For a Child You Know (When You Have No Idea What Kids Are Into These Days)
Consider: The Great Bear by Annie Booker
Buy It At: Your local bookstore or Amazon
What It Is: A beautifully illustrated book that tells the story of a Great Bear who protects the arctic oceans and their wildlife. As human machinations increasingly infringe upon the polar bear’s domain, a long-held balance falls to the wayside, black oil bleeding into blue waters. The book also includes real facts about ocean life and ongoing conservation efforts.
Why It’s Perfect: Start kids young on the impending climate catastrophe that awaits them as they grow older. Ideal for inspiring a new generation of conservationists or inexplicably making your child cry at their work desk one day in adulthood, when they happen to recall the story.
For Your Significant Other
Consider: The Ten-Year Affair by Erin Somers
Buy It At: Your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: In this witty new novel from writer and reporter Erin Somers, two young parents, both married, meet at a local baby group and start engaging in some hardcore fantasizing about the roads not traveled. Then, in one timeline, they act on their feelings. In another, they resist.
Why It’s Perfect: Idle minds wander; let your partner know they best keep you entertained.
For the Family Member Whose Politics Disappoint You
Consider: A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
Buy It At: Your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: A mother, her two-year-old daughter, and her elderly father are preparing to immigrate to the States from India when suddenly, the mother’s bag is stolen with their immigration documents. The book spins two narratives: one of the mother’s frantic attempt to recover her items while fighting a food shortage, and that of the thief, whose desperation to provide for his family pushes him to commit a series of increasingly risky crimes.
Why It’s Perfect: This holiday season, let’s all practice empathy.
For the Dude Who Never Wants Anything Specific
Consider: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Buy It At: Your local bookstore,Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: A diary is discovered in the walls of an old home, written by a Lutheran pastor who witnessed a massacre in 1912. Told through a series of interviews with a Blackfeet named Good Stab, what unfolds is a Native American revenge story that bridges the supernatural and brutal reality of colonization.
Why It’s Perfect: This horror novel is damn good, and wrapped in a cover that reminds me of a macho-ified stick of deodorant or cologne.
For the Teenager Who Scares You
Consider: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Buy It At: Your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: A governess arrives at a home in England to tend to and tutor two young children. But as she stays longer, and bears witness to the corruption and aristocratic preoccupations of the family, her intentions grow darker.
Why It’s Perfect: Next year this book will be adapted into a film starring scream queen Maika Monroe. Having already read the source material will be oh-so chic.
For Your Mom or Dad (or Other Parental Figure)
Purchase: Flesh by David Szalay
Buy It At: Your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: A study of contemporary masculinity, but actually insightful and interesting. A teen boy in Hungary moves from isolation and poverty to social standing and wealth, only to have his life spiral out of control as he is confronted by the choices he’s made and the relationships he’s had along the way.
Why It’s Perfect: The Booker Prize basically exists to point out what book you should buy your parents any given year.
For an Alternative Friend Who Has Relinquished Material Desires
Consider: Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Buy It At: Your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: A burnt-out, middle-aged woman retreats from Sydney to a small, religious compound seeking revitalization and meditation. Instead, she is met by a sudden infestation of mice, the discovery of a presumed-dead sister, and a figure from the narrator’s troubled past. Between them all are scenes of stillness, and an exploration of grief’s impact on the living.
Why It’s Perfect: Perhaps it will inspire your friend’s next languorous, meditative trip, or dissuade them from it entirely (on account of the mouse plague).
For the Person You Begrudgingly Have to Spend Money On
Consider: Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith
Buy It At: Your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: A new and collected series of essays by literary stalwart Zadie Smith. The writer disparately contemporary artists, recent films, late lit giants, international politics, and life in New York.
Why It’s Perfect: Smith is a fan-favorite, no-brainer. Her books are the literary equivalent of chocolate in a stocking—anyone would be happy to receive one.
For Your Secret Santa, White Elephant, or Other Nondescript Recipient
Consider: The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
Buy It At: Your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: Lalami, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, spins a tale in which a woman lands at the airport, only to be detained by the “Risk Assessment Administration,” who have determined she is going to commit a crime. She is locked up with a number of other women, all presumed guilty of future crimes in what I can only describe as a vast improvement on the Minority Report train of thought.
Why It’s Perfect: This book was pretty universally loved this year, and thus should be universally appreciated by whoever ends up with it in your annual holiday lotto.
For the Reader You Want to Impress
Consider: The Age of Choice by Sophia Rosenfeld
Buy It At: Your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
What It Is: A look at how the freedom of personal choice became a hallmark of modern life. We choose what we buy, where we live, who we spend our time with, and on, and on. The writer takes us from the 17th century through to the present day, paying particular attention to the evolution of women’s autonomy, all while deconstructing a notion so pervasive as to escape attention completely.
Why It’s Perfect: The slightly off-beat publication is the kind of book that says “I have thoughts and keep my ear to the ground, too,” perfect for throwing off someone who’s sitting a little too high up on their horse. Also, genuinely quite an enjoyable read.
in your life?
