Cooler but still well above normal this week

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Looking for book recommendations to round out your gift lists? Ask a Bookseller has you covered. All year long, we talk to booksellers around the country to find out what books they’re most excited about. Here are some titles to spark your inspiration.

And if you’re still feeling stuck, walk into your local independent bookstore and ask for recommendations. This is what booksellers do, and they’re great at it.

Holiday picture books to read with the family 

” written by Jenn Bailey, illustrated by Bea Jackson. In this modern take on the classic “Twelve Days of Christmas” song, eight maids a-milking become eight cups of cocoa in this story of a family coming together on Christmas Day. 

” written by Twin Cities author Molly Beth Griffin, illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan. When snow keeps the extended family from visiting, a family of four learns they can make new holiday traditions as “just us.” 

Beautifully written, multi-generational family saga 

,” a novel-in-verse by Linnea Axelsson, translated by Saskia Vogel, spans three generations and two Sámi families. It was short-listed for a National Book Award in Translation for 2024. 

” by Jasmine ‘Iolani Hakes is an insider look at Hawai’i and the tradition of hula. 

,” by Elizabeth Gonzalez James is a classic western with a dose of magical realism, and it’s drawn comparisons with works by Cormac McCarthy and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 

” by Daniel Mason focuses on a house in the woods of Massachusetts and its occupants — human and animal — over four centuries. 

Memoirs, histories and other nonfiction to make you think 

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamaborees

The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance

Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk

” by Eliza Clark is a fictional story, but it reads like a true-crime investigation with an unreliable-narrator journalist at the helm.

” by Calla Henkel follows a multimedia artist with a true-crime podcast obsession ... who begins to wonder if she’s witnessing the kind of carefully planned crime she loves to learn about. 

” by Carissa Orlando “takes the haunted house trope, flips it on its head and gives us a brilliantly clever novel about so much more than ghosts” raves its recommending bookseller. 

Two cozy romantasies and a heist for good measure

” by Rebecca Thorne brims with fireside conversations, witty banter, and memorable fantastical characters in this LGBTQ+ romance. 

” by Sarah Beth Durst: Take one librarian with an illegal book of healing spells, add to a cottage on an island dying for need of her magic and stir in a handsome neighbor. 

” by Sophie Wan: A reluctant bride and her two best friends decide to follow through on their crazy idea to get money by stealing the cash envelopes from her lavish wedding.

You can hear Ask a Bookseller every Saturday morning on MPR News, right after the 7:35 a.m. and 9:35 a.m. weather chats, or you can listen any time on the Ask a Bookseller podcast.

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Emily Bright

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Looking for book recommendations to round out your gift lists? Ask a Bookseller has you covered.

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