A Festive Series
Johnny de Falbe's Festive Wish List
Johnny de Falbe, who owns and runs the beloved independent bookstore John Sandoe Books, is known for his impeccable taste in small, beautifully crafted editions. His wish list offers perfect inspiration - whether you are searching for thoughtful books to gift or looking for ideas on what to get the British gentleman who already has everything.
The best books to gift this Christmas:
- Trucks and Tuks: Decorated Vehicles of South Asia by Chistopher Herwig
Horn Please! The many delights of richly caparisoned vehicles, from the team who brought us Soviet Bus Stops and other treats.
It’s become a liquid institution.
- I’m No Expert But… Unpublished Letters to the Telegraph edited by Kate Moore
Each one gives a little buzz of delight – or is that a frisson of malice?
- A Long Winter by Colm Tóibín
Longing and absence inflect this novella about a mother who abandons her Pyrenean family. This first appeared in Tóibín’s collection Mother and Sons (2006).
- I Found Myself… The Last Dreams by Naguib Mahfouz, translated by Hisham Matar
When a recluse in old age, the great Egyptian writer started to walk around Cairo in his dreams and found himself here, there, with friends or strangers. In this short, intriguing book, those dreams are layered with reflections on Egypt and the world. Beautifully translated by Hisham Matar, with photos by Diana Matar.
- On Bullshit: Anniversary Edition by Harry G. Frankfurt
Balderdash, bunkum, hooey, humbug – a 40th anniversary edition of this slim, clever unpicking of the pretentious, self-serving, bombastic and deceitful.
- Physics for Cats by Tom Gauld
A new book of cartoons by the master of bathetic whimsy: dark matter lies on the psychiatrist’s couch; an AI system has increased its intelligence from that of a new-born baby to a teenager’s and won’t come out of its room; coffee breaks with the Abyss… Gauld’s Revenge of the Librarians and other collections are superb, and properly funny.
A selection from Plato’s Symposium in a new translation by the author of Socrates in Love.
Non book related gifts for the English gentleman in your life:
What small indulgences or luxury items make thoughtful gifts?
Any gourmet gifts?
- Tins of anchovies
- Gentleman’s Relish
- Good mustard
- Chocolate almonds from Rococo
- Chocolates from the Chocolate Detective
- Outrageously good organic olive oil
- Marrons glacés
- Crystalised ginger
- A small cloth bag of lentils (for abundance!)
- Chocolate cigars from Brindisa
- Perello olives picante
- Figs in chocolate from Brindisa
- Good quality saffron: Brindisa Saffron
John Sandoe Books is located on 10-12 Blacklands Terrace, Chelsea, London, SW3 2SR. Opening times: Monday to Saturday: 9:30am – 5.30pm, Sunday: 11am – 5pm
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