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Because a book will never be the wrong size… But which one to get everyone? We’re here to help.
For the true-crime fan
Forget Making a Murderer, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (by Michelle McNamara) has gripped readers everywhere this year. The perfect true crime tale, it tells the story of the Golden State killer and hooks not just because of the fantastic storytelling and the chilling real story, but also because of narrator's own voice.
It's as much a murder investigation as it is a psychological portrait of the writer, who became obsessed with resolving the case of this infamous mass murderer, and who sadly died before the book was published. About to become an HBO docu-series, now is the perfect time to gift it, before it’s absolutely everywhere.
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For the person in your life with insomnia
Its starry cover alone should provide respite on sleepless nights – but so do its luminous insides. Insomnia by Marina Benjamin is a fascinating meditation on the 'different hue' the world takes when we are up at night.
'There are textures of the dark I have begun paying attention to,' Marina Benjamin writes, and her lyrical exploration of this state – looking too at art, philosophy and history – is comforting and intimate. Fascinating even if you don't have trouble sleeping, this is a sure-fire stocking filler.
For your bestie since high school
Sharlene Teo's debut story of adolescent girls, horror movies and scorching, sticky heat was one of the best debuts of the year. Following two girls, Szu and Circe, in 2003 and 2020 Singapore, as well as the life of Szu’s mother (a one-time cult actress whose only film, Ponti!, is all but lost) in the 1970s, this is a book full of longing, friendship, complex mother-daughter relationships and mythology. Like in real life, it’s not all rosy, but it will make for the perfect gift within a friendship that’s stood the test of time.
For the Nora Ephron fan – or the person in need of a good cry
Jean Hannah Edelstein strikes the perfect balance between heartbreaking and funny in this memoir, This Really Isn't About You, which tells the moving story of rebuilding her life after her father died and she discovered she'd inherited a gene that causes cancer – while having just moved countries. Her witty, perceptive voice is one that will stay with the reader – and this is, above all, an uplifting, life-affirming story of unashamed, generous love.
For the bookworm/heart-ached friend
From the author of Bleaker House, this book shifts between the story of Elizabeth Gaskell’s life in the 1850s, when she leaves England for Rome – where she finds a community of artist friends, an unconventional life, and unrequited love – and, in parallel, Nell Steven’s own life in 2013, starting a PhD on that very community of bohemians while she falls in love with a guy from her MFA.
Mrs Gaskell and Me is a gorgeous memoir for the bougie Victorian lit-lover in your life, yes, but also for any lover of excellent, compelling writing by smart women (which should be everyone!)
For the friend at a life crossroads
This collection of 'essays, drawings, vulnerabilities and other stuff' by the Broad City co-creator and co-star takes us through the early days of the show, the comedy world, and Abbi's own journey through navigating love, work and loss while she tried to figure out who she really was.
One day, she announced to her friends that she’d drive across America alone, and they all had a lot of thoughts, unsolicited advice, and the question: why? She did it anyway, and I Might Regret This is the result. Her pit stops, anecdotes and observations – the book is peppered with her illustrations of the records and podcasts she listens to in the car – feel like you are on that very road trip with her.
For the woman in your life who *has had it* this year
Don’t let society gaslight you. Award-winning writer Rebecca Traister has been an essential feminist writer – and a reasonable, wise voice amidst the madness – for years.
And Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger delivers everything it promises: deconstructing all the ways that women’s collective anger has been a force for change and a catalyst for political movements through history. Traister proves that we have more power than we think, and that we did long before the current political moment put anger in the spotlight. For a double gift, complement it with the equally excellent Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly.
For the fun friend who is down with Love Island, poetry and everything in between
Weirdly, mermen (and fish-human hybrids in general) have been a trend this year, but forget The Shape of Water: the real banger, in our book, was this hilarious, poignant and sexy fictional story about a 38-year-old woman who falls for a merman in Los Angeles. Melissa Broder displays her unmistakable voice, famous for her essay collection and Twitter account So Sad Today, to craft The Pisces, a brilliant story about why we crave connection and how to find ourselves.
For the person who reads one novel a year (and they need it to be banging)
You can’t go wrong with this much-talked-about love story between two teenagers in Ireland, whom we follow from high school all the way through university. As page-turning as it is smart, your friend, mother or whoever you give it to will find themselves rooting for Marianne and Connell. Teenage love is elevated to literary glory, here, by Sally Rooney in Normal People - as it deserves.
For the fan of smart, creepy, fairy-tale-inspired feminist stories
Before the current trend, there were masters like the incomparable Angela Carter, and this new collection, The Bloody Chamber, Wise Children, Fireworks, of some of her most astonishing works makes for a perfect present for the horror or feminist dystopia fan in your life.
Promising to showcase 'her hauntingly erotic fabulism and the subversive richness of her imagination,' this book encompasses The Bloody Chamber, a story collection inspired by fairy tales in which, for instance, Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma is stoned to death for witchcraft; Wise Children, her last novel; and Fireworks, one of her first collections. Make it a bundle with any of Shirley Jackson’s works, especially The Haunting of Hill House or We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
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