The books my husband got for his birthday

I do birthday book posts for my two sons, and, having just watched my husband unwrap his five presents from me, all of which were books, I thought it would be fun to do the same for him! So here's what he got, and why:

The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. He likes intelligent speculative fiction for grown-ups, and I liked Bacigalupi's YA books, so this is a good one for both of us to read.

Ditto The Long Earth, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. An added incentive for this one was my husband's interest in WW I.

He just read and loved In the Woods, by Tana French, so I ran out today and got him the second book in the series--The Likeness. I'm not sure I'm ever going to read these myself--they seem a bit dark for me (I don't like books where children get killed), so this was a purely unselfish purchase, and he is reading it even as I type, which is gratifying.

Likewise I won't be curling up with Titus Awakes, the fourth Gormenghast book finished by Mervyn Peake's wife, Maeve Gilmore. I wasn't able to go on past the first book--it was all too miserable.

And his final book was another all for him--an impulse purchase of a version of Alice in Wonderland illustrated by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Since he likes both Alice and Japan, it seemed a safe bet, and he did seem pleased!

(which one would you like most to get as a present?)

And tomorrow he will get the best gift of all--six rolls of lining paper, because we have decided to Make Our Marriage Stronger (ha ha ha) and wallpaper the dining room ourselves.