Christmas is coming! In the long tradition of this holiday season, gifts are exchanged with friends and family to share our generosity when we are able, and to show our caring. Some families share only handmade or home-cooked gifts. Some families recycle, or upcycle, or do a white elephant swap. Some draw names, so that each person is only responsible for gifting to one other person, thus preventing bankrupting entire generations; in other families, presents are only given to the children. Some families give only experiences, such as tickets to ballets or baseball games, and some give only consumables - anything from soup to nuts, as it were. And librarians? Well, we give books. We really can’t help ourselves. It may even be in the fine print (yep, a librarian joke).
Best book lists are everywhere right now - all the major newspapers and media outlets have them. I invite and encourage you to look over the bounty that has been published in 2025. I’d like to offer you some books that might be meaningful to a particular someone on your list, books that have made a difference to me. I hope you find one that you would like to read or gift this season.
- If you’re a hopeless romantic who loves drama, a slow build, a happy ending, and magic - like, spells and stuff: “Wooing the Witch Queen” by Stephanie Burgis (2025)
- If you’re facing aging or loss, or you need a roadmap on how to do so: “Making the Best of What’s Left: When We’re Too Old to Get the Chairs Reupholstered” by Judith Viorst (2025)
- If you love action-packed sci-fi with snarky dialogue and lots of twists and turns: “Full Speed to a Crash Landing” by Beth Revis (2024)
- If you enjoy books about high stakes real-world games, where the contestants build relationships and learn things about themselves: “The Wishing Game” by Meg Shaffer (2023)
- If you crave a heart-pounding mystery with action and a winter setting that will make you turn up the heat: “Winter Study” by Nevada Barr (2008) - an Anna Pigeon mystery
- If you like real case studies about unusual disorders that you never heard of before: “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” by Oliver Sacks (reprint 2021)
- If you like hilarious memoirs about families that are way crazier than yours: “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” by Jenny Lawson (2013)
- If you love stories about good dogs, but don’t read them often because you can’t take it if the dog dies at the end: “Lessons from Lucy” by Dave Barry (2019)
- If you like historical mysteries with witty banter and well-developed characters: “The Right Sort of Man” by Allison Montclair (2019) - a Sparks & Bainbridge mystery
- If you like nontraditional fairy tales with descriptive language and relatable characters: “Nettle & Bone” by T. Kingfisher (2022)
- If you like page-turning techno-thrillers: “Prey” by Michael Crichton (2002)
Merry reading - or gifting!
Beth Wood is a senior collection development librarian for Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries. Her column, Check It Out, is published weekly in The Columbian.
New at the Library
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District collection. Visit the district’s 15 locations, our website at www.fvrl.org, or call (360) 906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
FICTION
“When the Fireflies Dance” by Aisha Hassan
“The Mating Game” by Lana Ferguson
“House of Day, House of Night” by Olga Tokarzcuk
NONFICTION
“Next of Kin” by Gabrielle Hamilton
“Dear New York” by Brandon Stanton
“Celebrate: Joyful Baking All Year Round” by Paul Hollywood
CHILDREN
“The Highly Sensitive Rabbit” by Judith Orloff
“World Kitchen Celebrations” by Abigail Wheatley
“The Taylors” by Jen Calonita
Best book lists are everywhere during the holiday season. I'd like to offer you some books that might be meaningful to a particular someone on your list, books that have made a difference to me. I hope you find one that you would like to read or gift this season.
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