Best gift books
For the Foodie
A Prohibition-era cocktail in New Orleans. A massaged persimmon in Japan. Steam-brewed beers in North Korea. That’s just a sampling of more than 500 dishes, ingredients, traditions and cooking practices from every corner of the world in the new culinary book Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer’s Guide (Workman) by CecilyWong and DylanThuras.
For Readers of the Great American Novel
Set against the backdrop of the American South, HonoréeFanonneJeffers’ The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois (Harper) is an epic tale of adventure that follows a young Black girl struggling with her own identity, alternating her own story with those of her ancestors.
For the Mafia Buff
In Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli (Gallery Books), a thorough, page-turning “making of” story nearly 50 years after the film’s release, MarkSeal writes of the revolutionary film that “sparked a war between two of the mightiest powers in America: the sharks of Hollywood and the highest echelons of the Mob.”
For the Big Dreamer
Two heroines—one female aviator who dreamed of circumnavigating the globe and a young Hollywood actress cast to play her a century later—make MaggieShipstead’s Great Circle (Knopf) one of the year’s most addictive and entertaining reads.
For the Book Clubber
In Dava Shastri’s Last Day (November 30, Grand Central Publishing) by KirthanaRamisetti, one of the world’s wealthiest women has just received a cancer diagnosis. Now a dying billionaire matriarch, she decides to leak the news of her death so she can read her obituaries, horrifying her children and inadvertently exposing secrets she spent years burying.
For the Armchair Detective
Two dads (and ex-cons) attempt to solve and avenge the gruesome murders of their sons in S.A. Crosby’s bestselling thriller Razorblade Tears (Flatiron).
For the Rom-Com Lover
When Harry Met Sally buffs will bask in the warm and witty comfort of EmilyHenry’s People We Meet on Vacation (Berkley). The 2021 rom-com hit follows a travel writer who reconnects with the best friend she might be in love with.
For the Martini Maker
Unveiling an entire untold history of female distillers, brewers, drink makers and more, screenwriter MalloryO’Meara’s Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol (Hanover Square) is a fun and fiercely feminist look at the women who changed drinking.
For the Budding Imagination
A tale of magic, mischief and monsters, Beasts of Prey (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers), the first in AyanaGray’s fantasy trilogy (which is also being developed into a film by Netflix), follows two Black teens hunting down a vicious creature.
For Fans of Wicked
The first book in an all-new magical Wicked spinoff series, The Brides of Maracoor (William Morrow) by GregoryMaguire welcomes back a few familiar faces from Oz as well as Elphaba’s vibrantly green-skinned granddaughter, Rain, who washes ashore on a foreign island where a compelling cast of seven “brides” takes her in.
For the Environmentally Friendly
With glowing reviews from BillNye, LeonardoDiCaprio, GretaThunburg and more, world-renowned climatologist MichaelE. Mann’s The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet (PublicAffairs) debunks deniers and sets out systemic measures to combat the global problem.
For Historical Fiction Fans
For anyone on your list who cherishes books, The Paris Library (Atria) by JanetSkeslienCharles is based on a true story and takes readers to World War II–era France, where a group of heroic international librarians defies Nazi rule to hand-deliver books to Jewish readers. Next, 25 Books We’ve Loved Reading This Fall
