Best new books to give as holiday gifts

Featured in this Episode

• Daniel Goldin's 2025 Best Books

  FICTION

  The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans – A woman in her seventies tries to make sense of the world through her letter writing – to family, friends, customer service, and authors like Ann Patchett and Joan Didion.

  Heart the Lover, by Lily King – A young woman becomes enamored of two classmates who have embraced the intellectual life. This moment has repercussions that resonate decades later.

  Buckeye, by Patrick Ryan – An epic novel that centers on two mismatched couples cross in northwest Ohio – all four burdened by their upbringings and touched by the wars of the 20th century.

  When the Cranes Fly South, by Lisa Ridzén – An 89 year old Swedish man contemplates his life and his relationship with his father, his son, and his dog. Told in letters to his wife in memory care, and notes from the caretakers.

  Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar, by Katie Yee – A wife and mother is told by her husband that he’s cheating on her, and in short order, she is diagnosed with breast cancer. She names her tumor after the new girlfriend.

  I Don’t Know How to Tell You This, by Marian Thurm – A sixty-something judge must juggle her stressful work life with caring for her husband, a never-quite-successful-enough writer with growing memory issues.

  The Phoebe Variations, by Jane Hamilton – A high school senior is introduced to her birth family by her adoptive mother and is blindsided by a revelation. She escapes to a friend’s basement where she has life-changing experiences with the brothers of this very-large family.

  The Wilderness, by Angela Flournoy – A group of friends draw strength from each other in their 20s, 30s, and 40s as they navigate family dynamics, work struggles, and issues of social justice.

  King of Ashes, by SA Cosby – A financial planner returns home after his father has been in a near-fatal accident, only to find that his brother was dealing drugs and the local crime syndicate may be involved. Thrills aplenty.

  The Book of Guilt, by Catherine Chidgey – Three identical twins are the only inhabitants left in a group home in a world where Hitler was assassinated and the war ended abruptly. What has happened to the other kids, and how does this connect to another adolescent, hidden away by her parents. A quiet dystopian novel.

  Seascraper, by Benjamin Wood – A shrimper on the English coast has followed in his father’s footsteps, but he has small dreams of playing folk music on the stage. Into his life comes a producer who wants to use their town as the setting for a film.

  The Last Assignment: A Novel of Dickey Chapelle, by Erika Robuck – A historical novel based on the life of Georgette “Dickey” Chapelle, a noted American female war journalist, during her tours of Hungary, Cuba, and Vietnam.

  Town & Country, by Brian Schaefer  – When a working class town becomes popular with second-homers, a fight brews between a newcomer gay man and a longtime bar owner for an open congressional seat.

  NONFICTION

  Night People: How to be a DJ in ‘90s New York City, by Mark Ronson – The acclaimed music producer chronicles his years trying to become a successful DJ in 1990s New York City, filled with club culture, music history, and interesting insights to creativity.

  The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, by John Seabrook – The rise and fall of a family business, an innovator in frozen vegetables and how it was brought down, told by the fourth generation, a New Yorker contributor.

  Destroy This House, by Amanda Uhle – In the vein of The Glass Castle and Educated, a young woman grows up veering between wealth and poverty, as her dad chases the next big idea and her mother spends her way to happiness. A memoir.

  Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor, by Christine Kuehn – The writer inadvertently learns through a screenwriter that her family spied for Axis powers in the period leading up to Pearl Harbor.

  Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, by Mary Roach – Blending science and history with her own sharp sense of humor, Roach investigates the world of body part technology, from teeth to blood to heart valves, noses, and sexual organs.

  The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by John U Bacon – Bacon recreates the 1975 Great Lakes disaster, by looking at the history, the economics, the weather, and most of all, the people.

  A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck, by Sophie Elmhirst – The Baileys planned to have an exciting voyage in the Pacific, until a whale hit their boat, leaving them stranded at sea for 117 days. Elmhirst chronicles this once ubiquitous story and the equally fascinating aftermath.