2018 Bookish Inspiration Holiday Gift Guide

Welcome to my first annual Holiday Gift Guide post!

I know that as book lovers, many of you are looking for the perfect book to gift your family and friends this holiday season.  What better way to show your love than to give them a book they will truly treasure?  My Guide has over 50 titles listed, with books appropriate for all kinds of readers – mystery/suspense lovers, foodies, young children, teens, and self-help junkies, just to name a few!

The books listed are not all current releases.  Instead, they are a culmination of the best books I have read over the past few years.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL HOLIDAY BOOK GUIDE

 

Here is a sample of books you will find in the Guide.

 

For the mystery/suspense lover:

• Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin:  Tessa Cartwright is the well-known survivor of the serial killer who placed Black-eyed Susans around his victims.  Tessa thought he was now in jail for life, but when she finds a patch of flowers outside her bedroom window, she begins to fear for her life.  Is she safe? Or is the killer at large again?
• What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan:  Rachel Jenner’s 8-year-old son disappears as they are walking in the park.  Her whole life is turned upside down as she frantically tries to find her son.  Is she looking in the right places? Or is the answer closer to home?
• Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight:  Kate, an up and coming lawyer, receives a phone call to come and pick her daughter up from her private school.  She was caught cheating. Kate is furious. But when she reaches the school, she realizes her daughter jumped off the building and is gone.  Reeling with guilt, Kate wonders why her daughter wants to end her life. But then she receives an anonymous text: “She didn’t jump.” What really happened to Amelia?  Kate won’t quit until she finds the horrible truth.

for historical fiction fans

• The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant: 85-year-old Addie Baum describes her life as a daughter of Jewish immigrants, to her granddaughter who had asked her, “How did you become the woman you are today?”  Addie’s tale of growing up at the turn of the century is full of her adventures and learning what it takes to make it in the new world.
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah:  Leni’s father comes home from the Vietnam War a changed man.  His paranoia leads him and his family to the wild solitude of Alaska.  Leni’s mom, desperate to do what she can to keep her family together tries to make the best of a bad situation, but things get worse as winter draws near.  Will the family survive the wilds of the frontier and the growing mania of a sick man?
• The Wonder by Emma Donoghue:  In 1859 Lib Wright, an English nurse,  is called to Ireland to watch over a local phenomenon – an 11-year-old girl whose family swears she hasn’t eaten for months.  Is the girl a true miracle? Or is something else going on?

For the nonfiction fan

• Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance: This is a memoir of the Vance family and shows the harsh realities of growing up poor in the American Rust Belt.  JD was able to break free of the legacy of poverty that his family faced. Read this book to find out how. Very moving story.
• Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan: When I first read this book, I was in shock that something like this could happen.  Susannah led a normal life until one day she woke up strapped to a bed in the mental ward of a hospital.  While her family stood by her, Susannah kept spiraling until one doctor took an interest in her case and ultimately saved her life.  
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot:  This is the story of a poor tobacco farmer, who unbeknownst to her or her family, was used as a medical study for years.  When Henrietta was diagnosed with cancer, doctors took her cells to study and replicated those cells over and over again.  They were still using her cells 60 years after her death! This is an interesting story about medical ethics.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL HOLIDAY BOOK GUIDE