Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dreams
Culture Club AND the gift guide you didn't know you needed? What a way to kick off the most wonderful time of the year!
As crazy as it seems, the holiday season is already (finally) upon us! I’m not one of those people who have a tree up and Mariah Carey blasting before Thanksgiving, but if you know me, you know there’s nothing I love more than the run-up to Christmas. The decorating, the gift buying, the gift wrapping, the cheesy Netflix movies - I love it all. So, even while I’m in the kitchen baking pies for my Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, I’m already mentally planning the Christmas festivities to come.
In that spirit, I’m going to help you with your holiday shopping: here’s everything I’ve read, loved, and know will make the perfect gift for at least one special person on your list.
For the person who longs to travel the world but is still afraid of Covid: Shantaram, Shipped, One Italian Summer, The Highland Fling
what to drink: Penicillin
For the history buff: Outlander (series), The Winter Soldier, While Paris Slept, The Last House on the Street
what to drink: your preferred whisk(e)y, neat
For the person who loves to nerd out: Lessons in Chemistry, Red Rising (series), The Love Hypothesis, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
what to drink: Q1908
For the person who loves an adventure: Cloud Cuckoo Land, We Begin at the End, Great Circle, Waypoints: My Scottish Journey
what to drink: Sassenach Punch (this is a large-batch recipe)
For the person constantly listening to true crime podcasts: True Crime Story, Mirrorland, The Book of Cold Cases, The Maid
what to drink: Death in the Afternoon
For the hopeless romantic: A Merry Little Meet Cute, The Dead Romantics, Funny You Should Ask, Book Lovers
what to drink: Cosmopolitan
For the person who prefers to stay grounded in reality: I’m Glad My Mom Died, A Promised Land, Ghosts, The Bartender’s Cure
what to drink: your favorite beer/hard seltzer/hard cider
For the cosplayer: A Court of Thorns and Roses (series), Fire & Blood, Into Every Generation a Slayer is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts, Carry On (YA series)
what to drink: Negroni… sbagliato… with prosecco in it.
For the person who has never experienced FOMO: It Happened One Summer, The It Girl, The Lifestyle, The Secret Bridesmaid
what to drink: Champagne
For the person whose greatest pleasure is JOMO: The Belle of Belgrave Square, The Bromance Book Club (series), The Midnight Library, A Deadly Education (series)
what to drink: Hot Toddy
For the person who’s constantly stoned: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, Ice Planet Barbarians (series), Things in Jars, Savages
what to drink: Buffalo Milk
For the person always experimenting in the kitchen: The Boy with the Bookstore, Too Hot to Handle, Spells for Forgetting, Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake
what to drink: The Spice is Right
For the person who wants to relive their youth: Just For Today, The Counselors, We Sold Our Souls, The Party Crasher
what to drink: Corpse Reviver no. 2
For the person who knows the book will always be better than an adaptation: Vampire Academy (series), The Night Circus, The Final Girl Support Group, Daisy Jones & the Six
what to drink: Old Fashioned
For the Love is Blind aficionado (#TeamCole): How to Fake It in Hollywood, Mr. Wrong Number, A Shadow in the Ember (series), Tender is the Night
what to drink: Rose-Colored Glasses
I’m pretty sure this guide will provide inspiration for even the pickiest person on your shopping list this year. If not, then I’m clearly not as good of a bookseller as I thought. Or you need to consider surrounding yourself with cooler people.
As a friendly reminder: don’t forget to subscribe, share, and shop local (all titles link back to my local independent bookstore, Main Point Books, but you can find a store near you simply by searching on IndieBound or Bookshop.org). And until next time, happy Thanksgiving!
Clear plates, full bellies, can’t lose,
Sam