Alta Live: Book Buyers’ Guide to Holiday Gifts

Holiday gift shopping is about to get a lot easier—and more fun! Buyers at independent bookstores throughout California will save our season with smart, surprising, page-turning gift ideas for struggling shoppers (like us!). Literary experts from Alibi Bookshop in Vallejo, Green Apple Books in San Francisco, and Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena select top titles that’ll make perfect gifts for the nice—and even the naughty—folks on your list. Need to know what to buy your boss, a curious kid, a home chef, a pop-culture buff, a surly cousin, or that booklover who already knows about every great book before you do? We have you covered—with a bow and a gift receipt—in this 30-minute panel that’s become a beloved holiday tradition of its own.

Here are the books recommended by our panel of book buyers:

New Fiction

K.J.: Cross-Stitch, by Jazmina Barrera
K.F.: Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt, and Let Us Descend, by Jesmyn Ward
N.H.: Let Us Descend, by Jesmyn Ward

Nonfiction/History

K.J.: Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, by Claire Dederer (read the Altareview)
K.F.: The Deserts of California: A California Field Atlas, by Obi Kaufmann
N.H.: We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America, by Roxanna Asgarian

Biography/Memoir

K.J.: Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, by Curtis Chin; Daddy Boy, by Emerson Whitney; and The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears
K.F.: Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), by Sly Stone (read the Alta review), and The World According to Joan Didion, by Evelyn McDonnell
N.H.: Heavy: An American Memoir, by Kiese Laymon, and Worthy, by Jada Pinkett Smith

Mystery/True Crime

K.J.: Bad Cree, by Jessica Johns
K.F.: I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai (read the Altareview), and The Murders That Made Us: How Vigilantes, Hoodlums, Mob Bosses, Serial Killers, and Cult Leaders Built the San Francisco Bay Area, by Bob Calhoun
N.H.: Happiness Falls, by Angie Kim, and The Reformatory, by Tananarive Due

Young Adult/Kids

K.J.: Blackward, by Lawrence Lindell, and The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers (read about it in Alta)
K.F.: Something, Someday, by Amanda Gorman, and What You Need to Be Warm, by Neil Gaiman
N.H.: Freewater, by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Food/Cookbook/Crafts

K.J.: Chili Crisp: 50+ Recipes to Satisfy Your Spicy, Crunchy, Garlicky Cravings, by James Park
K.F.: Snoop Dogg Presents Goon with the Spoon, by Snoop Dogg and Earl “E-40” Stevens, and Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir, by Eddie Muller
N.H.: Dine in Palestine: An Authentic Taste of Palestine in 60 Recipes from My Family to Your Table, by Heifa Odeh

What to Give a Coworker/Neighbor/Obligatory Giftee:

K.J.: But Will You Love Me Tomorrow? An Oral History of the ’60s Girl Groups, by Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz, and a gift card from your local independent bookstore!
K.F.: A gift card from your local independent bookstore! And A Christmas Memory, by Truman Capote, and The Book of Delights: Essays, by Ross Gay
N.H.: A gift card from your local independent bookstore! And you can’t go wrong with a journal or notebook

What to Give the Reader Who’s “Read Everything”: