Book gift ideas for big readers are featured in the second of our holiday book gift lists - Toronto Star

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The holidays won’t be the same this year; but the desire to share a good book won’t change. Exchanging ideas and comfort while we’re hunkered down is a gesture of generosity. It can be a struggle to decide what to give, though, so as we do every year around this time, we’re rounding up recommendations over a few weeks: last week focused on culture, art and food; this week we’re focusing on books for the voracious reader on your list. Come back next week for recommendations for the young readers in your life.

Books to understand the world we’re in

Field Notes From A Pandemic, Ethan Lou (McClelland and Stewart, 240 pages, $22) One of the first books about COVID-19 out of the gates, written by a young Canadian journalist who was in China when the pandemic began. He went on to Singapore, leaving just in time, to Germany, where he was locked down. Part travelogue, part guide to the pandemic and its societal effects.

The Skin We’re In, Desmond Cole (Doubleday Canada, 256 pages, $29.95) Winner of the 2020 Toronto Book Award. Cole chronicles one year — 2017 — in the struggle against racism in this country. A profound book that looks month by month at rallies, trials and protests in a bid to spark dialogue and illuminate a perspective that more of us need to see.

Homeland Elegies, Ayad Akhtar (Little Brown, 368 pages, $35) Akhtar appears to use at least parts of his own story in this novel: it’s about a father and a son looking for belonging in the U.S. post 9-11; about an immigrant’s dreams — the Pakistan-born father a Trump supporter; the American-born son not — and the increasingly fractured country they find themselves in. Important and immensely readable.

Songs for the End of the World, Saleema Nawaz (McClelland & Stewart, 440 pages, $24.95) From the very first page it’s eerie how much Nawaz’ novel echoes what we’ve experienced throughout this pandemic. Why pick a novel to understand the world we’re in? She researched this heavily — which is why she got it so right — and fiction is sometimes more effective than non-fiction at urging us to mine and understand our own reaction to the world. Plus it’s a great read.

Books to escape the world we’re in

In Love With George Eliot, Kate O’Shaughnessy, (Scribe Publications, 400 pages, $25.50) A novelization of the life of Marian Evans — a.k.a. George Eliot — who penned “Middlemarch” and “Silas Marner.” As her books took on polite society, the way she lived her own life shocked it — and she grew famous in the celebrity culture of the time. Intensely researched, intimate and readable.

Dearly, Margaret Atwood (McClelland & Stewart, 136 pages, $32.95) Atwood might be best known for her dystopian worlds and her big fiction, but she started her writing life as a poet. This volume, her first in 10 years, is as beautiful in its physical form as the personal poems inside. The two birds on the cover reflect her long marriage to Graeme Gibson, and the poems inside reflect their life together.

Hamnet & Judith, Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf Canada, 384 pages, $24.95) Winner of the U.K.’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, and chosen by bookseller Waterstone’s as its book of the year, this is the story that inspired Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” — the real-life death of the Bard’s son, named Hamnet from the plague. How powerful was the effect of his son’s death on his writing, his marriage, his family?

Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart (Grove/Atlantic, 448 pages, $25.50) Stuart won the Booker Prize this year for this, his debut novel — a heartbreaking and powerful story set in 1980s Glasgow about a boy, Shuggie Bain, the youngest of three siblings, who tries to carve a life for himself from poverty and addiction. His mother’s an addict, they’re living in post-Thatcher working-class Glasgow, and the odds are slim.

Ridgerunner, Gil Adamson (House of Anansi, 400 pages, $32.95) This winner of the Rogers Writers’ Trust fiction prize and Giller finalist, will appeal to a wide range of readers. It’s a sweeping, immersive tale that takes us back to early 1900s and World War I. Part literary western, part, it’s a truly entertaining read and Adamson’s attention to detail and history transports us back in time.

Tis the season for stocking stuffers

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Object Lessons, various authors and topics, Bloomsbury, $20 — This little series has gained in popularity since the first books came out in 2015. They’re put out by the Atlantic Monthly and Bloomsbury. They take a look at everyday objects — remote control, golf ball, signature, hotel, bookshelf, snake, exit — and delve into their history and the impact they’ve had on our lives. There are dozens of subjects with something appropriate for any occasion.

