Buying books as presents for family tend to fall into two categories. The first are books that speak directly to that person’s interests, even if you think their interests are weird. After all it’s a present! The second category are books that they will like, but that you will like too. Some may say this second category smacks of a little bit of enlightened self-interest, but I like to think of it as cutting down on our book-buying as one book can now be read and hopefully enjoyed by more than one person – the other person being me... I know that’s rationalizing but as John Lennon once said, “whatever gets you thru the night!” Anyway, enough self-important quotage and on with the book talk. One of the books I bought my husband this Christmas was In Praise of Paths by Torbj ø rn Ekelund. I actually bought it for his birthday in September, then finished up buying something else and forgetting I had it at the bottom of a drawer. So that was a result come Christmas. I say it was a result