Holiday gift recommendations from our team

[00:00:00] ANNE BOGEL: Hey readers, I'm Anne Bogel and this is What Should I Read Next?. Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader, what should I read next?

This week we are continuing a long-standing What Should I Read Next? tradition in devoting our episode to sharing gift-giving recommendations for the readers on your list. Thank you to the many listeners who answered the call that we shared here on the episode and in our newsletter and sent us details on the readers they are shopping for this season. Today, our team members are here with their best recommendations for those readers.

First, I want to tell you today we are talking about book recommendations, like actual titles and authors published in a certain year with a certain skew, but there are many kinds of bookish gifts to give the readers in your life, and our merchandise shop has so much good stuff for the readers in your life.

[00:01:06] If you want gifts that are literary-minded, but not necessarily books or gifts that can accompany a book, we've got you covered with our t-shirts, we have reading journals, cozy sweatshirts. As Brigid just reminded us, tote bags make great gift bags. And we are tote bag snobs. Ours are so good.

You can pair a book with a sticker or a bunch of stickers or a pack of pinback buttons that your readers can enjoy long after they turn the page on that book that they are going to love that you give them based on today's episode. We even have book plates so they can create their own little personalized library and think of you every time they open the cover of one of those books.

To check out all those gifts and the ones I even forgot to tell you about, go to ModernMrsDarcy.com/shop. We are a small business. This is fulfilled out of my home office, so please order early. It would help us so much. ModernMrsDarcy.com/shop.

[00:02:03] Now for today's episode, I'm so happy to be looking at a solid half of our team on Zoom, and I'd love to start with team introductions. Would you each say hello and what you do around here? I feel like I should go first. I'm Anne Bogel, and today I'm the host of this podcast.

DONNA HETCHLER: Hi, I'm Donna Hetchler, and I do some metrics and reporting and a little bit of content creation like today, which I am very excited about.

HOLLY WIELKOSZEWSKI: Hi, I'm Holly Wielkoszewski. I am the media production specialist, so I help get the podcast into your podcast players every week for your listening enjoyment.

BRIGID MISSELHORN: Hi, I'm Brigid Misselhorn. I'm the book club community administrator, and I help run book club and keep track of all the great books coming out each week, and help a lot with email and customer support.

WILL BOGEL: And I'm Will Bogel, your What Should I Read Next? executive producer. So I help schedule the guests and put together episodes like this.

[00:03:04] SHANNAN MALONE: I'm Shannan, and I'm the What Should I Read Next? Patreon community manager.

GINGER HORTON: I am Ginger Horton, Book Club community manager, book enthusiast, of course, holiday enthusiast. I don't show up in the space a whole lot because I hang over in book club, but I am a podcast fan enthusiast.

ANNE: And I am speaking today for Leigh Kramer, our editor and social media manager. Leigh is not joining us. I will be reading the recommendations she brought to this episode.

We received so many great questions from you, and today we've chosen queries that reflect a broad range of readers, lifestyles, and tastes. For even more ideas, I recommend you check out the comment section on this post as it accumulates our eclectic and evergreen roundup of gift-giving episodes since we started this tradition in our very first year of podcasting, all the way back in 2016. Backlist books make wonderful gifts. And to those seeking books that aren’t brand new, those episodes are even more helpful now than they were upon release. We'll share links to those in our show notes today.

For now, let's get to it.

[00:04:14] We are jumping in with gift recommendations for the kids in your life, starting with Kari, who says she's "always looking for ideas for her kids!" For her 5-year-old daughter, she's in search of short chapter books that she can read on her own in a year or two, that she might love as much as her current favorites Mercy Watson, the Oz books, and books about Greek mythology. Like many 5-year-olds, she loves unicorns and mermaids. What might we recommend?

BRIGID: Well, I've got some great recommendations. I have two little ones at home myself, and some that have been a hit at that age are the Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows, which follows different types of fairies in each book. They're perfect little short-chapter books that would be great in the coming year or two for her daughter.

Then I also want to recommend Unicorn Academy. Each one of these follow a different unicorn. These are by Julie Sykes. They were also a very big hit in my home.

[00:05:14] And then last is Greek Myths since she's been interested in those. My daughter absolutely loved the Goddess Girl series by Suzanne Williams. I'll be honest, I don't love the covers of them. The illustrations are not the best, but the Greek Myths that inspire this Goddess Girl series are so well done, and we couldn't check these out of the library fast enough. So I think that would be a perfect fit for her five-year-old.

ANNE: Thank you, Brigid. Now for Kari's son. He is eight, and he loves silly things. That applies to his graphic novel selections as well. Books like Dav Pilkey, Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, Secret Coders, and Wayside School. Wow, that book list takes me back to when my own son was that age. Kari says chapter books that he will love are harder to find - can we help?

BRIGID: Sure thing. Okay, I'm back with some more kid ones. So I love Wayside School myself, and so does my older daughter. So for chapter books that would kind of be in that same humorous vein, I highly recommend the name of this book is Secret Series, and that's by Pseudonymous Bosch. I think that sounds right up his alley. And if he ends up liking them, there's a ton that he can check out.

[00:06:30] But also, as a native Floridian, I cannot resist to recommend Carl Hiassen's kids' chapter books. They are really funny. There's ones like Hoot, Flush, and the latest, Wrecked, which deals not only with smugglers and grave robbers but also pooping iguanas, which are quite humorous.

ANNE: Kari did say silly. Silly is good.

BRIGID: Yes.

ANNE: Liz says: "I would love help finding books for my family. I used this episode from last year to get some books for my now 11-year-old. He loved the Terrible Two series but not the Avengers Assembly. He also liked the New Kid series and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I'm looking for more books like the Terrible Two but could be a little more advanced because he read those each in a day or two." What do we got?

BRIGID: Oh, I am very accustomed to children who can read books very quickly and wanting something a little longer. So since Liz's 11-year-old seems to like series that have action and fun, I thought of a couple you could try giving. That would be the Lemoncello Library series by Chris Grabenstein. They are like a fun cross between Willy Wonka and Night at the Museum. My oldest could not stop reading them. And if he ends up liking them, I think there's even a movie adaptation.

[00:07:46] But another that came to mind, which may be a little different, is Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, and that's by Kwame Mbalia. This is a trilogy that follows Tristan and his many adventures. And it's part of the Rick Riordan Presents, so think Percy Jackson. But instead of Greek gods, it's inspired by West African gods and stories, and they are excellent.

ANNE: Now, Liz's 11-year-old might not care, but Brigid, the last time that I was at Bookmarks with you in Winston-Salem, I got to meet Kwame Mbalia in the lobby of the hotel, and he talked about his work, but also stuff like, I don't know, barbecue and carpool. Such a great guy. It made me want to go buy everything he's ever written for all the kids of my life.

Now, for her 8-year-old, who Liz describes as a voracious reader who likes Eerie Elementary and who just started the Last Kids on Earth series, he also likes the Wings of Fire graphic novels but finds Magic Tree House "too boring". I imagine he's aged out of those, so that makes sense to me. Do we have any ideas?

[00:08:48] BRIGID: Yes, I've been hearing that same thing about Magic Tree House with some of the kids in my life. I was actually just at the school book fair working, volunteering last week, and there were a few books that I saw going like really, really quickly for this age. And that was The Sherlock Society by James Ponti. Now, he's the author of the really popular City Spy series which I think Liz's 11-year-old would also enjoy. The Sherlock Society is the first in a new series that has mysteries and adventure. I just think they would be really fun.

Plus, I was really surprised to see the long-running 39 Clues series, which has many chapter books, but also graphic novels as well, being so, so popular. Now, I also have to mention I asked my children yesterday, "Hey, what are some of your favorite books right now?" and my oldest said Cucumber Quest series. These are really fun graphic novels. They're by Gigi D.G, and they started as a webtoon. We can't get enough of these as well. So highly recommend the Cucumber Quest series if you are looking for a graphic novel one as well.

[00:09:58] ANNE: Thank you for those recommendations. Now, we have Neligh, who is shopping for a 14-year-old who has largely outgrown middle grade, but YA has not felt like a good fit so far. She is looking for something in the vast space between being 12 and being 18.

Books that have worked for this reader — and I'm reading the whole list because, listeners, these may be the gift recommendations that you are seeking for the readers in your life — books that have worked for this 14-year-old include Enola Holmes, The War that Saved my Life, Hatchet, the newer Percy Jacksons, Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching, Moomins, Lumber Janes, and The Number One Ladies Detective Agency.

Some of her favorite authors are Kate Milford, Kate DiCamillo, Katherine Rundell, and Aida Salazar. Neligh says the biggest gem recently was the graphic novel How it All Ends by Emma Hunsinger, about a seventh-grader's fish-out-of-water experience starting high school, having skipped eighth grade.

