Transcript
Speaker: I've never felt any need to venture out into the world of savoury porridge.
Speaker: Hello and welcome to the Pricewriter podcast with Katrin Townsend and me, Jeremy Keaton. Join us as we explore and discuss the world of insurance related books offering our insights and recommendations.
Speaker: Normally, we talk about one specific book and how you can apply this to insurance pricing. But today, as the holidays are coming up, we're talking about gifting books.
Speaker: Pricing professionals are super busy. So today we're going to give you our recommendations for a range of interests and ages. And we'll talk about books that we've got on our wish lists and books that we've received that have been our absolute favourites.
Speaker: Let's start with the highlights. Jeremy, what's the best book you've ever received as a gift? Yeah, so it's bit of a departure from the ones we normally talk about because it is fiction.
Speaker: So the best book I've received would be Jurassic Park from my brother in the, I think, mid to late 90s, actually. So it's just it's just an all-round excellent book. If you've never read Michael Christian or particularly Jurassic Park before, I really recommend it. The book is a lot better than the film and the film is quite good.
Speaker: But I just think it's a wonderful bit like many Michael Christian books. I think it's a definite five star. It's really got momentum, which builds at the start with your intrigue and your interest in the characters. And then when events start happening, the book just rolls and rolls and rolls all the way up to the conclusion.
Speaker: Mostly it's a fantastic, fun book. I would say only negative is as a grown up, I've come to realize that Michael Christen, despite being a scientist, actually writes quite anti-science books.
Speaker: When you really think, ah when you think about it, Jurassic Park is actually an anti-science book. It's saying that science is doing things that science really shouldn't do. I have found as I have grown up that I understand more Michael Christian politics and I actually find it that that's something I don't like. But the actual book is fantastic.
Speaker: What about you, Katrin? What is the best book you've ever ever received as a gift? I've gone for a totally different type. It's also fiction, but it's called Puppy Too Small.
Speaker: Awesome. you see that? Puppy Too Small. I can see that. And This is something you got recently. Yes, actually. So this is a book I've received twice in my life as a gift.
Speaker: Once when I was very, very small as a baby, um my mom always used to read it with me and my sister. there's a wonderful photo of us reading this book, the three of us on the sofa. Oh, nothing. And i also received it seven Christmases ago, just after my son was born.
Speaker: And so the reason I love it as a gift is not only is it really sentimental, but it's also a book that's incredibly hard to find. This isn't like The Very Hungry Caterpillar or a book that is always in Waterstones. This had to be tracked down. This is secondhand. I think it was last published in 1982.
Speaker: 1987 so to to manage to to find a copy obviously took a lot of work and I think for me that's what makes this a really special gift not only is it like sentimental but it's also very thoughtful it's not just a book that I could have just bought Amazon well that's lovely so who who is it from It was from my dad seven years ago. I don't know who it was from originally, yeah but yeah, my my dad got it from me seven years ago.
Speaker: Oh, isn't that cute? That's lovely. play So I don't know what the politics of Cindy Suzek is up. Yeah, it's a book that I really enjoy reading with my kids now and also very sentimental. So I think for me, that is what makes a good book though, or a good gift generally, isn't it? There's thought behind it.
Speaker: It's not just the I've ordered an item that you could have got yourself. For me, it's just someone actually thought about what I would like in the way of book, not what they would like.
Speaker: So they know my interests and the things I normally read. Or indeed, they know the things that I like and are willing to maybe take a little bit of a risk on getting a book that's about me. Yeah, I think books can go two ways for me, actually, as gifts.
Speaker: they So some books... are really thoughtful. You know that's the case when you can't wait to start reading it on Christmas Day afternoon. And then there's the other type of book that for me is like a bit more, I don't know what to get someone...
Speaker: Or I need some more filler for their stocking or under the tree or whatever it is. And you're like, I'll just get a book because you know, who needs a book for Christmas. A few years ago, my family went through this, this phase of doing the something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read present. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's quite a good idea. And i think it works really well, but it does then mean that you're going to get a book.
