‘Tis the season of gift giving, and I am, of course, a huge fan of giving books.

Books as gifts have many advantages:

1) They are easy to wrap. Seriously. The easiest.
2) It’s an opportunity to show that you really understand what someone likes.
3) It’s an opportunity to force what you really like on someone else… and then get to talk about it with someone (finally!).
4) You get to wander through bookstores.

Being someone who reads a lot and who used to select books for people as a job (*single tear as I remember my bookseller days*) comes with an expectation of book-choosing prowess. Literally four of my family members said, or put on their Christmas lists, “get Sarah to pick out some books — she knows what I like.”

Geez… no pressure there.

But I have met the challenge. See for yourself; below is this year’s attempt at pleasing everyone with books (**SPOILER ALERT** if you are related to me):

• Sister: Zealot by Reza Aslan; My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
• Brother-in-law: A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby; Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris; Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies by Alastair Bonnett
• Mum: the latest Ken Follett; Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• Dad: The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi; Wool by Hugh Howey
• Cousin: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
• Aunt: The Table of Less Valued Knights by Marie Phillips; The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
• Mom-in-law: Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
• Dad-in-law: City Beautiful by Randy Turner
• JT: On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks by Simon Garfield