[00:10:49] All right. Neligh, if you have not listened to Episode 347 of What Should I Read Next? with Noa Hewlett, a young reader navigating this exact situation, I really recommend you go back and listen to it. It's called A reader's guide to tricky transitions, and Noa says, "Hey, I feel like I'm outgrowing middle grade. YA is not feeling like a good fit for me. Where do I turn to find books that I'm going to love?" Which really sounds like the 14-year-old that you are shopping for.

I also want to say that this is not an uncommon request. There's some interesting things happening in publishing these days that I think Neligh's 14-year-old reader in her life that's really impacting her.

So my mind immediately went to older books, which there's nothing superior about reading older books. I just think it's more likely that she's not currently looking in this part of the bookstore. And also I think there's a very good chance that she wouldn't have stumbled upon them in her school library. She won't have read these yet. She won't have them in her collection.

[00:11:49] So I thought immediately of books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I Capture the Castle. These are both novels that have young protagonists. I wonder a little bit... I mean, I wonder a lot about These Is My Words. That protagonist grows up, gets married, has experiences far beyond your current 14-year-old, still a little looking in and see if that feels like a good fit for this 14-year-old in your life.

And then for more contemporary work, Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming is a memoir that might feel a little different or maybe a lot different from the books that you've listed that your 14-year-old reader loved, but will be a pleasant find. Maybe it'll feel like it can be a companion on her reading journey.

Now Liz is shopping for her 5-and-a-half-year-old who likes silly or goofy books. She likes the Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast series and the Hey Crabby series. All right, Brigid, we've established that this is the stage of life that you are living in right now. What do you got?

[00:12:47] BRIGID: Oh my goodness. My just-turned-7-year-old loves these kind of books. I mean, they're her absolute favorite. So one that I had recently found for her was The Super Pancake series by Megan Wagner Lloyd. It's really fun and it's got two out already.

Then another book series that has two out already is the new Cat on the Run Series by Aaron Blabey. He's of Bad Guys fame. It is a really fun new series to check out. Also, The Graphic novel series Pup Detective by Felix Gumpaw is so cute, especially if she likes any sort of little mystery, goofy investigations.

I mentioned these in our last year team gifting episode, which definitely, if you have young children, go check out because there are so many great recommendations. But the first Cat in Space series has a brand new book that just came out and an album. And it is the first Cat in Space ate pizza. But the third one is the first Cat in Space and the Wrath of the Paperclip. And that's by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris.

[00:13:58] SHANNAN: Brigid, I'm always looking to you for recommendations for the Buddyman. Those are awesome. I'll be taking those down. But my son loves The Piggie and Elephant books by Mo Willems. They were a hit with him when he was five and they're still a hit with him now that he's 10. It's incredibly fun to read with him now with him being Piggy and I being the Elephant. Also, I really recommend The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak. It is super silly and super fun.

ANNE: Thank you. Thank you. Now we have a slew of readers shopping for sons, husbands, boyfriends, dads. Mary Ann is going to kick it off. She says, "Hello MMD team! I am looking for a gift for my son. He is in the Air Force and currently deployed to the Middle East. He loves military history and fantasy. Some of his recent favorites have been All Quiet on the Western Front and The Game of Thrones series." Do we have any ideas?

[00:14:58] HOLLY: So the first book that came to mind for me is Babel by R.F. Kuang. This is a fantastic fantasy book. But it's set in a version of our world and it deals with all sorts of themes from colonialism to power to language. And I think it really might be a different twist on what her son enjoys and I think he might really like it.

For military history, one that I haven't seen get as much attention in the book world is The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors by Maurice Isserman. I really enjoyed this one and I think he might like it too.

ANNE: Thank you. Leigh says she wonders if Rebecca Roanhorse's Black Sun — Holly I know you're a huge fan — or Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Kingdom would be a good fit. Or The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden!

Now, Beth is shopping for her avid reader dad, who loves adventure novels from Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, and Lee Child. She's looking for new-to-him books in that action-packed, adventure genre. She would love to find something fresh and exciting.

[00:16:01] DONNA: Well, I'm hoping that narrative nonfiction might work here because what I want to recommend is In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. This is a survival at sea page-turner and the true life events are what Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick about. So basically there's a very angry whale and it's pursuing a ship. This is just a thriller and I hope it'll work.

WILL: I love this question. I grew up on Clive Cussler so those sort of action-adventure books are right up my alley. And that's a good list of authors. One that I just started and I started watching Slow Horses the TV show and then I requested the first book by Mick Herron which might be a really good like a new series. He's got about a dozen books in the Slough House series but then also I think he probably has maybe 10 standalones. So if she likes the British spy stuff that could be a long list to jump into.

