Best Book Gifts UK 2026: 21 Books to Give a Reader

Last updated: 13 October 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.

Books · Gift guide2026 Edit

Twenty-one books to give the readers on your list

These are my best book gifts UK picks for this Christmas. There are twenty-one books, sorted by the kind of reader they suit. Each one is a book I would be pleased to unwrap, and each comes with a price and where to buy it.

I checked the prices and stock on Amazon and Bookshop.org on 13 October 2026. All 21 were in stock at Bookshop.org, which shares its profit with independent bookshops. Prices move quickly before Christmas, so treat them as a guide.

Here are all 21 best book gifts at a glance, with UK prices from Bookshop.org.

01 / The design readerMargaret Calvert: Woman at Work£57

02 / The colour obsessiveA Dictionary of Colour Combinations Vol 2£21.79

03 / The one who drawsHokusai's Method£33.25

04 / The gallery-goerGreat Art Explained£28.50

05 / The art loverGreat Women Artists£47.45

06 / The painterHow to See£17.99

07 / The literary fiction readerFlesh£18.04

08 / The Strout fanThe Things We Never Say£18.04

09 / The debut spotterMay We Feed the King£14.24

10 / The poetry-curiousOn Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous£9.49

11 / The poetry readerPoor£12.34

12 / The nature loverRaising Hare£10.44

13 / The classics collectorPride and Prejudice£18.04

14 / The Beatles fanJohn and Paul£23.75

15 / The Oasis fanOasis: Trying to Find a Way Out of Nowhere£47.50

16 / The home cookPadella£23.75

17 / The adventurous cookJapan: The Cookbook£37.95

18 / The coffee-table browserAccidentally Wes Anderson£28.50

19 / The space fanThe NASA Archives: 60 Years in Space£100

20 / The makerThe Creative Act£25.65

21 / The puzzlerMerry Murdle£10.44

If you would rather browse, my gifts for bookworms page has the whole grid. It also covers book stands, lights and other reader extras, while this guide sticks to books.

Section 01 / Design and art

For the design and art reader

The best book gifts for people who look closely at pictures and type, all easy to buy in the UK.

Cover of Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work showing the men at work road sign, in a red frame

The design reader: Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work

01 The design reader

Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work by Margaret Calvert

Margaret Calvert drew the road signs used across Britain with Jock Kinneir. This is the first book about her work. She designed it herself with the studio A2/SW/HK.

On top of that, it runs to 256 pages with 207 illustrations. So there is plenty to look at beyond the famous signs. Thames & Hudson lists it at £60.

For the person who notices typefaces on motorway signs

£57 at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Cover of A Dictionary of Colour Combinations Vol 2 with orange, teal and gold blocks, in an orange frame

02 The colour obsessive

A Dictionary of Colour Combinations Vol 2 by Sanzo Wada

Sanzo Wada catalogued Japanese colour pairings in the 1930s. This second volume gathers 72 combinations built on the twelve months of the Japanese year, plus 165 more.

Also, every colour is named in Japanese and English. Because it is small enough to keep on a desk, it sits well next to the first volume.

For the designer who already owns volume one

£21.79 at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org.

Cover of Hokusai's Method with red and blue drawings of animals and figures, in a red frame

03 The one who draws

Hokusai's Method by Katsushika Hokusai

This collects fifteen of Hokusai's drawing manuals in one 896-page book, with 822 illustrations made between 1812 and 1848.

Inside, the pages show how he built a figure, an animal or a wave from simple shapes. There are jokes, letter-pictures and dance steps too. However, it reads from what a British reader would call the back. Mention that when you hand it over.

For anyone who sketches, at any level

£33.25 at Bookshop.org

Buy Hokusai's Method at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Yellow cover of Great Art Explained with a circle of famous paintings around Frida Kahlo, in a blue frame

04 The gallery-goer

Great Art Explained by James Payne

James Payne's YouTube channel, Great Art Explained, now has a Thames & Hudson hardback. It takes thirty famous paintings and tells the story behind each one.

As a result, it works for fans of the videos. It also suits someone who likes a gallery but has never read much art history.

For the friend who always wants to go to the gallery

£28.50 at Bookshop.org

Great Women Artists by Phaidon

Phaidon's survey covers more than 400 women artists from over 50 countries and 500 years. Each artist then gets one key work and a short text.

Because it runs A to Z rather than by date, artists centuries apart share a spread. So it is a book to dip into rather than read in order.

For the reader who wants new names, not the usual ones

£47.45 at Bookshop.org

How to See by David Salle

The painter David Salle writes about artists he knows and admires, from Roy Lichtenstein to Jeff Koons.

Also, he explains how paintings are made and why they work, in everyday language. So it suits someone who finds most art writing heavy going.

For someone who wants to understand why a painting works

£17.99 at Bookshop.org

For the fiction reader

The best book gifts for a fiction reader in the UK this year, including two Booker shortlisters.

