Delightful New Books for Everyone on Your Holiday List
Picks for grown-ups
“Murdle: Volume 1: 100 Elementary to Impossible Mysteries to Solve Using Logic, Skill, and the Power of Deduction” by G. T. Karber
For a gift that keeps on giving, this book is a collection of murder-mystery brain teasers and logic puzzles that will keep you entertained on a long winter’s night (or airplane ride). The best part is, if your recipient loves it, there are two more volumes available and at least one more forthcoming in 2024, so you have their next three gifts locked in.
“Rintaro” by Sylvan Mishima Brackett with Jessica Battilana
Renowned Bay Area chef and proprietor of the restaurant Rintaro brings his California-fresh take on traditional Japanese food straight from the steaming plates of the restaurant itself with this exquisite cookbook. Brackett, who was a James Beard semi finalist last year, does not just deliver recipes, but rather a celebration of the food of his childhood, his family, his travels and his own devising. Immersing you in the unique language of Rintaro, a cuisine he describes as “food that imagines California as the farthest western prefecture of Japan.” It’s storytelling with recipes, rich with images by award-winning photographer Aya Mishima Brackett, this is a treasure for any home chef. And if you need any more convincing, Alice Waters writes, “I think this might be the most beautiful cookbook I’ve ever seen.”
“Banyan Moon” by Thao Thai
Author Thao Thai’s debut novel is taking the world by storm, and rightfully so. Written with a lush pen, she tells the story of three generations of Vietnamese-American women. Set in a crumbling gothic manor, Banyan House, the death of the family matriarch forces a mother and daughter under the same roof again after many years, and navigates a complex family history from 1960s Vietnam to the overgrown tropics of modern-day Florida.
“The Cash Blackbear Trilogy” by Marcie Rendon
For the crime thriller lover on your list, look no further than this outstanding trilogy by Native author Marcie Rendon. The three-book series starts with “Murder on the Red River,” where we meet Cash Blackbear, a 19-year-old Ojibwe woman who follows her instincts and her visions to solve a murder in Minnesota’s Red River Valley. Cash returns in books two, “Girl Gone Missing,” and three, “Sinister Graves.” Rendon depicts of life in rural Minnesota in the 1970s from the perspective of a young Native woman.
“The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century” by Kirk Wallace Johnson
For true crime of a different ilk, this non-fiction book was recommended to me by my local booksellers for a book club pick. Though it’s been out for a few years, it’s one of those books that is both niche and yet compelling. In other words, even if you don’t care about fly fishing, you will enjoy this read. It tells the story of a 20-year-old concert flautist, Edwin Rist, who pulled off the greatest heist of the century: the theft of rare bird feathers from the British Museum of Natural History. He quite literally plucked bird skins from the collection and traded them on the black market to be used in fly tying. Part natural history and part crime thriller, this book also invokes questions of natural history and historic destruction.
“The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig
What would you do if you could pick an entirely different life? Or at least, change the decisions you made. Part Akashic records, part magical realism, our protagonist finds herself on the precipice of death only to discover herself not in some kind of heaven or hell, but in a library. A library containing volumes and versions of her own life. Buy this for a loved one, and then read it yourself, to ensure future discussions of the many twists and turns in the book as well as what your personal “library” would look like.
Editor’s note: This article was first published in 2022, and updated in 2023.
This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase products through links on our site, ParentMap may earn an affiliate commission
