Over the next few weeks, we’ll be compiling a host of gift guides to help you with your Christmas shopping. Here is a list of suggestions for the tricky people in your life..

Your ‘in-laws’

• Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict is an utterly fascinating documentary about one of the most influential and powerful art collectors in history.
• Amor Towles’s A Gentleman in Moscow is a gentle, charming romp with a strong moral compass, and is ultimately very moving.
• Curated and produced by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Boots No. 1 is the first in their ‘official revival bootleg’ series. Essential listening for Welch fans and really, we think everyone should be one!
• House of Snow is a comprehensive anthology of some of the greatest writing about Nepal. In addition, all profits from sales will be donated to charities providing relief from the 2015 earthquakes.
• 100 Moments in Australian Painting is a visually arresting book that makes for a very safe gift pick. It’s available at a super special price – you can find even more summer bargain books here.

Your friend who ‘doesn’t read’ (but you really wish would)

• Try a crime thriller like… The Dry by Jane Harper (small town murder), The Widow by Fiona Barton (dead husband intrigue), or Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil (teenagers and buses) by Melina Marchetta.
• Try a YA page-turner crossover like… The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín (sadistic Irish fairies), The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid (Star Wars meets Hunger Games), or The Diviners by Libba Bray (teen clairvoyant in 1920s New York).
• Try a ‘specialist’ history book like… Blitzed (drug use in the Third Reich), Bolshoi Confidential (the political ties of the famed Russian ballet), or Queen Bees (stories of society hostesses).
• Try a graphic novel like… Patience by Daniel Clowes (psychedelic sci-fi love story), Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood (pulp-inspired superhero tale), or Mox Nox by Joan Cornellà (viciously funny and transgressive).
• Try an Australian read that’s now on the screen… The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (tearjerker, set in a lighthouse), The Wrong Girl by Zoë Foster Blake (modern rom-com), or Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (school politics, dark secrets).

The reader who’s already read everything

• Read everything huh? Well, we bet they haven’t read the complete works of E.E. Cummings…
• Even avid readers have blind spots and so you may like to gift them something a bit left-field. The Island Will Sink by Briohny Doyle is inventive fiction at its best, and may have passed them by as it comes from a small Melbourne publisher and first-time Australian author.
• If they’re predominantly a fiction reader with an interest in non-fiction – Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich (a Nobel Prize winning Belarusian writer) is a landmark work that explores the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
• Published posthumously, Lucia Berlin’s phenomenal story collection, A Manual for Cleaning Women, is now available in a gorgeous, affordable paperback.
• You may also like to browse our exclusive range of literary t-shirts and tote bags, including one design that features a quote from the inimitable Joan Didion.

The person who owns everything

• Lonely Planet’s Where to Go When answers the perennial question of every travel addict – where is the best place to visit during every season of the year?
• The Leap Stories is a timely summer read that is sure to inspire action. Author Kylie Lewis interviews entrepreneurs (such as Kristina Karlsson of kikki.K, and fashion designer Lydia Pearson) and uncovers different ways to rethink a livelihood.
• The Complete Beatles Songs features every Beatles-penned song with a set of printed lyrics, as well as discussion about the inspiration behind it.
• We always find it hard to resist a beautiful book and Botanicum is particularly tempting – a wonderful feast of botanical knowledge.
• If they already own far too many beautiful books, there’s always this elegant bamboo book-rest for them to display their books on – and can be particularly handy in a kitchen.

One gift for a whole family

• Why not gift them a (creepy) new Christmas tradition? The Elf on the Shelf is an idea that has taken the world by storm in recent years and these sets include an elf and a book explaining the story behind the elf.
• We also have a range of games on offer, including Punderdome, Melbourne Monopoly, and Previously, on…
• There’s been a trend in children’s publishing for ‘coffee table picture books’ – big, artfully designed, informative books that appeal across ages. Two of our favourites this summer are Atlas of Animal Adventures and The Book of Bees.
• This Supercool Paper Airplanes Kit truly is Super Cool, and will appeal to big kids as much as small.
• If the kids in the family have an interest in cooking, you could browse our collection of cookbooks for sharing with the kids here. We particularly love Gruffalo Crumble and Other Recipes, and even teenagers may be tempted by Cakemoji which made us lol.

One gift for a couple

• Cookbooks are easy gifts to share and we recommend Around the World in 80 Dinners – a gastronaut’s guide to the globe.
• There’s no pleasure like a perfectly-phrased put-down, and in Scorn, Matthew Parris presents a selection of the funniest, sharpest, rudest and most devastating insults throughout history. A great tool for not just couples, but all of us, to make our bickering more inventive.
• Meredith Kirton’s Dig Deeper is the definitive gardening manual for the modern gardener, and may appeal to a couple who are creating a home together.
• Shaped like a cork, our rechargeable bottle lights turn empty bottles into decorative lamps, and are terrific for outdoor dining.
• For couples planning a trip together… New York is an illustrated guide to one of the world’s most-loved fashion cities by Megan Hess, one of the world’s most-loved fashion illustrators. It’s a stylish, quirky book that works as both a travel guide, or armchair travelling.

A complete stranger

• Zoë Morrison’s debut novel, Music and Freedom, was the winner of our Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and comes highly, highly, recommended. Read more about why we love it here and here.
• Envelope Poems is a small clothbound volume that brings together a collection of Emily Dickinson’s writings, found separately yet each written on an envelope.
• The Famous Five parody books from Bruno Vincent are perfectly deadpan and hilarious – from Five Go Gluten Free to Five Go a Strategy Away Day.
• The annual Jukurrpa Calendar is always full of stunning images that celebrate the country and culture of Central Australia. 2017 is no exception.
• Our compact, travel-ready book lights make for simple and practical last-minute gifts.

An ageing relative

• In Telemann, three of the finest baroque musicians performing today celebrate the music of one of the most prolific – and most neglected – composers.
• Un Village Francais is a five-season series that tackles the difficult subject of French collaboration with the Germans during WW2 – following the lives of the people of a fictional town in rural France.
• Dating from 1810 to the 1920s, Capturing Time looks back on Australia through the magic of panoramas.
• Bird Bingo is an illustrated game that features 64 species of birds from around the world.
• For the booklover who’s eyesight is deteriorating, we stock a range of Bolinda audiobooks at our shops. You can browse some of our best recommendations here.

Still stumped? We also offer a range of options for gift vouchers for use in-store and online.