Should I Read It: Holiday Book List

Day 6 books columnist Becky Toyne presents her annual picks for great books for everyone on your holiday gift list. We have two prize packs of all six books on Becky's list to give away. For your chance to win, go to our Facebook page and post your suggestion for a great book to give this holiday season, then send us an email at day6@cbc.ca to let us know that you did. Brent's pick for a great book to give this year is Super Mutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki.

Here are Becky's picks:

Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff  
For the fiction-lover looking for the big buzz book of the season.

Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick De Witt  
The follow-up to the huge hit The Sisters Brothers. It got mixed reviews, but Becky says it's a winning fairy tale full of swash-buckling, laughs, and saucy scenes.

The Witches by Stacey Schiff
An account of the Salem witch trials of 1692 from the Pulitzer-winning biographer. A fascinating and heavily researched look at this still-mysterious episode.

Stalin's Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan 
This is an expansive biography of the dictator's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, told through letters, interviews, and testimony from Svetlana's daughter, Chrese. This was the winner of the and is currently nominated for the BC Award for Canadian Nonfiction and the RBC Taylor Prize. Full disclosure: Becky Toyne has worked for the Hilary Weston Prize. 

The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen by Nigel Slater
Nigel Slater's new book is designed to be read as much as cooked from, and to have an element of discovery in allowing him to direct you to what to eat now/today rather than to just head to your go-to meals over and over again.
 
The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton
A story for little girls and boys that turns the standard princess narrative on its head. The princess in this story wants to be a warrior and so asks for a war horse. What she gets is a small round pony with flatulence. It's adorable and hilarious.