My mother had this clever habit, once her four children were grown, of ordering books for each of us to later — sometimes much later — be sent as Christmas gifts. It gave her a chance to read each book, decide if it was the kind of thing each of us might like and, on occasion, just keep it for herself.
One of the pre-read gifts she got for me was “A.A. Milne: His Life,” by Ann Thwate, a detailed biography of the man I well knew as the author of the stories and poems about Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh.