Books as Christmas gifts

John Banville, Irish writer, Milano, Italy, September 2005. (Photo by Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images)

John Banville's picks

Marilyn Monroe by Donald Spotto

Venice, City of Pictures by Martin Gayford

A Life in Letters: John Updike

Fifty Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke

Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America by Sam Tanenhaus.

Leo Varadkar in studio speaking on an RTÉ radio programme

Leo Varadkar's picks

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything about the World – by Tim Marshall

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood

The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde

The Secret Life of Leinster House by Gavan Reilly

Apeirogon by Colum McCann.

Clelia Murphy's picks

A Mind of my Own - Cathy Burke (Audiobook narrated by the author)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Letters from The North Pole – by Annie Atkins

Lessons in Kindness by poet Dani Gill

Wolf Men and Water Hounds - The Myths, Monsters and Magic of Ireland by Manchán Magan and illustrated by Steve Doogan.