Cross a Name Off Your List with Our Holiday Book Gift Guide
It can be hard figuring out what to gift everyone for the holidays, but we’ve got your back. If your friends and family aren’t readers, we even have cookbooks for those looking for a less traditional read. In fact, there are options for all interests and ages. Our staff had some great recommendations for what to pick up for the folks you care about. And, hey, maybe pick up one for yourself while you’re at it! Check out our holiday book gift guide:
Biography/Memoir: A good look at a life or a moment, some a bit more serious and some a bit more funny, but almost all with a political spin (are you surprised?):
- Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
- Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever by Gavin Edwards
- The World According to Tom Hanks: The Life, the Obsessions, the Good Deeds of America's Most Decent Guy by Gavin Edwards
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
- The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro
History: For the person who never wants to stop learning and who you probably wish you could be more like:
- Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham
- The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan by Rick Perlstein
- Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep
Politics: We know you probably feel like you can’t get away from politics, but do you really want to? A few political options in our holiday book gift guide for those of you that just can’t get enough:
- The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
- The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
- Why I Run by Kate Childs Graham
Fiction: A classic genre to truly take you on vacation without ever leaving your room:
- The Idiot by Elif Batuman
- The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
- Milkman by Anna Burns
- Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
- Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
- A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
Business: We all have that person in our life who never stops thinking about innovation and improvement in their business. Good reads for them:
- Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Daniel Meyer
- Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation by Blake J. Harris
- Extreme Teams: Why Pixar, Netflix, Airbnb, and Other Cutting-Edge Companies Succeed Where Most Fail by Robert Bruce Shaw
Sports: Mostly as homage to the newly minted World Series Champs of our very own city, recommendations from our resident sports expert to yours:
- The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First by Jonah Keri
- The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists are Using Data to Build Better Players by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik
- Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin’ and Gunnin’ Phoenix Suns by Jack McCallum
Self-Help: The holidays are meant for sleeping, reading, and taking a mental break. Why not take some time to help those around you take some time to invest in themselves?:
- So Here’s the Thing… Notes on Growing Up, Getting Older, and Trusting Your Gut by Alyssa Mastromonaco
- Open Mic Night in Moscow: And Other Stories from My Search for Black Markets, Soviet Architecture, and Emotionally Unavailable Russian Men by Audrey Murray
- The Likeability Trap by Alicia Menendez
- Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool
- The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle
- The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. by Daniel Coyle
Cookbooks: Nothing says holidays like a good-smelling kitchen! What would a holiday book gift guide be without a couple of cookbooks? At The Campaign Workshop, we swear by Deb Perelman:
- The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman
- Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman
Children’s Books: For the little one in your life! Get them started early:
- Little Excavator by Anna Dewdney
Don’t know what books your friends and family like? Consider gifting a Kindle Unlimited subscription, which has over 1 million titles and many with Audible narration.
Haven’t found anything yet? Book recommendations from our 7 Questions will be published soon (likely with even more political recommendations – you can think of it as the holiday book gift guide part two)! If you’re really itching to get to work for next campaign cycle, we have some tips to get you on the right track.
Check out our entertainment recommendations to help you really unwind this holiday season. We’d love to hear what you’re reading or have read this year that’s worth a recommendation!