Speaker: Yeah. Even if we you can't find a specific one. This is a bit controversial, but I actually think that the ones that the big bookstores often recommend is like their book of the year or their Christmas bestsellers type thing. If you go into any high street bookstore this time of year onwards, you're going to see pretty much the same books.
Speaker: Yeah, they all have the same books actually as their leads, the big ones of the year and they're often the celebrity ones too. Yeah, so I've been tracking them down for this year, so I thought I'd tell you about what I think is going to be big.
Speaker: and And then what I'm going to do is, can we get like a suspenseful drum roll? We'll let you put that in.
Speaker: All right. So what I think will be big this Christmas, The Traitor's Circle by Jonathan Friedland. And I think this is going to be big for two reasons. One, obviously Jonathan Friedland is really good writer, but also because it has the name Traitor in the title. And obviously The Traitor super big TV this year.
Speaker: It's a true story, actually, which... kind of surprised me. I feel like sometimes we have heard absolutely every story going from the Second World War.
Speaker: But this sounds like a story that at least I'd never heard before. It's about a tight-knit circle of people who were trying to rebel against the Third Reich. Wow, that does sound interesting. And not a story I think I've heard before, actually. Sounds quite good.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely top of my wish list this year. The second one that I think is going to be really big is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins-Fried. We've both read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. You rated it really highly, didn't you?
Speaker: I did, actually. I thought was very good book. I mean, I don't very often read fiction nowadays, so it's a bit of an unusual pick for me, but actually did think it was really good. like I cried twice. Wow.
Speaker: Yeah, so this is her new book, and it's all about women working at NASA. It is fiction as well, but I don't like it when fiction is just totally vapid. In fact, i I often find her books have that good mix of lightheartedness, but also has a slight edge to it, which i always really like.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what surprised me about The Seven Husbands, actually, because it's about a movie star. So i was expecting it to be quite light in that way. And actually, it was very emotionally dense.
Speaker: The other book that was published this year that some of the big bookstores are promoting quite heavily are Proof by Adam Kaczarski. I actually read this book earlier in the year. It came out in February and I read it over the summer.
Speaker: While I liked it, I thought it was quite long and it was very anecdotal for me personally. So i think the person that you give it to, and let's be honest, you'd probably give it to someone like me for Christmas. like You know, there's someone in your family who likes numbers and data and you just don't know what to get them because they have everything.
Speaker: I thought it was okay, but I and want to start offering some alternatives to this book and some of the other big bestsellers this year. And I think this goes back to what you said earlier, Jeremy. If you know someone likes maths, then yes, proof by Adam Kaczarski is ah very clear, they'll probably like it.
Speaker: But they probably have already seen it or heard about it or they might get a copy from multiple people. So I want to give you a few recommendations that might be a bit of a risk and just a bit more unusual maybe.
Speaker: Okay. So what if we got then? So these are things that are not your mainstream books that everyone's going to be buying each other, but that you think if someone is mathsy, someone's a pricing professional, they'll probably like them.
Speaker: Yeah, i'm I'm going to try and do a Netflix algorithm. you If you like this, you'll also like. So I think if you like Proof by Adam Kuchowski, I would like to suggest that you buy The Science of Can and Can't by Chiara Marleto.
Speaker: And the reason that I want to recommend this is because it tackles the idea of impossibility in science. and But it takes it slightly further than just academic mathematical proof.
Speaker: And it's also written by a woman, which is really quite unusual, unfortunately, still in STEM books. So that would be one that I would put on my wish list. I've got some other alternatives. So the book that I think everyone and their brother and their cousin and everyone in the world have received in the past five years is a Richard Osman.
Speaker: Have you received one, Jeremy? I have not, but there are certainly all of them kicking around in my house. and We're definitely a householder that gets quite a lot of Richard Osman. welcome Both me my husband like, Mademistry. So this is usually something that we'll get at least one or two copies of.
