Book lover on your Christmas list? Check out these titles - Action News
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Kitchener-Waterloo

Book lover on your Christmas list? Check out these titles

Christmas shopping is in full swing. From dystopian fiction and colouring books to seasonal reads and Giller Prize winners, Waterloo book shop owner Mandy Brouse has compiled this list of potential gifts for readers on your list.

It's looking like the Year of the Adult Colouring Book

Adult colouring books are absolutely exploding in popularity this year, says Words Worth Books co-owner Mandy Brouse. (Tara McCarthy/CBC)

Christmas shopping is in full swing. From dystopian fictionand colouring books to seasonal reads and Giller Prize winners, Waterloobook shop owner Mandy Brouse has compiled this list of potential gifts for readers on your list.

CBC Radio's The Morning Edition host Craig Norris spoke with Brouse, the co-owner ofWords WorthBooks,about some titles that could make great gift options for under the tree.

"Generally, it was a great year in publishing it really was," Brouse said. "We saw some great books published. We saw some amazing authors republish and we're really happy with it."

What are people looking for this year? Well, it depends who you ask.

"People want the exact book that they think the person that will be receiving it really wants to read and so we're very highly aware of that," Brouse explained, adding there is a"wide variety of books" that are popular this year.

"There's an ongoing trend for a lot of dystopian fiction," she added, referencing Margaret Atwood's The Heart Goes Last and Erin Bow's The Scorpion Rules, which are both selling wellin Kitchener at the moment. There's also the 2014 Giller Prize winner, Us Conductors by Sean Michaels, which remains a strong sellerthis holiday season, according to Brouse.

Other fiction titles selling well at Words Worth Books includeThe Illegal byLawrence Hill,Poles Apart byTerryFallis,Station Eleven byEmily St. JohnMandel and don't forget aboutthis year's Giller Prize winner:Fifteen Dogs byAndre Alexis.

But there are many more pages flying off bookshelves than just fiction titles.

Some of the best-selling non-fictionof 2015includeHistory's People: Personalities and the Past byMargaretMacMillan andThe Reason You Walk byWabKinew, which is an autobiography that Brouse said is outselling anotherrecognizableCanadian name.

"Unfortunately, the Trudeau autobiography didn't sell as well as we thought," Brouse acknowledged.

But grab your pencil crayons because adult colouring books are absolutelyexploding in popularity this year, the book store co-owner noted. Adults say these black and white booklets help them relievestress, which is helping to increase demand.

This short book by Andr Alexis won the 2015 Giller Prize and remains a popular buy this holiday season. (Amazon.com)
"That's going to be the big one for this year," Brouse remarked, adding some popular titles includeDaria Song's Time Chamber, Steve McDonald's Fantastic Cities and Johanna Basford'sSecret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book.

Randall Munroe'sThing Explainer is a quirky pick this holiday season.For young readers, Kenneth Oppel's The Nest joins Bow's aforementioned book as top-selling options.

Looking for something more seasonal? The Smallest Gift of Christmas by Peter Reynolds is a good choice if you like to give back;profits from books sold until the end of 2015 will go toward helping Syrian refugees.

And if you're already planning on what to buy in 2016, some highly-anticipated books includeThe High Mountains of Portugal by YannMartel,The Naturalist byAlissaYork,How Can I Help? byDavidGoldblum,Amulet Book 7 byKazuKibuishi andPlaying from the Heart byPeter Reynolds.