[00:17:05] Also much quieter than Jack Reacher, not nearly as kind of Rambo-ish, would be Chris Pavone. He's got some great, really intelligent, also sort of Europe-based spy novels that Beth's husband might like.

ANNE: My cousin has been telling us to read the Slow Horses series for five years. Please nobody tell her that we watched the show before we read the books. Although in our defense we're only on like episode two.

Julia says: "I've been listening to What Should I Read Next? for a few years now and just yesterday became a Patreon member!" Thank you, Julia! We really appreciate that. She is looking for a book she and her husband could share because they read aloud together. Although she says as their kids ages 17 and 19 have gotten older and busier they have lately fallen out of this habit. I find that relatable as the parent of teenagers. But they would love to find a book to renew this activity. They've enjoyed O Henry, Sherlock Holmes, and Agatha Christie, and more contemporary picks like The DaVinci Code trilogy and The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. The Cartographers and Magpie Murders didn't work for them.

[00:18:11] Julia says, "If it's useful, my husband is a Professor of Music History, and I am a violinist and violin teacher, so while we have enjoyed many mysteries in the past, we would be open to histories and/or books about the arts."

Okay the first thing that popped into my mind for you Julia is a new book out this past August. I almost included it in Fall Book Preview but with that August release date I made myself leave it out. But thank you for letting me recommend I Heard There Was a Secret Chord by Daniel Levitin. The subtitle is Music as Medicine, and it's especially focused on the healing power of music but it's also a little bit detective story, a little bit maybe a whole lot of science, and a whole lot of encouragement to all of us to find the secret chord within us that loves and appreciates music and how that will make our whole lives and beings better. It's definitely one of those books that make you go, Whoa! I didn't know I wanted to read about, in this case, the healing power of music but I am so glad I picked this up.

[00:19:11] There are so many great books set in the world of fine arts that emphasize, in your husband's case, in your case as well, the music but also focus every bit as much on interpersonal dynamics. I think Aja Gabel's The Ensemble is a standout here.

I have that request to read like Clive Cussler, Lee Child, those action-packed adventures fresh in my mind. Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series has a whole lot of fine arts in it, mostly painting, but he has a book called The Cellist that is very much about music as you can imagine.

GINGER: Yes. I've heard good things about those. We read The Ensemble in Book Club as well as Brendan Slocum's musical title. So those would be great picks. My husband and I spent a very pleasant Christmas once listening to Around the World in 80 Days. You mentioned a few classics there, Julia. After devouring the PBS Masterpiece version a few years ago, we really enjoyed that. I think it might be a fun pick for you and then you could pair that with a show like we did.

[00:20:10] I also think it might be fun to take on essays as a couple. There are so many good ones to choose from. I love E.B. White. He is surprisingly witty and a little spicy. Joan Didion is a favorite. James Baldwin. You cannot get better than Baldwin. And M.F.K. Fisher if you guys love food.

But the title that I am particularly thinking of for a gift is This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett. That might make a lovely gift because of the title but there are essays in the collection about marriage, also writing, pets, owning a bookstore, and there is one about Christmas.

And I can't not suggest The Great Passion by James Runcie. This is a story of Bach and his pupil, and that might really appeal to the music history side. Also Every Valley by Charles King. The subtitle is The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah. That is on my own Christmas wish list this year. I haven't read it but I've been hearing good things.

ANNE: Next we have Claire who is shopping for her husband. He likes books that are breezy and fun but still have heart. His favorite book of all time is Landline by Rainbow Rowell. He also enjoyed Evvie Drake Starts Over and Alias Emma by Ava Glass, a book that Donna recommended to me and it made my life better.

[00:21:24] Claire says he read Thursday Murder Club and liked the story but some of the was on the darker side for him. What can we recommend to Claire as she shops for her husband?

BRIGID: I feel so seen in Claire's husband's favorites especially since I love to reread Landline in December and Rainbow Rowell is one of my favorite authors. So I was so excited to be able to recommend a few of these for Claire's husband. The first one is the book The Husbands by Holly Gramazio which was one of our recent Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club picks. I think it would be perfect because it has that slight magical realism that he would find in Landline and it just makes you think and it has heart. I loved it and I hope he does as well.

Another one that came to mind is Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis. It's got really fun heists and it's set in space and there's a lot going on and there's a little bit of romance. I just couldn't get enough of it. It is the first in a series and the rest have not released yet, so it does not end on a cliffhanger but keep that in mind while you're gift-giving.