Speaker: yeah Last year, I think we got three copies of The Last Devil to Die. love Richard Osman, by the way. This is absolutely no shade from him. It's just that, yeah. You're not going to read it three times.
Speaker: Not for a murder mystery, no. it So I would like to suggest that in instead of buying another copy of Richard Osman, you get someone, a Benjamin Stevenson. He's an Australian crime writer.
Speaker: And one of his books is called Everyone on This Train is a Suspect. So it's kind of that Orient Express type feel, closed room type thing.
Speaker: But it's funny and it has that kind of old school, I'm saying glamour of a murder mystery, but that that feel. But it it feels very modern up to date as well. So highly recommend Benjamin Stevenson.
Speaker: If you were thinking about getting someone the new Philippa Gregory book, which is all about Jane Boleyn this year. yeah Philippa Gregory obviously the queen of historical fiction.
Speaker: She doesn't bring out books that often anymore. So if you know someone who likes historical fiction, I would suggest... that they might already be getting a copy of Jane Boleyn from someone else.
Speaker: So I would highly recommend Cecily by Anne Garthwaite instead. I think it's her debut novel, so I'm hoping she brings out some more, but this is all about Cecily Neville in the Plantagenet era. It's very similar to Philippa Gregory. So mixing in a bit of fiction in between the events that we have documents on, and it really tells the story of the Neville's who Cecily is married to.
Speaker: So what would you describe it as? It's a very feminist book? Yeah, it's kind of an epic feminist retelling of The War of the Roses. So that's a really good alternative for historical fiction fans.
Speaker: If you have people in your family who really enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry, that was a big fiction book a couple years ago. i recommend they read It's Elemental, The Hidden Chemistry in Everything by Dr. Kate Byberdorf.
Speaker: Fiction or non-fiction? This is nonfiction, but it's kind of like in Lessons in Chemistry, she starts a TV series where she gives intro to chemistry lectures for women. So using cooking examples or your household examples.
Speaker: And what Dr. Weiberdorf has done as is almost to write that TV series into a book. Yeah. Yeah. For modern readers. So I think that would be really interesting for people who like that kind of gentle intro to chemistry, but also with a really feminist perspective as well. It's again, another STEM book written by a woman, which is not that common, particularly in physical chemistry.
Speaker: And finally, I have one more recommendation for kids, which is the investigator's case files. Ooh, sounds, is it more murder mystery?
Speaker: Yeah, the idea with the investigators is they are alligators who solve crime. Excellent. I like the sound of it already. So what age group are we talking? I think probably six to 11, that kind of upper infant junior age. This yeah Case Files is interactive as well. So there's a whole series of investigators books that are cartoon strip style.
Speaker: This is the new one out this year. And I think, again, it's a slightly off the wall choice, but a really good one. What are you hoping for this year, Jeremy? What's on your wish list? What kind of books are you going to get your kids for Christmas?
Speaker: They probably won't watch this podcast. Probably not. I mean, for my daughter, I'm going to get her the latest Alex Bell book. Alex Bell is a fantastic writer. She's probably most famous for Lex Trent, actually, or possibly the Polar Blower Explorers Club.
Speaker: But that is my daughter's favourite. The new one coming out she can't wait for, definitely. Oh, that's so nice. I've got some recommendations that are similar to Alex Bell. Oh, okay. and ah So I asked my favorite librarian, David. Yeah.
Speaker: little shout out to Surrey Libraries again this week. And he used their very cool author mapping system to find me some similar authors. do you want to hear them? I really do. Definitely.
Speaker: So Jenny Nimmo. don't know if you've got books by her. Or Sharon Gosling. No relation to Ryan, apparently. I'm caring. And he also recommended Tom Becker.
Speaker: so Okay. I've not heard of all three of these. That's interesting. There you So go head on down to your local library for some more recommendations of books. It's actually a really cool tool that seems to work by repeated keywords as well as the age and interest as well. so That's brilliant. I will definitely be looking those up in a second.
