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Last year, we made a very elaborate "DO" and "DON'T" checklist for navigating holiday parties. And just last week, we put together a highly evolved survival guide for this holiday season. You recognize a trend here: Come holiday time, we're all about bracing you with the skills and social gusto (with a pinch of savviness and sauciness) necessary to get you through the merriest (cough cough) time of the year. Of course, it will be no different this time around, as we spin our dreidels, hang some last-minute holly and close out 2014 in style.
With any luck, you've hit most of the special gatherings that were on your busy December social calendar and can now finally relax. Sparkly dresses and perfectly knotted bow ties were worn, red wine was spilled, kisses were had underneath the mistletoe, 16-too-many hors d'oeuvre were consumed...the list goes on and on. You've finalized your upcoming travel plans, consulted with your hosts about the menu, chosen the books you'll finally get to read and scheduled many activities (like lying around, watching TV, going to the movies) to keep you busy. We believe that you probably have all your sweater-wearing ducks in a row for the next two weeks. The only thing you could possibly be slacking on --- and maybe we're projecting here --- is your gift-giving status.
We know. We know. You planned to get all your shopping done early in the season, but you ended up buying all the goodies for yourself on Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday. Trust us, we know the feeling. Like Ernest Hemingway used to say: Treat yo'self. Maybe watching "Peter Pan Live!" (YOU'LL NEVER GET THOSE THREE HOURS BACK) or having an afternoon-long boozy brunch with friends got the better of your time. Maybe you're an indecisive gift-chooser and just didn't know what to get. Giving can be so hard sometimes. And now the countdown is on and there's only X number of shopping days left. Don't worry, we've got you covered.
If you don't know, now you know --- books make the greatest gifts (we're 80 percent sure that's what Biggie was talking about). And we're not just saying that because we're book people. Books are perfect for people who already love to read, and even more so for those who feel they don't read enough, who wish they read more. And let's be honest, they're also easy to wrap. So should you find yourself short a gift or two this season, we gotchu. Here is our comprehensive rundown of the perfect 2014 books for all the people in your life that you may be having a hard time gifting to (or have just, um, forgotten about).
Your parents: WE ARE NOT OURSELVES by Matthew Thomas. Your parents are probably all about family and this book has got about three Irish-American generations of 'em. Plus, it's 600-plus pages --- long enough to distract them from your marital status through the end of the year. Reason enough for us.
Your S.O.: THE BOOK OF STRANGE NEW THINGS by Michel Faber. It's an admittedly intense read for sci-fi fans, but at the heart of the story is so many questions about life's purpose, love and the responsibility we have to those closest to us. It's sure to inspire passion in whoever reads it...you can thank us later.
Your best friend: FRIENDSHIP by Emily Gould. Need we say more? Pretty sure the title says it all.
Your sister: THE PAYING GUESTS by Sarah Waters. A BIG hit of 2014, this book is an enthralling novel about a widow and her daughter, who take a young couple into their home in 1920s London --- and what happens next with the guests. We heard everyone and their sister LOVED it, so good odds on this one.
Your brother: COLORLESS TSUKURU TAZAKI AND HIS YEARS OF PILGRIMAGE by Haruki Murakami. While this book barely needs an introduction, Murakami's latest is the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. Fingers crossed it'll finally get him to stop quoting The Hangover 3.
Your coworker: DEEP DOWN DARK: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Héctor Tobar. It's a story about 33 men who worked together and survived together. Sound familiar? Jokes aside, the story is sure to inspire teamwork.
Your boss: THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin. We might get a little meta here, but this 2014 fave is about a bookstore owner and his restored faith in a crumbling business and his path to learning to enjoy life. Lots of books are quoted throughout! Plus, our boss certainly loved it.
Your personal trainer: ON IMMUNITY: An Inoculation by Eula Biss. Chances are he or she is pretty invested in his or her own health, your health, and the health of everyone in his or her life. Although be wary of hypochondriacs. Probably not the best book for them.
