, characters that were flawed people, with something deeply likable at their core, which made them feel real (cheesy but true). I was cheering, crying, hoping, laughing and crossing my fingers that everything was going to work out in the end.

Hope to get: I've just read a load of stuff on my 'to read' list… Hopefully I'll get a nice surprise!

Ben O'Donnell, Targeted Offers Coordinator

Most enjoyed: Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes. I loved this book for its range and variety. For science fiction it is beautifully tender and heartfelt; it is very much driven by character and interaction, so doesn't have to rely on an interest in its sci-fi concept. More than any particular reason, I loved it because it's such an engaging, moving, wonderful read.

Hope to get: So many... Maybe a copy of Henry Bellow's translation of the Poetic Edda.

Phil Smith, HR Manager

Most enjoyed: The book I have enjoyed most this year has been The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Quite unexpectedly funny, poignant and powerful, the story of mild-mannered Harold's epic journey to right a long standing wrong left me with both smile on face and lump in throat.