[00:22:42] And then lastly I thought of Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey. It's got a sweet epistolary contemporary love story that also involves a bit of TV making which happens in Landline as well. So I think those would all be really great picks for him.

ANNE: Thank you. I'm wondering if the new Richard Osman would be a better fit. It's called We Solve Murders. It's more playful, less dark. This is a series opener. There are more books on the way coming. I think the next one is out as soon as next year. And I also want to make sure Claire knows that there are two more books available in the Alias Emma series called The Traitor and The Trap. Available now for your reading enjoyment. Well, or maybe your husband's enjoyment.

Angela is shopping for her husband. She is looking to find a new-to-him author with a nice juicy backlist to satisfy his "completist" tendencies. He enjoys both fiction and nonfiction and has read every book by Richard Powers, Gabrielle Zevin, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Rachel Khong, Hanif Abdurraquib, Chuck Klosterman, Questlove, and Jeff Tweedy. That is quite a list.

[00:23:53] Angela says, "I would love to send him down a new-to-him author rabbit hole by gifting him the latest or first or maybe best book by an author who has written at least two or three more he can dig into on his own. Any recommendations for fiction, nonfiction, or both are much appreciated as is a suggested starter book for any particular author." What do we recommend?

BRIGID: Okay, with that author list, this might be too on the nose and he might have already gone down this rabbit hole, but I have to mention Nick Hornby's books. He's got a lot of books. I would start with High Fidelity, especially since Angela's husband enjoyed Chuck Klosterman and Questlove, and Jeff Tweedy. It's set in a record store and if he hasn't already read Nick Hornby, that is a great place to start.

Next, I would say Brendan Slocumb. Now, Brendan only has two books released so far, but there's a third on the way and there's music, there's action and thrilling mystery. I think he'd really like those.

[00:24:58] DONNA: Well, I also picked up on the music thread line there, so I thought maybe the author Rob Sheffield could work. He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and he's got a nice backlist of books about The Beatles, Duran Duran, David Bowie, and most importantly to me, he has an upcoming Taylor Swift book. It is called Heartbreak. It is a National Anthem. And that will be out November 12th.

ANNE: Emily is shopping for her husband, Mike, who is in a hectic stage of life. Emily says when he does pick up a book, he devours it, but he has a hard time seeking out new books on his own. I would love to give him a stack of books that he can work through this coming year. Emily says he has loved Brandon Sanderson, especially The Wheel of Time series, also Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. He recently loved Redshirts by John Scalzi. He is not afraid of long books, so when making our wrecks, we needn't be scared of a doorstopper.

[00:25:57] HOLLY: All right, Emily, I have some doorstoppers for your husband, Mike. First of all, I have to recommend Samantha Shannon's Priory of the Orange Tree as well as the second book in that universe, A Day of Fallen Night, that just came out recently. This is a tome of a book and it is rich and fantastical and full of incredible world-building and I think it might be right up his alley.

Stepping back a bit more into some backlists but also some newer titles, I would say Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy. This could keep him going for quite a long time. I think it's a bit of an underappreciated fantasy series that would sit very nicely next to The Wheel of Time series on his shelf.

And since he liked Redshirts, which is more in the sci-fi realm of the bookstore, I would have to say Becky Chambers, anything by Becky Chambers, but specifically her Wayfarer series or The Expanse series by James S.A Corey would keep him reading for quite some time. I think any of these would be right up his reading alley.

[00:26:56] SHANNAN: And picking up on those doorstoppers, I don't typically read those, but I have heard only good things about Lev Grossman's The Bright Sword, a novel of King Arthur. That's coming in at a whopping 688 pages. I will be leaving that alone, but since Mike is not afraid of it, hopefully that could work. That's of course if he likes these kinds of retellings about King Arthur and his knights and stuff. Apparently, it does open with a quote from Monty Python, which depending on his preference could be a good thing or a bad thing.

ANNE: Beth is seeking recommendations for her husband, who is an avid nonfiction reader, mostly history and politics, but sometimes nature and science. Beth says he likes to binge a topic. He will read 15 to 20 books about a topic, and when he feels like he's done it, he moves on to another. He's buried himself in the Lewis and Clark expedition, the American and French Revolutions, the French and Indian War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, WWI, — I feel like I'm reading a history curriculum — WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Space Program, multiple presidential campaigns, and he is currently reading about the polar explorers.

[00:28:12] One, wow. Two, does anybody else really want to see this reader's bookshelves? I really do. Beth says he's given no hints as to what the next topic might be, so perhaps we could suggest a topic or two and books to go along with those suggestions.