07 The literary fiction reader

Flesh by David Szalay

Flesh won the 2025 Booker Prize. The novel follows one man, István, from a small Hungarian town at fifteen to the circles of London's richest people.

Stylistically, Szalay writes it in short, plain scenes with a lot of dialogue. Much of what István feels is never said out loud. For a present, the hardback looks better. But there is also a paperback at £9.49.

For the reader who follows the Booker

£18.04 at Bookshop.org

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout's new novel is on the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist. Strout also has a Pulitzer Prize for Olive Kitteridge, and her books have a loyal following.

So if they have read Olive Kitteridge or the Lucy Barton books, this is the next one for them.

For the reader who has finished every Lucy Barton book

£18.04 at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Black cover of May We Feed the King with pears in glass cases, in a taupe frame

09 The debut spotter

May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry

Rebecca Perry's first novel is also on the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist. Perry is a poet whose collections include Beauty/Beauty and Stone Fruit, and Granta publishes the hardback.

Also, it is one of the cheaper hardbacks on the shortlist. That makes it an easy add-on to a bigger present.

For the person who likes to read the shortlist before the result

£14.24 at Bookshop.org

Buy May We Feed the King at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Navy cover of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous with orange leaves, in an orange frame

10 The poetry-curious

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong's first novel takes the form of a letter from a young Vietnamese American man to his mother. She cannot read it.

Before he wrote it, Vuong had already won the T. S. Eliot Prize for his poetry. Plus, the paperback costs under £10, so it slips easily into a stocking.

For a reader who likes fiction that reads like poetry

£9.49 at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Section 03 / Poetry and nature

For the poetry and nature reader

Two books from writers who notice the place around them.

11 The poetry reader

Poor by Caleb Femi

Caleb Femi's poems and photographs are about growing up on the North Peckham Estate in south London. It won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2021.

Because of the photographs, it is a book to look at as well as read. That also gives it more presence as a gift than most poetry paperbacks.

For someone who thinks poetry is not for them

£12.34 at Bookshop.org

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

Chloe Dalton found a newborn hare alone in a field and raised it. The hare then lived between her house and the fields for years.

Raising Hare won the 2025 Wainwright Prize for nature writing. Even so, it reads as a personal story. So it also suits someone who rarely picks up a nature book.

For the walker, the gardener or the animal lover

£10.44 at Bookshop.org

Buy Raising Hare at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

"An extremely handsome, useful and inspiring book."
Rachel Roddy on the Padella cookbook, quoted by its publisher

Section 04 / Classics and music

For the collector and the music fan

A clothbound classic and two books about bands.

Gold clothbound cover of Pride and Prejudice with a repeating peacock pattern, in a gold frame

13 The classics collector

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Penguin Clothbound Classics

Penguin's Clothbound Classics are hardbacks covered in cloth, designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith. This one is gold, with a repeating peacock pattern stamped into the cover.

Inside, it is the full Penguin Classics text with an introduction and notes. Since the whole series shares one format, it also makes a good first book for a new collector.

For the reader who has only ever owned a battered paperback copy

£18.04 at Bookshop.org

Buy Pride and Prejudice at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Black cover of John and Paul with yellow lettering and a photo of Lennon and McCartney, in an amber frame

14 The Beatles fan

John and Paul by Ian Leslie

Ian Leslie tells the story of Lennon and McCartney through the songs they wrote. It runs from their first meeting in Liverpool in 1957 to Lennon's death in 1980.

Throughout, he treats the partnership as a love story, with the rivalry and jealousy that goes with one. The hardback is the gift edition, while the paperback is £12.34.

For the person who argues about which Beatle wrote what

£23.75 at Bookshop.org

Buy John and Paul at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Grey cover of Oasis with a black and white photo of Noel and Liam Gallagher, in a grey frame

The Oasis fan: Oasis: Trying to Find a Way Out of Nowhere

15 The Oasis fan

Oasis: Trying to Find a Way Out of Nowhere by Jill Furmanovsky

Jill Furmanovsky photographed Oasis from the Definitely Maybe tour in 1994 to the 2025 reunion. This Thames & Hudson book holds more than 500 of her pictures, many never published before. Noel Gallagher wrote the foreword.

Bookshop.org had it at £47.50. Meanwhile, Amazon UK had it at £30.50 when I checked on 28 October, against an RRP of £50. That gap is worth checking before you buy.

For anyone who went to the reunion, or wishes they had

£47.50 at Bookshop.org

Buy Oasis: Trying to Find a Way Out of Nowhere at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Section 05 / Food

For the cook

Two cookbooks that rank among the best book gifts for a UK cook, as objects as well as recipes.

Black cover of the Padella cookbook with a drawing of a nest of pasta, in an olive frame

16 The home cook

Padella by Tim Siadatan

The Padella cookbook has the recipes from the London pasta restaurant. They include the pappardelle with beef shin ragu and the pici cacio e pepe.

