December 11, 2011, by Fraser

11 December: Christmas books

This is a list of Christmas books from The Times Literary Supplement published in 1917. There are 19 books on the list and many of the novels and poetry collections are still popular today – so it’s well worth a look if you’re after a festive recommendation.

We’re particularly pleased to see two of DH Lawrence’s novels included with both The Lost Girl and Women in Love making the cut. And if you’re interested in the former student’s manuscript legacy at the University, take a look at day three of our festive countdown.

All I want for Christmas is…

The Christmas break is a great time to do some reading and so we decided to ask staff and students at the University to tell us which books they’re hoping to find in their stockings on Christmas morning.

Rino Soares from the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies is championing the work of former student Oliver Ross as he’s asking for the writer’s debut novel A Year in the Life of Some Guy. And it looks like Katherine Tallant is planning to spend much of January in her kitchen as her list includes both the recipe book to accompany the Great British Bake Off and Lorraine Pascale’s Home Cooking Made Easy.

Over the last few years, celebrity autobiographies have sold well at Christmas and Jonathan Chadwick is asking for Happy Accidents by Glee’s Jane Lynch. Another popular choice was that of Lindsey Uhl, with A Game of Thrones being a top choice among many staff and students. And if Lindsey likes the book, she’s in for a treat as it is the first instalment in a series of seven fantasy novels by George RR Martin.

With winter kicking in, Harriet Hughes is thinking of heading off to sunnier climes by including a Lonely Planet guidebook on her list. History student Bea Beard is also looking for a bit of escapism as she’s asking for any books that don’t relate to her course!

Philosophy student Bethany West is judging a book by its cover for her choice in asking for a hardback edition of Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift – all because of how good it’ll look on her bookshelf. Another choice recommendation comes courtesy of culture vulture Emma Halford who’s keen to find Richard Fortey’s Dry Store Room No 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum in her stocking.

More inspiration…

It’s not too late to share your own book-ideas so add them to the comments section below. Meanwhile, here are some of the other great book choices that we received:

Name Course or role Book choice
Fiona Collard Computer Science (PhD) Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Herve Morvan A classic Guy Lefranc
Valerie Marlow Secretary for Information Services The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Professor Liz Sockett Centre for Genetics and Genomics, School of Biology A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Arabella Day Phillosophy The Guiness Book of World Records 2011 or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
Felix Vaughan Physics Emergence by John Holland
Emma Stones Geography The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Sarah Horner French/History A Nigel Slater cookbook
Ellen Axon Archeology Any book by Phillipa Gregory
Bridget Lane Media/politics Any biography
Laura Sayegn Media Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Lara Hollond and Sofia Palazzo Classics and Physics Encyclopedia Britannica
Dean Wood Classics The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor Lavey
Maddie granger Politics Al Qaeda in its own words by Gilles Kepel and Jean-Pierre Milelli
Sophie Connor English Ask the Dust by John Fante
Izzy Scranshire English Bleak House by Charles Dickens (Penguin hardback edition)
Clarissa Ransom Classics Last in the Inheritence series by Christopher Paolini
Alice Willdrith Classics Something by Greek poet Hesoid
Will Parkinson Politics 1st edition John Keates anthology
James Hodge Archeology Norwegian Wood by Haruki Mirakimi
Jamie Russell Computer Science The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein
Sarin Leigh Physics Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fford
Jacek Zmarz Film Studies The Leopard by Joe Nesbo
Milly Day French/Italian Room  by Emma Donoghue
James Ellis Theology Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakimi
Rosannah Wadsworth Philosophy The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley

All of the items featured in our e-Advent calendar are from the University’s historic library holdings, held in Manuscripts and Special Collections. For more information on the wide range of materials available, take a look at their website and blog or contact the curators on mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk.
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Posted in HistoryLiterature