GINGER: I will not rest until everyone is as into trees as I am apparently. I love someone who loves to deep dive, but this has been my obsession this year. I think trees could appeal to him because they really do encompass both nature and history once you start looking into them.

The one that I would suggest is The Tree Collectors by Amy Stewart. It is a gorgeous gift book, but it can satisfy an obsession. And if he does really care to go into a deep dive, The Hidden Life of Trees, that was all over the place a few years ago.

The Arbornaut is another fun book that's made it onto my shelves this year. This would really satisfy an obsessive, and I'm here for that. But The Tree Collectors is such a great starting off point because there are so many different collectors in that series. He might find one different species of tree, mission of the tree collectors that he might identify with and go down that deep dive.

[00:29:17] I am also such a fan of Hampton Sides. I imagine that if he's been on a polar ice expedition, deep dive in the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides might also be on his radar. But Hellhound on His Trail is such a page-turner. It's about the manhunt for the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr.. It has the distinction of being one of about a handful of titles that actually made me cry. I will not say any more than that, but it was such a page-turner. Is a "heart-moving thriller" a term? I don't think so, but we've just coined it here. But he could really go on a deep dive with that.

So they're famous manhunts. The Civil Rights Movement looks like a piece of history I didn't see on your list, so maybe he's already explored that. There's a Memphis Blues thread in the title in that book. I read this years ago, but I find myself recommending it all the time. This is actually already under my own tree as a gift for a history lover in my life.

[00:30:15] ANNE: Lynn is shopping for her 85-year-old fly fishing obsessed father. He has a library containing hundreds, Lynn says, no, really hundreds of books on fly fishing, and she's looking to branch out in her gifts to him. She's found he will read anything with a nature and or conservation theme that she recommends. A few he has loved that Lynn has passed along recently are Summer Reading Guide picks, Brave the Wild River, and A Walk in the Park. Lynn notes, it feels like perhaps there is some Will Bogel overlap going on here. What can we recommend?

WILL: I would say there is some overlap. That definitely sounds like some stuff I'd be into. The first book that occurred to me was Riverman by Ben McGrath. And I think I talked about this maybe on a Summer Best Books a couple years ago. This is a true story of Dick Conant who was kind of an itinerant canoeist. He just traveled around America's waterways, mostly major rivers, but over a long period of time. And the guy just travels with a canoe packed with stuff and literally a highway map, and he just kind of figures out where the creeks meet up with the rivers and how to manage all that.

[00:31:22] But there's definitely a lot of changes too. You go from sort of Mark Twain, where you could actually take the river someplace, to now and how he's trying to navigate in sort of modern commercial riverways. So there's a little bit of the conservation element to that. Nothing suggesting a called action or anything, but just kind of a look at changes over time.

Another thing, a book that I just absolutely love that is not suggestive of conservation, other than you just feel very impressed and it makes you think of nature differently, is Wild Trees by Richard Preston. This is one of my favorite nonfiction books, one of my favorite books ever but it's the story of the actual hunt for the tallest redwood tree, which is the only way to do that, because of course redwoods grow where the ground elevation changes. The only way to tell is to show up at the tree and climb to the very top and drop a tape measure down. So the guys that do this are just absolutely fascinating. This journalist learns to climb trees and travels with them and they search out the tallest tree.

[00:32:23] DONNA: Well, when I saw that he was obsessed with fly fishing, I just had to mention a nonfiction book called The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. I'm just hoping this is not one of the hundreds of books that he has read about fly fishing, because the fly fishing aspect is sort of on the side. These feathers that are stolen, that is one of the reasons that they are being stolen and sold, is to be used for fly fishing.

HOLLY: Okay. And I know we want less fly fishing, but I just have to make sure that he has read The Adventures, Obsession and Evolution of a Fly Fisherman by Dylan Tomine. This is a relatively new title from Patagonia and I think he would love it.

But to go in another direction, I think something that might be a good adjacent read for him is Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb. Ben Goldfarb is one of my favorite nature and conservation writers. He has this in a newer book about traffic and roads and animal migration patterns. But I think Eager, given the overlap of how they affect so much of our environment, but specifically our river and water landscapes, it might be something that feels like an interesting pivot for her father.

[00:33:33] ANNE: I feel like this has turned into recommendations for those seeking fly fishing books. But Will, I'm a little surprised you resisted talking about David Joy and his fly fishing memoir called, I believe, Growing Gills?

WILL: Which I'm going to guess is not on his bookshelf. But she did say she didn't want more fly fishing. But yes, David Joy has a memoir that is written as individual fly fishing stories.

