Last Minute Gifts
This is for all of my favorite men out there who regularly forget that Christmas is at the same time every year. Here is a quick list of some of my favorite reads this year. I highly encourage you to capitalize on my research. Also, I have made up better genre descriptions to help you know what you're getting, as I figure saying something is upmarket fiction probably isn't helpful. Also, avoid the mall. Go to your local bookstore.
Strange Pictures by Uketsu
Genre: Horror/Mystery
This is a good book for the reader who's read it all and likes to explore. Translated from Japanese, Strange Pictures is told through multiple view points, and a very strange series of deaths emerge as a single mystery. The unique thing about this book is that in contains pictures. THIS IS A BOOK YOU NEED TO READ, NOT LISTEN TO. Seeing the pictures is key.
For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing
Genre: Thriller
This is a bizarrely, purposive novel about a messed up prep school. Everyone is a suspect. It's twisty, it's bing-worthy. It makes you want to pick up the book and read.
Departure 37 by Scott Carson
Gener: Thriller
This is unexpectedly enthralling. Told through two timelines, one involving a teenage girl in 2025, and one involving a Cold War scientist in the 1960's, you don't know how this book is going to work out until it does. Also, binge-worthy.
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Love story
Atmosphere follows two fictional astronaut candidates in the second NASA class admitting women. It's a love story, but the look into astronaut candidate school is compelling and interesting. It's got one of my favorite endings of all time.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Genre: Women will like it
Set off the coast of Antartica, Wild Dark Shore is a meditation on the environment and womanhood and motherhood. But it's a discussion on motherhood we don't usually see, as the protagonist is a childless woman. It's also a mystery, so it forces you to keep turning those pages.
The First Bad Man by Miranda July
Genre: Unhinged protagonist, but not because she's a sociopath
If you have a person in your life that loves an unreliable narrator (yes that is a thing people love to read) The First Bad Man does unreliable narrator like you have NEVER seen before. This book is insane, in a totally new way. You'll know by the end of the first chapter if you're going to like it or not.
The Shadow of the Leviathan series by Robert Jackson Bennett
Genre: Mystery/fantasy
The first book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series is the Tainted Cup. This series has a Sherlock Holmes/Nero Wolf feeling but it's set vibrant fantastical world. I'm not a huge fantasy fan, but Robert Jackson Bennett's world is so immersive, and the mystery is so compelling, that I forgot I was reading fantasy. This is a two book series, so far, so you could get her two presents...
The Hunter by Tana French
Genre: Thrillers that read like literary fiction
I love anything that Tana French writes. Her books are often companion books, and The Hunter is the companion book to The Searcher, but you don't need to read them in publication order. If your special someone loves reading books with a lot of character development, but they need to want to turn the page, check out anything by Tana French.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Genre: Fantasy
With seven books in this series, so far, you would think that the Dungeon Crawler Carl books would be enough to sustain someone for a year. But, you are underestimating just how readable and endearing these books are. If your special someone wants to get sucked into a fantasy world where show cats talk, aliens are threatening the human race, and a dude in his boxers is just fighting orcs to survive, this is it.
Good luck. May the odds be ever in your favor.