Speaker: Okay. What about your younger child? My son is most into Harry Potter at the moment. and That's one that we've got all the books of already. also liked the bad guy series. That's the one that film is based on.
Speaker: And he is currently reading to me Charlotte's Web, an absolute classic. yeah Are you going to get him a book this year? Yes, but I don't know what.
Speaker: The thing about my son is that he's actually really into nonfiction, just like I am. So he really likes books about films, oddly enough. He's very much into how Star Wars was made and all of the special effects and everything like that. He absolutely loves that.
Speaker: But I think I'll be looking for a book that's about one of those subjects for this year. Exciting. Yeah, it So the big question, I suppose, is how do you make a book a much more exciting present? What are your top tips?
Speaker: Oh, I think it's very much about picking something that someone will like. That's the big one for me to actually get an excited, interested in it. Because you can always wrap it up like it's a football.
Speaker: but I do think with books, nice wrapping paper definitely is required to make it feel a bit more exciting. And where do you stand on the controversial topic of recipe books?
Speaker: Pro or con? i I think, although I very much enjoyed receiving a couple of recipe books in my life, I would say they're probably not the best now. I just think I'm almost certainly going to go and Google it.
Speaker: The popular ones like Jamie Oliver are literally all online anyway, so it does feel like I'm probably not going to go and look in the book. Pictures never match up to what I cook as well. It's just a bit disheartening, isn't it?
Speaker: And I know in reality that the photographer has like hairsprayed whatever it is they're filming and decorated it and made it look really nice for that picture. It's like one of those how it started, how it's going memes that you see. I'm just never happy with with how it looks in the end.
Speaker: I think I agree mostly with recipe books. Like you say, the really common ones like the Mary Berry's, the Jamie Oliver's, everyone's probably going to have a copy of those or like you say, the recipes are online. Or you get the other type of recipe book, which is something that's super niche, like really niche. I got one a couple of years ago that was all recipes about porridge.
Speaker: Okay. That is quite niche. All of the recipes were porridge. In what way though? Because you can only add so many things. You would think. But there was a sunflower seed porridge, obviously different oat-based porridges.
Speaker: There was overnight oats. Okay. know, there's there was savoury porridges, which I didn't try. the lot of them looked very nice. But they all seem to be obviously porridge and then a whole load of colorful, expensive toppings that realistically I would get halfway through chopping and then go, this is fine. ill just eat the porridge. Just eat it. Now the porridge has gone cold. So again, it probably was more of an exercise in food photography rather than actual deliciousness. But it's nice ideas.
Speaker: I got rid of it. I do tend to get rid of recipe books. There's one recipe book that I recommend to, I think I've recommended it just to all my friends and it's called More by Matt Preston. Okay. You can see that I actually have got tabs in for this week's meal plan.
Speaker: Wow. Yeah, I know. I love it. If you want your family to eat more vegetables ah or if you've got veggies or vegans, or people who had kind of fed you're kind of vegan, and this book is perfect.
Speaker: It is written by Matt Perston, who was the judge on MasterChef Australia. So it's written in a really irreverent, funny way. And the recipe is actually pretty easy to do. I use this book loads, but my special tip for making recipe books a much better present is to give the book But flick through and find a couple of recipes that you think that person would really like. And then buy the cupboard ingredients for it.
Speaker: So, for example... I'm actually going to flick to my favorite recipe in this book. It's a pumpkin Thai tray bake. How good does that look? Wow, that does look nice.
Speaker: And it's really nice, but it does contain quite a few ingredients that the first time I used this book, I had to go and buy. It contains tamari sauce, which is a type of soy sauce, palm sugar, toasted coconut flakes, like those kind of things.