ANNE: Lynn, thank you for giving us fodder to get thinking about the fly fishing books that you don't want. Maybe actually Lynn should be making recommendations to some of the listeners in our audience.

WILL: To the rest of us, yeah.

ANNE: Exactly. All right, now we have requests from listeners giving books to female friends and family members, and co-workers. We're starting with Jen who is shopping for her 38-year-old daughter, an avid reader who loves fantasy and romance with vibrant stories. She recently read Long Live Evil and When the Moon Hatched. She loved Outlander and... I just want to say ACOTAR at this point. She loved A Court of Thorns and Roses. Jen knows that her daughter seeks out books that invite her to escape into another world. The two don't read similarly, and so Jen would appreciate any help we can offer. What do we have, team?

[00:34:45] BRIGID: Okay, immediately when I saw Outlander, I couldn't help but recommend the book Bride by Julie Garwood. Now this is an older historical romance that I feel like truly inspired Claire's journey back to Scotland to meet Jamie. Although this does not have fantasy elements, the setting itself will really truly allow Jen's daughter to escape to another world. While Bride was published quite a few years ago, it still felt really fresh when I read it just a couple of years ago.

ANNE: Leigh recommends Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. This is historical fantasy romance and the first two books are out and ready to read. We have a grumpy sunshine dynamic and a good sense of humor. She also says Entreat Me by Grace Draven. This is an inventive Beauty and the Beast retelling with two pairs of beauties and beasts.

HOLLY: I will co-sign Leigh's Assistant to the Villain recommendation and add on to that The Lost Queen series by Signe Pike, especially since book three comes out in December. This is a really fantastic Arthurian retelling and I think it might scratch a lot of the interests that Jen's daughter has.

[00:36:04] ANNE: Next we have a request from Anne who says, "Hello my friends." And yes we are friends even though we have never met. "I am hoping you can help me with a book suggestion for my newly working 18-year-old daughter who graduated from trade school in June and is working as a plumber's apprentice while living at home. I want to find her something that will help her with budgeting and preparing to be out on her own. She is not much of a reader so it needs to be relatable to an 18-year-old and engaging as well."

Okay, I have to say that Shannan and I had the same thought at the same time and that is Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich. I'm gonna let Shannan explain that more but I want to add We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers to the list here. My now 17-year-old read this a year or two ago. A friend recommended it to me and I thought, You know who would like this snarky tone of voice paired with smart financial advice is my 16-year-old. And that really worked for her.

[00:37:00] SHANNAN: I really do need to pick up that Rachel Rodgers book. But I just finished Ramit Sethi's, I Will Teach You To Be Rich. I finished reading it last month. People, I wish I had known about this book a long time ago, especially in my early 20s. I am currently working through the six-week plan that he has to get the finances in order. It's very straightforward, very easy to understand. Ramit, yes he and I are on a first name basis now but he does not know that, also has a show on Netflix which is a really good entry point into Ramit's work. So I would recommend watching the show and if you're feeling the vibes then get the book.

He also has a podcast that I have been binging non-stop so that's kind of like if you want to take the book to the next level. So, show, book, podcast. He is excellent.

ANNE: Marsha says she taught English for 30 years and now one of her former students is beginning her PhD studies at Texas A&M. I love the glimpse Marsha gives us into their relationship. She says, "Each Christmas I give her a literature-themed gift because she delights in them. But she does not need books. She is inundated with too many books, research projects, and even lesson plans." So Marsha says, "Do we have any non-book ideas to recommend?"

[00:38:21] My first thought was about this reader's reading experience and what about good stuff to go with the books like snacks. Special snacks. I would love a box of snacks or a really great blanket, a good mug, tea or coffee, DoorDash so she can keep reading instead of making lunch or dinner. There's lots of great stuff on Etsy too for something that plays into her specific niche literary interests or hobbies.

GINGER: I have another idea that's not books. But some really beautiful bookends could keep all of those... they tend to be heavy research books corralled. I know I never have enough bookends. And that would be a keepsake as well as something really really useful.

ANNE: Lynda says: "After being a reluctant reader for years, my 50-year-old sister, Pam, has recently discovered the joy of reading! Although we don't usually read the same types of books, it makes my day to talk "books" with her. Last year I gave her book-themed Christmas gifts (including Anne's reading journal)." Thank you, Lynda. "I would like to play matchmaker again this holiday season and give her a few books she might be excited to read in 2025. She seems to gravitate toward romances: we both really liked Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire and Annabel Monaghan’s Nora Goes Off Script and I know she has read most of Elin Hilderbrand's books." What would we recommend?

