From Shaun Tan to Emily in Paris, here are 13 books that make worthy holiday gifts
From the The ultimate 2022 holiday gift guide: Books, movies, and more for everyone on your list series
Books are an easy gift choice, but that doesn't mean they can't be fresh. There's always a great selection around the holidays for a range of ages and interests.
“Creature,” by Shaun Tan
It's as if, Tan writes, “I need to throw the artistic pebble far across a pond of weirdness in order to see some meaning in the ripples ...” Those words in the introduction of his new book speak volumes. The artist, writer and filmmaker from Perth, Australia, has collected his dreamy, sometimes eerie paintings and drawings. Tan reflects at length on his childhood in thoughtful text.
“Ugly-Cute,” by Jennifer McCartney
Is there beauty in just about anything? McCartney thinks so. She has put together a small-in-stature, full-color look at “cuglies”: oft-underappreciated species both well known and obscure. Gaze upon the male star-nosed mole and its 22 pink, fleshy appendages in place of a face. McCartney filled her little book with bite-size facts and fun quizzes.
“Africa in Fashion,” by Ken Kweku Nimo
The Ghanaian researcher and designer explores the complex role the continent plays in the global fashion worlds past and present. He spotlights a new wave of African talent while looking back on vast textile, craft and embellishment traditions that are hundreds of years old. Nimo also delves into the potential of Africa as a luxury hub.
$40. Laurence King Publishing.
Also consider “Africa Fashion,” which accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
“Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971,” edited by Doris Berger and Rhea L. Combs
This companion to an exhibition of the same name at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles focuses on independent film. Interviews with Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Ava DuVernay and more. Essays, glamour portraits and a chronology by year included. The goal: To provide a more expansive view of how American cinema has been shaped by African American creative expression.
“The Crown in Vogue,” by Robin Muir and Josephine Ross
Published for the late queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the two take readers through more than 200 images from British Vogue of the British royal family, starting in the early 20th century. At some point, every last one of the top royals graced the magazine’s pages, starting with the queen mother on through to Prince Harry and Meghan. With a range of commentary, from Evelyn Waugh to Zadie Smith.
“Emily in Paris: The Official Cookbook," by Kim Laidlaw
Filled with 75 recipes inspired by the Netflix series. Lots of food porn here, along with photos of ex-pat Emily (Lily Collins) as fans await Season 3. Remember Gabriel's omelette? It's in there. How about that moment Emily was struggling to pronounce un pain au chocolate? The tasty croissant is included, too.
“The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster,” by Mo Willems
The determined blue pigeon with seven playful books on his resume is back with a not-so-topsy-turvy lesson in managing expectations. This time around, he's set on riding a roller coaster as he plots out the process: buying a ticket, waiting in line, the possibility of the bad-tummy dizzies. What he gets instead might surprise you. Great for kids 3 to 5.
“From Gay to Z,” by Justin Elizabeth Sayre
Sayre is not a historian. Instead, they (their chosen pronoun) is a playwright and performer who turned their five-part stage show “GAyBC's” into a compendium of gay culture. Acknowledging they couldn't cram the entirety of queer culture into one book, they do a pretty good job in quick bites on everything from the AIDS activist group ACT UP to Franco Zeffirelli, the Italian film and opera director known for romantic and lavish productions.
“Women Holding Things,” by Maira Kalman
The artist, designer and bestselling author has expanded a booklet of the same name that raised money to combat hunger. True to its title, Kalman's paintings and ruminations feature women who often do the job of holding things together. A woman holds a baby. A woman holds court. Kalman includes a painting of Virginia Woolf, who's “barely holding it together.” She writes of the book's last image, a girl with pink balloons: “Hold on.”
“It Starts With Us,” by Colleen Hoover
She has millions of fans on TikTok and elsewhere who eagerly awaited this sequel to her bestselling “It Ends With Us.” Her latest story of a dramatic love triangle and a woman's struggle against domestic abuse helped cement her status on TikTok and made her the country's most popular fiction writer.
“Adrift: America in 100 Charts,” by Scott Galloway
How did the country land here? The professor of marketing at New York University explores that and other key questions starting in 1945 and landing in the present. Brief text accompanies his simple charts on a range of subjects, from the perception vs. reality of the country's crime rate to the earning potential of prospective male partners. The book isn't for high-thinking statisticians but it's full of conversation starters for the rest of us.
“Neverwhere,” by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Chris Malbon
This dark urban fantasy from 1996 focuses on the dispossessed as the reader is taken into London Below, a secret world that exists in parallel with the London we know. Gaiman wrote the novel after the BBC made it into a TV series. He wrote in 2005 that the story's goal was to move adults as he was so moved by “Alice in Wonderland,” the Narnia books and “The Wizard of Oz” as a kid. A special edition in a slipcase with a new introduction by Susanna Clarke.
$140. The Folio Society. Available exclusively at Foliosociety.com
“Ice Cold. A Hip Hop Jewelry History,” by Vikki Tobak
A photographic review of how hip hop helped redefine luxury with its over-the-top culture of bling. At the beginning, there was Run-DMC’s gold Adidas pendants and Eric B. & Rakim’s dookie rope chains and Mercedes medallions. They were followed by the likes of Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z, Gucci Mane and Cardi B. There's a foreword by Slick Rick and essays by A$AP Ferg, LL Cool J, Kevin “Coach K’ Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas of Quality Control Music.
In this Series
The ultimate 2022 holiday gift guide: Books, movies, and more for everyone on your list
Coastal grandmother is all about laid-back interiors, classic style and unfussy but well-equipped kitchens.
The holiday shopping season started early this year. But if you're just getting started, here are some suggestions.
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