Special Post - Holiday Gift Books

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I know it is a bit early for the holidays, but since I am taking a break from writing new book recommendations until after the New Year, I thought people might be looking for interesting titles to read themselves or give to others over the gift-giving season.

Below are some of my favorites with links to my reviews. Every one of these I highly recommend. I hope a few will catch your interest and work their way onto your shelves for reading or for sharing with friends and family.

 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

     See More Recommendations 

          (and an Intro to The First Sentence Reader) 

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Fiction

Animals

Horse (historical fiction) - Geraldine Brooks

Remarkable Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

West With Giraffes (historical fiction) - Lynda Rutledge

  

Humor

Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

Food: A Love Story - Jim Gaffigan

The Golf Omnibus  - P.G. Wodehouse

Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen  - Paul Torday

 

Mystery

Booked to Die - John Dunning

Remarkable Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

The Twyford Code - Janice Hawlett

 

Romantic Relationships

The Japanese Lover - Isabelle Allende

Meet Me at the Museum - Anne Youngson

The Odds - Nan Stewart

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

Two Across - Jefff Bartsch

 

Science Fiction

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - Hank Green

Cold People - Tom Rob Smith

Golden State - Ben H. Winters

Machine Man  Max Barry

Seveneves  - Neal Stephenson

Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuval

 

Short Stories

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke - Arthur C. Clarke

 In Sunlight or in Shadow - Lawrence Block, editor

 

Small Towns / Western Setting

Juliet in August - Dianne Warren

Outlawed  - Anna North

Plainsong - Kent Haruf

The Whistling Season - Ivan Doig

 

Thrillers

Before I Go to Sleep - S.J. Watson

I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes

Memory Man - David Baldacci

Shibumi  - Travanian

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney

 

Young Adult

Brewster  - Mark Slouka

Ender's Game - Orsen Scott Card

Five Children and It  - E. Nesbit

Hatchet - Gary Paulsen

The Hobbit  - J.R.R. Tolkein

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

 

Leftovers - Just Plain Great Reads

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones

Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson

The Immortalists  - Chloe Benjamin

The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

Manners from Heaven - Quentin Crisp

The Speed of Dark - Elizabeth Moon

The Scapegoat - Daphne Du Maurier

To Serve Them All My Days - R.F. Delderfield

World of Wonders - Robertson Davies

 

Non-Fiction 

Animals

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery

 

Books Themed

Dear Fahrenheit 451 - Annie Spence

One for the Books - Joe Queenan

Outwitting History - Aaron Lansky

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distractions - Alan Jacobs

 

People

84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff

At Ease: Stories I Tell To Friends - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Educating Esme  - Esme Raji Codell

The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson

The Hammersteins - Oscar Hammersteins

Insomniac City - Bill Hayes

The Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 - Victoria Wilson

Never Cry Wolf  - Farley Mowat

Nothing To Do But Stay - Carrie Young

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio - Terry Ryan

Shakespeare Saved My Life  - Laura Bates

We Took to the Woods - Louise Dickinson Rich

Sports

The Glory of Their Times - Lawrence Ritter

Handful of Summers - Gordon Forbes

Three-Year Swim Club - Julie Checkoway

Wait Till Next Year - Doris Kearns Goodwin

Why We Swim - Bonnie Tsui

 

War

To End All Wars - Adam Hochschild

The Volunteer - Jack Fairweather

We Die Alone - David Howarth

Winter Fortress - Neal Bascomb