[00:39:40] BRIGID: Well as a social reader and a big fan of buddy reading I just loved her request, Lynda. The first one I would recommend is Slow Dance which is a love story told in two time periods, between the characters' high school years and then 16 years later. And then I immediately thought of Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. That one is so much fun especially if either of you enjoy Saturday Night Live because you've got peeks into the world of a late light comedy show.

Then I also thought of Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey. It's a really sweet book that takes place not long after her book Waiting for Tom Hanks. But they are truly standalone novels and if you like one you might really like reading the other together as well.

ANNE: Based on the books that Linda's sister Pam has loved I'm wondering about Sarah Adams. She writes these gently intersecting novels so you feel when you pick up one of her books you're entering a snug little world that feels familiar after you've read the first one.

[00:40:50] I recommend starting with When in Rome which is set in a fictional small town in Kentucky, not that I'm biased or anything maybe a little bit, or The Cheat Sheet that one is set in the world of professional football which I thought was super fun.

I'm also thinking that Pam may enjoy reading about protagonists who are more seasoned than the 20 almost 30-somethings in Sarah Adams' books. Jasmine Guillory has this great holiday romance called Royal Holiday. In this book somebody takes on the role of styling a royal family member which I thought was really fun to read about, and her mom who I don't remember exactly how old she is. Do we want to say 50-ish? I know some of you have read this. Well, she tags along to London to see the sights and she doesn't expect to fall for the Queen's royal secretary which is a cool and interesting job to many Americans, but she's won over by his charm and loyalty. They do fun things like, I don't know, hang out in the stables, go to the Victoria and Albert Museum for special after-hours viewings of the jewels. Like it's love, travel, mistletoe kisses, British accents, royal palaces. Maybe that'll be fun for Pam.

[00:42:09] Katrina says: "I'm looking for something for my 91-year-old grandma who exclusively reads Nora Roberts on repeat, whether that's the standalones, the romantic trilogies, the JD Robb books. She reads all of it. Katrina would love to find her a new author with a decent back catalog that she can feel similarly comfortable with so she doesn't have to keep reading the same books over and over again.

All right, I don't want to yuck anyone's yum but if we want to put new non-Nora Roberts books into rotation here, I'm thinking, Katrina, check out anything Rosamunde Pilcher, Emilia Hart's Weyward, anything Kate Morton. They feel like they have some overlap and yet will take her into different worlds and different stories.

Now we have one that is tagged on our doc as fun and unusual and book clubby and it comes from Michelle who says her gift conundrum is regarding her six-member book club, an at work book club that meets monthly. Michelle is retiring at the end of the year and she'd like to get them each something to thank them for all the book talk they've shared and to remind them not to forget to invite her in the future. I like the way you're thinking Michelle.

[00:43:16] She says the ages range from mid-20s to mid-40s. Michelle says she is the exception there. Huh. Everyone reads fiction, one likes crime, a couple likes fantasy with open-door love scenes, one reads everything, and the fifth is relatively new to reading as a pastime. She thanks us in advance for any ideas for fun gifts.

WILL: I was thinking your reading journal, My Reading Life is a great fun gift, especially with different tastes. It gives them something they can come back to on a regular basis and also keep the book talk going. If Michelle's not going to be a book club all the time and reading the same book as them, it gives a way to connect.

SHANNAN: That's a great suggestion, Will. I'm going to throw in another Anne Bogle product. I'd Rather Be Reading in the hardback edition. Hello? Such a nice gift book.

ANNE: All right, we did it. Thank you everyone for your excellent recommendations. And thank you again readers for trusting us with recommending books to you that you may seek out this holiday season for your loved ones. We would love to hear how those recommendations and gifts are received, what you choose to go with, and how it works out for everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed today's recommendations and heard a title or three or 12 that might fit someone on your gifts list this season.

[00:44:33] As always, we have you covered. You will find the full list of titles we talked about at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com.

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Thanks to the people who made this episode happen. What Should I Read Next? is created each week by Will Bogle, Holly Wilkoszewski, and Studio D Podcast Productions. And thank you to the team members who are not usually so involved in the episode, but who are very much involved today. So thank you to Donna Hetchler, Brigid Misselhorn, Shannan Malone, Ginger Horton, and Leigh Kramer as well.

[00:45:45] Readers, that is it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. And as Rainer Maria Rilke said, "Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading." Happy reading, everyone.