A Book for Everyone on Your List!

The Book-ish Gift Guide

Since I don’t celebrate Christmas, the pressure to buy gifts for an entire extended family isn’t quite as intense. My biggest focus is my son, whose 4th birthday is the week before Hanukkah, which is the week before Christmas. He doesn’t yet understand that we don’t celebrate everything, so I’m spreading his gifts across the month and preparing for a marathon of magic-making. But one thing I refuse to do? Elf on the Shelf. That’s my hard line.

Still, so many people I love do celebrate Christmas. So, in between ordering Chinese food and going to the movies (the true holiday traditions), I try to pick out something small and meaningful to wrap for friends and family.

And honestly, what’s better than a book?

Here are some ideas:

1. For the young kid: The Smart Cookie, by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald.
   A sweet, funny reminder that everyone learns differently and everyone is smart in their own way. Perfect for kids transitioning from play to more structured learning.

2. For The Tech Enthusiasts - Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
   For the friend who sends you AI think-pieces at midnight. A family’s autonomous minivan gets into a fatal crash, and every character feels responsible. The question becomes: was it one of them—or the AI?

3. For Someone in a Reading Slump: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
   This will pull even the most exhausted reader back into a book-a-week habit. Glamour, romance, scandal—it’s irresistible.

4. For The Romantic: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
   I read this twice because I couldn’t bear to leave it behind. A late-night comedy writer and a musical guest fall into an unexpected, delicious slow burn.

5. For the Recent Divorcee: Animal Instinct by Amy Shearn
   For the friend who needs a little nudge back into pleasure and possibility. Funny, sexy, cathartic—hand it to her with a wry smile.

6. For the Art Lover: My Friends by Fredrik Backman
   A novel about a painting, two artists across generations, and the haunting question of what it means to devote yourself to art. I want to reread it endlessly just to live inside the language.

7. For the Empty Nester: Sandwich by Catherine Newman
   A tender, nostalgic story about motherhood, identity, and the layers of who we become to our children over time.

8. For the Women’s Study Major: Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross

   A sharp, resonant exploration of why it remains so hard for women to say no, especially to men with power.

9. For Your Best Girlfriends: The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

   A stunning portrait of female friendship over decades: marriage, kids, heartbreak, reinvention.

10. For the Influencer Obsessed: Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

    Trad wives murder mystery, need I say more?

11. For the Therapist that Needs a Therapist: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
    We all know who this person is.

12. For the True Crime Obsessed (though it is fiction): Our Last Resort by Clémence Michallon
    A cult, a murder, and estranged chosen siblings left to figure out their past while saving their future.