Speaker: And as a general principle for recipe book giving, i would say... Try and buy a couple of the cupboard ingredients. So if you're buying a book about like Italian recipes, try and get some Italian themed cupboard ingredients. So someone doesn't have to, the first time they want to do something from the book, they have to spend all this money just getting the right cupboard ingredients, you know? so it It reminds me when Delia Smith is like, oh, just pop to your cupboard and get yourself your... I'm going to say something silly now, I'm sorry.
Speaker: And just gets the most unbelievably random ingredient out that no one else in the country at all. And it's like, oh, yes, just pop some of that in. And you're like, that's going to be a trip to the shop, isn't it?
Speaker: Yeah, I totally agree. Some of the ingredients in recipe books are just a bit crazy, but buying those ahead of time, even if it means you have to do a special trip to the nearest ginormous waitrose near you, whatever it is, it can just take that gift from, I bought you the recipe books that they were telling me to buy in the bookstore, to like, I think you'd really like this recipe, and here's the stuff. The thing I do find with recipe books, though, is that you can often get them at charity shops super, super cheap.
Speaker: So that's always a good one. Like particularly for a stocking filler, I would say a really good stocking filler would be you go to the charity shop, you find like one of those smallish books of like 200 Thai recipes or whatever yeah for someone who vaguely likes Thai food. And then you buy two or three of the right ingredients.
Speaker: That probably brings you to about £10. It's nice as a stocking fillet, definitely. Yeah, definitely. Particularly for adults, that works really well. And similarly for kids as well, you can often get cheap kids' recipe books. You buy them some colourful confetti sprinkles or whatever, and you tie that to the front of the book. Yeah.
Speaker: you can So I think but recipe books can work really well. Maybe not porridge. Yeah, and maybe not. Mm-hmm. So that's just one way to element elevate books.
Speaker: The other book that I received that really liked was The Story of Art Without Men by Katie Hessel. And the reason I like this book is that it has a podcast series with it as well. So I feel like it's the gift that keeps on giving because even after I finished this book,
Speaker: I can still explore the topic more through the podcast. Well, the other thing you could do if people like art is you could even get tickets or book to see an exhibition for some of the artwork in the book. So that's another thing that you can do to go from like, oh I got your book. So like I bought you a book, but it's slightly elevated.
Speaker: And an experience as well. That is a nice, nice way of doing it. I mean, something I've done with nonfiction books is to go through and particularly ones obviously that I've read my myself is to put some post-it notes in, in places that I think the person I'm giving it to will find particularly interesting.
Speaker: Parts of the bit that I found in interesting, I think their interests would align to as well. That's really sweet. Yeah, it's a good idea. And you can discuss it afterwards. Yeah, exactly. And then it gives you a conversation piece as well about the book.
Speaker: And where do you stand on book vouchers? Oh, that's a tricky one. I think there's people that it works well for, but it is a bit like saying, I don't know you well enough to attempt to choose a book for you.
Speaker: Yeah, I kind of agree. Yeah. I think the one that works really well for though is if their local bookstore has a really big section that they're interested in, or even if it has like a costa as part of it, i know some or any coffee shop.
Speaker: But I know some Waterstones have costas inside the store. yeah And I just think it's absolute bliss going around the store, you know, you can browse for as long as you like. And a lot of them, you're allowed to pick up a book read the first bit well in the Costa while they're drinking a coffee and then decide if you like it or not so buying them like a five pound Costa voucher and then a 15 pound book voucher for example is basically saying have three hours just to get lost in a bookstore which was really nice to me
Speaker: That does seem like a nice idea. Yeah. Okay. that Again, that's a nice experience. But I think that elevates getting a book voucher into turning it into an experience. And again, it's more thoughtful than being like, I've just got you some vouchers.
Speaker: I hope this been useful. Next time, we'll be doing a roundup of all the books we've read this year. I'm very much looking forward to that and I can't wait for you all to join us.
Speaker: PriceWriters transforms pricing professionals into the most respected leaders in insurance. Find out more about our new PriceWriters Pro platform by visiting pricewriters.com.