The Christmas Ghost Stories series from Biblioasis ($9.50 each or $25 for all three) is a tradition we’ve come to look forward to every year. Inspired by the Victorian practice of telling a ghost story on Christmas Eve — and gleaned from graphic novelist Seth’s extensive collection of such stories (he also designs them) this year revives three new stories: “The Open Door,” by Mrs. Oliphant; “The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance,” by M.R. James and “The Morgan Trust,” by R. Bridgeman.

Because We Love, We Cry, Sheree Fitch (Nimbus, 24 pages, $17.95) Grief has been part of a lot of people’s lives this year — because of COVID-19 but also, in Fitch’s case, because of the tragic shooting rampage in Portapique in Nova Scotia. She wrote a poem about the grief she felt that was read in Parliament; now it’s a small book.

The Lost Spells, Robert MacFarlane, Jackie Morris (House of Anansi, 240 pages, $31) A beautiful, enchanting little volume of poems and watercolour illustrations that conjure the wonder of nature, of moths and foxes and egrets and owls and sea thrift and daisies. The followup to internationally bestselling “The Lost Words.”

A couple of paperback titles that will fit in that stocking: Karen Swan’s annual Christmas read, this year it’s Together By Christmas (Pan Macmillan, 448 pages, $24.99) and the story takes place in Amsterdam — equal parts romance and Christmas story, she’s become a bestselling holiday tradition; and by bestselling London, Ont., writer Jenny Holiday is A Princess for Christmas, (Avon Books, 400 pages, $19.99) billed as a modern holiday fairytale set in New York — not to be confused up with the perennial Pogues’ Christmas song — with a few twists.

And the season for inspiration ...

Everyday Hockey Heroes, Bob McKenzie and Jim Lang (Simon and Schuster, 320 pages, $34.99) Why do we like competitive sports? The drama, the stories, the heroics — the stories behind the game. McKenzie and Lang feature people who talk about their love of the game and how they’re championing the next generation — paying particular attention to those working to make it inclusive.

Nerve: A Personal Journey Through the Science of Fear, Eva Holland (Penguin Canada, 288 pages, $32.95) Many people’s worst fear? The death of a parent. It was for Holland, too — and then she lost her mother unexpectedly. She began to look at fear, examine it, figure out how it held her back and, by understanding through science what drives our fears — and how to most effectively face them. Personal and, well, inspirational.

Transcendent Kingdom, Yaa Gyasi (Doubleday Canada, 288 pages, $32) Gyasi’s first book, “Homegoing,” was a sweeping saga through generations. This is the story of a Ghanaian family in Alabama. Gifty is studying neuroscience at Stanford trying to understand depression and addiction, which her God-fearing mother suffers from. Can science help her understand the suffering? Powerful, heartbreaking and, ultimately, redemptive. Fiction, yes, but inspiring nonetheless.

Graphic novels for art-loving readers

Dancing After TEN: A Graphic Memoir, Vivian Chong and Georgia Webber (Fantagraphics Books, 128 pages, $33.50) The true story of what it’s like to go blind, mostly created during a brief, heartbreaking period where its creator’s sight returned temporarily.✔

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut, Ryan North and Albert Monteys (Archaia/Boom! Studios, 192 pages, $32.99) The graphic-novel adaptation of the famous book and, as a non-linear story, probably the most successful adaptation of its type.✔

The Contradictions, Sophie Yanow (Drawn & Quarterly, 200 pages, $29.95) Beautifully-crafted, this is an insightful, entertaining story of a young, queer student’s travels around Europe and the lessons she learns.✔

The Low, Low Woods, Carmen Maria Machado, Dani, and Tamra Bonvillain, (Hill House Comics/DC Comics, 160 pages, $33.99) The creepy, clever tale of two young women living in a mysterious town with a years-old fire in the coal mine below and woods filled with strange creatures all around.✔

Titan, François Vigneault (Oni Press, Intelligent, 160 pages, $33.99) Exciting and raunchy science fiction that’s all about love and labour relations on an industrialized moon.✔

—Mike Donachie

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Book gift ideas for big readers are featured in the second of our holiday book gift lists - Toronto Star
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