Your in-laws: ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl, and Werner, a German boy, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, that people try to be good to one another. Definitely the subliminal (or overt?) vibes you want to send your S.O.'s parents.
Your friend who has everything: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HARRY QUEBERT AFFAIR by Joël Dicker. It's an internationally bestselling thriller about the disappearance of a 15-year-old New Hampshire girl and, 33 years later, a young American writer’s determination to clear his mentor’s name. Your friend may have everything, but everyone could always use a few more thrills to unravel.
Your friend who's obsessed with current events: A DEADLY WANDERING: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention by Matt Richtel. A story that will make you think about distraction, in particular...the cell phone kind, in our lives today.
Your nonfiction-only friend: THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs. A beloved read around the office, this story is a heartfelt and riveting biography of the short life of a talented young African-American man who escapes the slums of Newark for Yale University only to succumb to the dangers of the streets --- and of one’s own nature --- when he returns home.
If you're anything like us, then you love movies and you go to the theater with wallet-disturbing frequency. If that's the case, then you'd probably also like to win 12 books that are coming to the big screen in 2015, as well as a $360 movie gift card (for the theater of your choice). That is the mega prize package from Word & Film, “a website dedicated to keeping a literary eye on what’s entertaining the world on screens both big and small.” They’re giving readers a chance to win one of five adaptation prize packages that includes 12 books coming to the big screen in 2015. Click here for more info and to enter the contest; the deadline for entries is midnight ET on Tuesday, January 6th. What a GREAT prize!
Should you find yourself with some spare time over these busy holidays, then we suggest you pick up the following:
MORIARTY by Anthony Horowitz. In this historical mystery, it is days after the encounter at the Reichenbach Falls and Pinkerton detective agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. Professor Moriarty’s death has left an immediate, poisonous vacuum in the criminal underworld, and there is no shortage of candidates to take his place --- including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind. Chase and Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones must pursue this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.
In THE BIG FINISH: A Thorn Novel by James W. Hall, Flynn Moss, Thorn's son, has disappeared into the eco-underground one year ago. His only contact with Thorn has been a series of postcards chronicling his exploits. Upon learning that Flynn has been executed, Thorn is determined to get his hands on his son’s killer. Little by little Thorn discovers that nothing he’s been told is true, and the trap they’re setting isn’t for Flynn’s killer, but for his partner, a woman who proves more daring and dangerous than any Thorn has ever met.
Eighty-five-year-old Addie Baum tells the story of her life to her 22-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today?” in THE BOSTON GIRL by Anita Diamant. She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
Also be sure to check out Contributor Lauren Sarner's latest blog, On Grinchery and Book Snobbery. She takes a look at some specific genres that readers may initially scoff at, "Supernatural Teens Fall in Love" or "The Old Fashioned Buttoned-Up Gothic" for example. Then, she suggests a book within that genre that typical misanthropes ought to check out.
You have ONE LAST CHANCE to enter our Holiday Bundle of Cheer Feature/Contest. Enter here by tomorrow, Friday, December 19th at noon ET for your chance to win! We have 10 AMAZING titles so scroll down to read more about the books and the contest.
Tomorrow over at our big sister site, Bookreporter.com, we are kicking off a HUGE year-end contest. You can enter to win the 32(!) books that were selected by Carol Fitzgerald as her "Bets On" selections of 2014. Some of the books mentioned above are on the list and some are not, but trust us when we say that ALL of them are worth exploring.
5 Things We’re Obsessed With at This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1) The Sony hacks #supportsony
2) Spending Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y time with our family, and secretly wishing we were hanging with our friends.
3) Christmas Day at the movie theater. Unbroken. Into the Woods. American Sniper.
4) The thought of all that awesome food becoming awesome, endless leftovers soon...latkes, fruitcake, glazed spiral ham...
5) 2015 resolutions, starting with maybe finally catching up on our 2014 resolutions.
Nicole Sherman (Nicole@bookreporter.com) + Emily Hoenig (Emily@bookreporter.com)
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