“A book is a present you can open again and again”* but which ones stay with us the longest? A selection of our friends and writers told about their favourite books they have received as gifts.

“A very dear friend at university discovered I adored Gabriel Garcia Marquez and bought me Love In The Time Of Cholera, one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Inside he wrote ‘Christmas 1988’ and a dedication from the W.B. Yeats poem: ‘When you are old and grey and full of sleep take down this book and slowly read.’ It is still on my bookshelf 35 years later.”

Marianne Jones, editor and podcaster

“My husband gave me Burmese Cats: The Pet Owner’s Guide. It was his way of saying ‘Okay, you win, crazy cat lady’. He’d already chosen our furry friend Dixie (or was it the other way round?) and we brought her home the next week.”

Lynne Hyland, health and beauty editor

“My son was born on Christmas Eve and a good friend gave us a beautifully bound special edition copy of Oscar Wilde’s The Little Prince. It’s wrapped in pale blue fabric and embossed with gold and is something he will have forever. Such a lovely present for a newborn.”

Flora Shedden, baker and cookery writer

“As a child, I was obsessed with making things, so any book that had art, craft or recipes in were my favourites. I was once given a little paperback called Cooking Is A Game You Can Eat – the first book that restaurant critic Fay Maschler ever wrote. I loved it and made everything in it (badly) until the pages were greasy and stuck together.”

Claudia Baillie, writer and editor

“A few years ago, my sister found a second-hand copy of Donkey’s Glory [the story of Christ, but told through the eyes of three donkeys that carried him] by Nan Goodall for me. It was a book I had loved at primary school and had totally forgotten about. Now I read it every Christmas.”

Jane Knight, travel editor

“My mother would always put a Vogue in my stocking. I used to relish going to bed, reading it and thinking about how I was going to spend my Christmas money. I can still smell the pages now.”

Rosie Green, journalist and stylist

“My husband gave me The African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe [three novels about the impacts of colonialism on an African community over three generations]. I had read it as a child, loved it and had casually mentioned some months earlier that I wanted to revisit it at some point. A lovely, unexpected surprise when I unwrapped it on Christmas Day.”

Busola Evans, interiors writer

“My mum gave me a battered, out-of-print edition of The Egg And I by American writer Betty MacDonald. It’s about a woman who goes to live on a chicken farm in the Alaskan Wilderness in the 1940s, because her husband fancies the idea. No other book has had such an influence on my writing. Betty taught me so much about humour, and the book still makes me giggle when I re-read it.”

Octavia Lillywhite, The White Company’s fashion and lifestyle editor

“This might be cheating a little because it was self-gifted, but it was Spirit Babies: How To Communicate With The Child You’re Meant To Have by Walter Makichen. I truly believe the book was a sign that helped me to fall pregnant with our rainbow baby, Roman, who was born 11 days before Christmas Day! The best gift I’ve ever been given.”

Debbie Le, lifestyle content creator

“The Golden Mole And Other Vanishing Treasure, a beautiful, illustrated bestiary [that details unusual animals and their amazing habits] by Katherine Randall. It’s magical and a perfect dip-in, dip-out holiday read.”

Sarah Bailey, editor and author

*Our opening quote is from American author Garrison Keillor