10 Hot Titles to Gift the
Book-Lovers on Your List
by Jennie Yabroff
This holiday season we’ve rounded up a truly inspiring haul of beautiful books perfect for gifting. Whether it’s a page-turner everyone’s been talking about for months, a gorgeous coffee-table book that will keep guests entertained while you’re preparing the holiday feast, or an offbeat selection that will show family and friends just how well you really do know them, there’s something on this list for everyone — including you.
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Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook
Available from:Alice Waters’s importance as a chef cannot be overstated — every time you eat a fresh, seasonal vegetable in a restaurant instead of something frozen, then overcooked, and smothered in lumpy sauce, you are enjoying her influence. But even more remarkable than the way she’s revolutionized food is the way she has impacted the way we think about food — as Michelle Obama’s White House vegetable garden, inspired by Waters, can attest. This memoir is the ideal gift for anyone interested in how Waters learned how to cook, eat, and change America’s mind about what should be for dinner.
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Little Fires Everywhere
Available from:In this bestselling, highly praised novel, Celeste Ng explores questions of race, class, and familial bonds in a riveting story about a family whose secrets are nothing less than incendiary. Set in a seemingly bucolic suburb, the book asks how far we are willing to go to hold on to what we love — and at what price. A literary page-turner for all the fiction lovers on your list.
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The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too)
Available from:Are you an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel? In this book by the author of The Happiness Project, readers learn how they tend to approach problems, work, and relationships, and how those tendencies help and harm them in their quest for happiness and success. This book is a great gift — even if the recipient isn’t a self-help reader. And the quiz revealing which personality type you have is sure to inspire lots of conversation during holiday get-togethers.
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Remarkable Books: The World's Most Beautiful and Historic Works
Available from:Did you know that an early version of The Art of War was written on bamboo? Or that Birds of America is considered one of the greatest illustrated books ever? This coffee-table volume collects the covers and inside stories of some of the most stunning books of all time, tracing the history of illustration and book-making along the way. Perfect for the aesthetically minded bibliophile on your list.
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Into the Water
With her debut novel, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins rocketed to the top of the bestsellers lists for her ability to pull off an intricately plotted, psychologically complex thriller with a surprise ending that lands like a punch to the gut. In her follow-up novel, she tells the story of several seemingly unrelated women who end up on the bottom of a river — and how they got there. Give this to the suspense fans on your list, and don’t expect to see them again until they’ve turned the final page.
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Sweet: Desserts from London's Ottolenghi
Available from:To say Israeli-born, London-based chef Yotam Ottolenghi has a cult following is an understatement. Many otherwise timid home cooks have been emboldened by his recipes to incorporate unfamiliar spices and palate-expanding flavors into their weekly meals, with delicious results. Here, he collects his favorite dessert recipes, featuring unexpected flavors like rose petal, saffron, star anise, and olive oil. Buy this for anyone ready to move beyond their basic cookie recipe.
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Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult
Great children’s literature, Bruce Handy writes, is “complicated, stubborn, conflicted, and mysterious” — just like children themselves. In this delightful, impassioned argument for the inclusion of works by writers such as Beverly Cleary and Dr. Seuss in the canon of American classic literature, Handy compellingly traces the history of books for children, highlighting some personal favorites and offering insight into the magic that words and pictures work on our brains, whether we’re young or old. A good bet for the closet Ramona Quimby collector on your list.
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The Secret Lives of Color
Available from:We all know Picasso went through a blue period, but what exact shade of blue was it? Where did it come from, and what did it mean to him? Why is white the color of hospitals and sanitation? And how, exactly, did pink become punk? This engaging and, pardon the pun, colorful history of shades spanning the spectrum is a great gift for anyone on your list with an eye for color and an interest in why we think about it the way we do.
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What Happened
In addition to the holidays, December marks the end of the first calendar year of Donald Trump’s presidency, but for many, the election still feels as fresh as if it happened yesterday. This candid, thoughtful, and straightforward memoir by the woman who was almost president details exactly how it all went down. A must-read for politics junkies of all persuasions, this book is an important chapter in a story that is far from over.
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New York Street Style: A Coloring Book
Available from:Combining the soothing, meditative powers of an intricately pattered adult coloring book with the visual creativity of some of New York’s most inspired and idiosyncratic fashion mavens, this book makes the perfect gift for aspiring designers, style enthusiasts, and anyone who enjoys coloring in the lines. A great gift for the fashion-forward recipient who needs a little stress-busting.
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What books are you planning on gifting this holiday season? Share with us in the comments below.