Thanksgiving has come and gone, and it feels like everyone is already shopping for holiday gifts. And so it’s time for my annual Books Make Great Gifts Guide. There’s something for everyone on your list, and remember that books are so easy to wrap!
Biographies and memoirs are popular this season, especially from celebrities. Cher’s memoir is titled simply Cher- The Memoir : Part One because her life is so big (she has been in the spotlight for six decades) it will require two volumes. Volume two publishes next year.
Ina Garten, known as the Barefoot Contessa, usually publishes a new cookbook every year, but this year she gives us a fascinating memoir Be Ready When The Luck Happens. Your best friend who watches the Food Network will love this one.
Everyone was a fan of Johnny Carson, and Bill Zehme with Mike Thomas’ new biography, Carson the Magnificent, would make a great gift for Dad, as would Max Boot’s Reagan- His Life and Legend, which shines new light on the life of Ronald Reagan.
Other nonfiction titles that would make a good gift for your son-in-law include Adam Higginbotham’s Challenger-A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, and Yuval Noah Harari’s Nexus- A Brief History of Information Networks From The Stone Age to AI. Sy Montgomery has written brilliantly about pigs and octopuses, and now she has What the Chicken Knows for the animal enthusiast on your list.
For your favorite chef, Martha Stewart has Martha: The Cookbook- 100 Favorite Recipes with Lessons and Stories From My Kitchen, or perhaps they would like Stanley Tucci’s What I Ate In One Year- and Other Thoughts as he takes us through a year in his life through food.
If you have fiction fans on your list, Susan Rieger’s stunning Like Mother, Like Mother shares the story of three generations of women and how the decisions they each make affects the following generation.
Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment starts on a airplane sitting on a tarmac. When one passenger stands up and predicts how and when each person will die, it is disconcerting until one prediction comes true, then it is life-altering for all.
Richard Price’s Lazarus Man takes place in 2008 East Harlem as a tenement building blows up, and we see how it affects everyone who lived there and the police investigating it.
If your neighbor who loves a good Hallmark Christmas movie, Susan Mallery’s One Big Happy Family is the perfect holiday read.
Romantasy is a hot genre now, and your adult niece who read the Iron Flame series would enjoy Shelby Mahurin’s The Scarlet Veil.
You could give your aunt two fantastic reads- Niall Williams has two novels that take place
in a small Irish town- This Is Happiness, along with his new one, Time of the Child.
Mystery fans will enjoy Richard Osman’s (of the Thursday Murder Club series) new stand-alone novel We Solve Murders about a retired cop who teams up with his daughter-in-law to discover who is trying to kill her. It’s a real page-turner with terrific characters and some hilarious dialogue.
Moving on to the younger readers, Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures is for young readers who are into fantasy novels.
Middle grade readers are big fans of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books, and his new one Wrath of the Triple Goddess continues the series that features mythological themes.
Book series are big with younger readers, and you can’t go wrong with Dav Pilkey’s newest Dog Man title- Big Jim Begins. Other series that younger readers enjoy include InvestiGators, about alligator private eyes, and Wings of Fire and Dragon Masters series that appeal to the younger fantasy readers.
The Bad Guys series is humorous, and Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series delights elementary school age children. For graphic novels reades, you can’t go wrong with The Babysitters Club and Amulet series of books.
For the littlest ones, Sherry Duskey Rinker has a new board book- Construction Site: Garbage Crew to the Rescue for fans of all her Construction book series. Mo Willems is hugely popular with kiddies, and his Don’t Let the Pigeons Drive The Sleigh has a holiday theme.
No one is more popular with the toddler set than YouTube sensation Ms. Rachel, and she has a board book- Ms. Rachel and the Special Surprise that will enchant your grandchild.
I hope you found something here for everyone on your list. Remember to support local indie bookstores, most of them have online shopping, or go to bookshop.org to support independent bookstores.
