A distinctly festive breeze blew into Malton with the town’s first St. Clement’s Festival last month. Traditionally held on 23rd November, St. Clement’s Day celebrates Pope Clement, the patron saint of blacksmiths, who was said to have been the first man to shoe a horse. The firing of the anvil and the beautiful parade of lanterns at dusk brought a festival of light into Malton that is set to continue into our Christmas celebrations.

Christmas is in full swing with us now and we have books for all tastes. There’s plenty of Christmas-themed stocking fillers alongside the highlights of the year and old favourites. If you need a good read to relax with at the end of these busy days, but you don’t have the time or the energy to get into a complex plot, a collection of short stories is highly recommended. The Penguin Book of Christmas Short Stories is a must for literary lovers as it brings together writers such as Truman Capote, Angela Carter and Dylan Thomas. For crime fans, Reginald Hill’s new collection of Christmas crime stories, Dalziel and Pascoe Hunt the Christmas Killer & Other Stories will have you guessing whodunnit right up until the big day.

Two great reads for children in the nine to twelve age range are Operation Nativity by Jenny Pearson and Ice Children by MG Leonard. Operation Nativity is a genuinely funny Christmas adventure that begins when Oscar and Molly find Angel Gabriel in their back garden. The race is on for them to find the rest of the nativity characters in order to save both Christmas and themselves. MG Leonard is a master at adventure and her wintry novel Ice Children, based loosely around the Snow Queen fairytale, sees Bianca race against time to save her younger brother and others who have been frozen. Featuring spirit animals, magic books and a winter wonderland full of marvels, this book will keep children enthralled from the first page to the last.

This year has been full of fantastic books and we thought it would be a good idea to recap some of our favourites and best-sellers. Where better to start than Sarah Bank’s Wild Guide North East England which ticks both boxes? By far one of the most popular books in the shop, this is a visually stunning books full of outdoorsy places to visit in the North East. Similarly, for those who enjoy narrative non-fiction, Amy-Jane Beer’s Wainwright Prize-winning The Flow runs a course throughout Britain meditating upon personal grief, the wildness of nature and the power of transformation that is available to both humans and the natural world.

Our fiction picks are almost too many to list and it’s probably best to come in and have a chat with us in the shop if you have friends, relatives or yourself to treat this Christmas. However, highlights include The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz which tells the story of Lena, a precocious young girl whose hopes of becoming one of Poland’s first female doctors are dashed by the onset of war. This is a lyrically told story of darkness and light and one that you will not forget for years to come. Claire Keegan’s novellas will also live within you long after you have read them. Since Small Things Like These featured on the Booker shortlist last year, Faber have reprinted some of her earlier work. The icing on the cake of these reprints is So Late In The Day, her taut reflection upon those fleeting yet monumental moments of misunderstanding between men and women.

Two recent favourites for confident readers over ten years’ old are Rick Riordan’s new Percy Jackson novel, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods and Sally Nicholl’s Yours from the Tower. Sally visited us last week so we have some signed copies of Yours From the Tower which is a must read for thoughtful youngsters who enjoy history. The three female protagonists of this book are brought to life through its epistolary form as we hear about their hopes and dreams, challenges and fears through the letters they write to each other. Set at the turn of the Twentieth Century, this book highlights just how universal the spirit of innovation is in the young people of any generation and just how much in common we have with those who have gone before us. The new instalment in the Percy Jackson series is a fast-paced adventure set against the backdrop of Greek mythology. Full of tyrannical gods and impossible quests with a thoroughly modern-day hero at the centre of it all, this is a great read for adventure hungry youngsters.

The Penguin Book of Christmas Short Stories, ISBN: 9780241455654, £14.99

Dalziel and Pascoe Hunt the Christmas Killer & Other Stories by Reginald Hill, ISBN: 9780008430054, £9.99

Operation Nativity by Jenny Pearson, ISBN: 9781801315111, £7.99

Ice Children by MG Leonard, ISBN: 9781035014217, £12.99

Wild Guide North East England by Sarah Banks, ISBN: 9781910636381, £18.99

The Flow by Amy-Jane Beer, ISBN: 9781472977403, £10.99

The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz, ISBN: 9781529388299, £16.99

So Late In The Day by Claire Keegan, ISBN: 9780571382019, £8.99

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, ISBN: 9780241647547, £16.99

Yours, From the Tower by Sally Nicholls, ISBN: 9781839133190, £14.99