Gift Guide: Claire Finlayson

IQ:EQ editor Claire Finlayson on the best books.

For the art enthusiast: Rita Angus: Life and Vision, editors: William McAloon & Jill Trevelyan (Te Papa Press, pb, $75). A vibrant gathering of works by one of the most remarkable talents this country has known.

For those wobbling in the face of an economic recession: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating by Barbara Kingsolver (Faber & Faber, pb, $35). Kingsolver, with typical eloquence, charts her family’s bid to be ‘locavores’ – to live off what they could gather from their own backyard and neighbouring farms.

For the crime-fiction devotee: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Maclehose Press, pb, $29.99). A heady and intelligent thriller that spins tautly around financial scandal, love, murder, and family secrets. The first in a trilogy by a much-lauded Swedish crime writer (now deceased).

For anyone who eats: In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan (Allen Lane: pb, $36.99). A riveting exposé on nutritional science and food-industry marketing by an exceedingly clever and personable food sleuth.

For the wee ones: Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, with illustrations by Polly Dunbar (Frances Lincoln, hb, $29.99). Mahy’s inimitable frisky word-fun is terrific on the tongue.

For the teens (and the many grown-ups who enjoys Kate de Goldi’s regular, disarming dispatches on children’s literature on Radio NZ National): The 10pm Question (Longacre Press, pb, $29.99). De Goldi gets inside the head of an anxious, gorgeous, 12-year-old boy.

For the seafood-lover: Fleurs Place, by Graham Warman, photos by Paul Sorrell (Penguin, pb, $45.00). Fresh, simple recipes from the Moeraki restaurant that made UK television chef Rick Stein choose Fleurs Place over all others in the world for a travel article he was writing for the Daily Mail.

For the poetry-lover: Jenny Bornholdt’s The Rocky Shore, (Victoria University Press, pb, $25). ‘Talky poems’ from a woman with a warm, superlative eye for detail and whimsy.

For the wine buff: Wine Atlas of New Zealand, text by Michael Cooper, photography by John McDermott (Hodder Moa, hb, $125). This, the newly released second edition, is packed full of information on our 10 wine-making regions.

For the Italophile: Venezia: Food and Dreams by Tessa Kiros (Murdoch, hb, $64.99). A portrait of that beguiling, water-logged jewel – Venice – through recipes and photographs.