We've selected a handful of the many books we reviewed earlier this year that we think would make ideal gifts for that special someone.
In a "stunning" anthology, The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape (Tin House, $29.95), Irish artist Katie Holten collects essays, poetry, and aphorisms on trees from more than 50 contributors, ancient and modern, and translates them into her Trees font, a custom-made arboreal alphabet consisting of hand-drawn trees. This one's for anyone who feels most alive in nature, or has ever fallen in love with a tree. This beautifully designed volume boasts an introduction by Ross Gay, and contributors as wide-ranging as Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ada Limón, Richard Powers, and Ursula K. Le Guin, all housed in a hardcover with a gorgeous wraparound dust jacket.
Hersch Wilson's Dog Lessons: Learning the Important Stuff from Our Best Friends (New World Library, $24.95) is part homespun meditation on what dogs teach humans and part memoir. Wilson "writes movingly" about 60 years of living with a total of 18 canines, and the enlightenment inspired by these beloved companions. Not just for dog fanatics (though they may most appreciate it), this volume brims with insights from writers (whose quotes kick off each chapter) and prescribes such universal balms as taking long walks in nature, sitting in silence, and... napping.
For friends and family members (or perhaps yourself!) who prefer to keep their reading to a manageable length, the "delightfully accessible" Great Short Books: A Year of Reading--Briefly by Kenneth C. Davis (Scribner, $28) presents 58 fact-filled reviews of brief novels, a smorgasbord of titles "sure to entice readers." He includes classics as well as more contemporary works. Each review follows a pattern: first lines, plot summary ("NO SPOILERS!" Davis promises), an insightful author bio, a "why you should read it" critical analysis, and "what to read next" by the same author. Davis also includes a short essay on titles he left out, and lists his own 15 favorite short books.
While Davis extolls the virtues of short fiction, Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink (Dutton, $28) aids writers with "an indispensable primer" on how best to communicate effectively in writing in a world with overwhelming competition for people's time and attention. Concision and precision are critical. The authors present valuable recommendations alongside convincing examples and compelling data that make it clear that these tips are not their mere preferences.
James McBride's The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (Riverhead, $28) is perfect for readers who wish to sink into a "mesmerizing work" that places them in the center of smalltown life as a microcosm to the larger world. The novel begins in 1972, when construction workers in Pottstown, Pa., find a skeleton at the bottom of a well. McBride then shifts to 1925, centering on the Jewish owner of an integrated jazz club, his polio-stricken wife, and the janitor of the club, who asks the couple to help him hide his nephew from a visiting official who wants to put the newly orphaned boy in a "special school." Even minor characters are "richly imagined." McBride has found the perfect vehicle for dramatizing conflicts among Jewish, Black, and white Christian communities in this lively story. --Jennifer M. Brown