It also explains the kit and the technique for making fresh pasta by hand. On top of that, it is bound in cloth. Its publisher says it won Waterstones Gift Book of the Year 2025.

For someone who has queued at Borough Market for it

£23.75 at Bookshop.org

Buy Padella at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Wood-effect cover of Japan: The Cookbook with the title running down the middle, in a tan frame

17 The adventurous cook

Japan: The Cookbook by Nancy Singleton Hachisu

Phaidon's 464-page book has more than 400 Japanese home recipes by the food writer Nancy Singleton Hachisu.

It covers soups, noodles, rice, pickles, one-pot dishes, vegetables and sweets, arranged by course. In practice, it is a reference book as much as a cookbook. So it suits a cook who likes to learn a cuisine properly.

For the cook who wants to go beyond takeaway favourites

£37.95 at Bookshop.org

For the one who has everything

Four of the best book gifts for the hardest person on your list, all in stock in the UK.

Cover of Accidentally Wes Anderson showing a pink hotel below mountains, in a blue frame

18 The coffee-table browser

Accidentally Wes Anderson by Wally Koval

This hardback collects real buildings and places from every continent that look as if Wes Anderson designed them. Wally Koval built it from the Instagram community he started with Amanda Koval, and Anderson wrote the foreword.

Better still for a gift, each photograph comes with a short history of the place. So it is more than a book of pretty pictures.

For the traveller, or the film fan

£28.50 at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Taschen's The NASA Archives with an astronaut on the Moon on the cover, in a red frame

The space fan: The NASA Archives: 60 Years in Space

19 The space fan

The NASA Archives: 60 Years in Space by Taschen

Taschen's XL book has more than 400 photographs and concept drawings from NASA's history. Taschen researched it with NASA's help and rescanned every image.

It runs from NASA opening in 1958 through Apollo, the space shuttle and the Mars rovers. However, it runs to 468 pages, 33cm square and over 5kg. So check the person has a table for it.

For the person who still looks up at night

£100 at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Grey cover of The Creative Act with a black circle and dot, in a grey frame

20 The maker

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

The record producer Rick Rubin co-founded Def Jam. He has also produced records for Johnny Cash and the Beastie Boys.

The Creative Act is his book about how ideas arrive and how to keep making work. As a result, it suits anyone who makes things, whether that is music, writing or design.

For someone who is stuck on a project

£25.65 at Bookshop.org

Merry Murdle by G. T. Karber

The Christmas edition of the Murdle logic puzzles has 25 festive murder mysteries. That works out as one a day up to Christmas Day.

The first Murdle book was the UK's best-selling book over Christmas 2023, according to its publisher. Also, it is a cheap stocking filler at £10.44, and Amazon UK had it at £7.

For the person who finishes the crossword before breakfast

£10.44 at Bookshop.org

Buy Merry Murdle at Bookshop.org

You can also buy it from Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Section 07 / More ways to give

More book gifts and where to find them

For the wider list of presents, my best Christmas gifts UK guide covers every kind of person. This page is its books section. If you prefer a new book every month, my book of the month page lists every book I have picked so far.

For a reader who listens more than they read, the best audiobooks page is the better place to start. And if the reader on your list also writes things down, see my Christmas stationery gifts.

Finally, the gifts for bookworms page has the reader extras I left out here, such as book stands and lights.

FAQs

What are the best book gifts in the UK this Christmas?

My best book gifts UK picks run from design books such as Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work to new fiction such as Flesh. The best choice depends on the reader, so the guide is sorted by type of reader rather than ranked.

Where can I buy books as gifts and support independent bookshops?

Bookshop.org shares its profit with independent bookshops, and every pick here was in stock there when I checked. You can also buy most of them from Amazon UK, which is often cheaper.

What is a good book gift under £15?

Merry Murdle, Raising Hare, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Poor and May We Feed the King all cost under £15 at Bookshop.org.

What book should I give someone who doesn't read much?

Try a book they can look at as well as read. Accidentally Wes Anderson, Great Art Explained and the Oasis photo book all work for someone who rarely finishes a novel.

Are signed or special editions worth it?

They can be, but they sell out quickly. When I checked, the signed edition of Great Art Explained had already gone, so buy early if you want one.

When should I order book gifts for Christmas?

Order early in December at the latest. Stock and delivery times change quickly in the weeks before Christmas. So the earlier you order, the better.

More from CoolCuration

Best e-readers UK: the Kindle and its rivals, for a reader who wants hundreds of books on one device.
Penguin x MOEBE book stand: a stand for showing off a good cover.
The greatest books of all time: hundreds of rankings combined into one list.
Audible UK: the current plan prices, for the reader who listens.
Bookshop.org audiobooks: how its audiobook service works in the UK.

Prices and stock were correct when I checked and can change at any time. This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.

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For the design and art reader

Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work by Margaret Calvert