“There are all themes and for all budgets”: the book remains a sure value to give as a Christmas gift

For the holidays, and more particularly as a gift under the tree, books are still popular, although we are in the digital and internet age. “It’s a safe bet for Christmas because there are all themes and there’s something for all budgets” declares Véronique Bastide, manager of the Bastide bookstore, a family business for four generations. “People come here because they always find something they like. We also have games.” For Jean-François Brian, salesman with a passion for reading, “Literary prizes always sell out at Christmas and in general all types of books.”

Sport and… Notre-Dame!

This year, with the Olympic Games, a lot of sports books have come out, other than rugby. There is the official Paris 2024 book (Hugo sport, €44.95) and the one on Léon Marchand, revelation of a prodigy (Casa édition, €24.95). “This year, there was a tidal wave on all the works concerning the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral,” underlines Véronique Bastide. “They’re all in reprint.”

In the regional books section, the bookstore offers around fifty titles. Among the new features, there are the Templar and Hospitaller Cities of Larzac. The text is by Françoise Galès and the photographs by Jean-Luc Bories (Editions Chemin d’encre, €24). It is a work with beautiful photographs which addresses the historical, architectural and artistic study of four sites.

A comic strip entitled Larzac, a story of peasant resistance with a script by Pierre-Marie Terral and drawings by Sébastien Verdier (Dargaud edition, €23.50) has also just been released. Sylvie Boulard has also just published her latest novel The Flight of the Vultures, the New Investigation of Inspector Levasseur (Editions Below the Volcano, €15), the series of which is enjoying great success.

General de Castelnau, native of Saint-Affrique

On the history side, several works on General de Castelnau, originally from Saint-Affrique, came out of the presses to mark the 80th anniversary of his death. The last is entitled Castelnau, le marshal escamoté (1851-1944) by Jean-Louis Thiériot (editions Tallandier, €23.50). Regarding current affairs and geopolitics, good sales are noted for The Memoirs of Alexeï Navalny (Robert Laffon edition, €25) and many books deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“He was a fool in Aveyron…”

“In pocket edition, the current phenomenon that is popular is The Housekeeper, by Freida Mc Fanden” (J’ai Lu editions, €8.60), notes Jean-François Briant. And always success for beautiful books at Christmas, but also cookbooks.” With this year, as a novelty, He was a fouace… in Aveyron by Nadia Creyssels (Toute Latitude editions, €28). In the comics department, there are always the sure values ​​like Asterix, Tintin, the Sisters or Alix. Following on from The Arab of the Future, Riad Sattouf, the author, has just published Me, Fadi, the stolen brother, volume 1, 1986-1994 (Book of the Future edition, €23).

Let’s not forget Lucky Luke’s latest album, entitled A Cowboy Under Pressure (Lucky Comics editions, €12.50). In the series The Old Furnaces, opus 8 Graines de rogues (Dargaud edition, €15) has arrived on the shelves. Also released by Signé Obrik, the latest Blake and Mortimer (€17).