A bookish Christmas gift guide

Seven literary suggestions to help with your present buying

Christmas is just around the corner and if you’re starting to panic about presents like I am, here are some bookish suggestions for what to buy your friends and family this year. Books make great presents so if you’re truly stuck, head straight to your local bookstore and ask for their help. In the meantime, here are a couple of recommendations from me.

Author’s note: I have linked to the content warnings feature on Storygraph for each book and where that was not available, I wrote them from my own memory but they may not be fully extensive. Hopefully they are helpful as a starting point in the context of buying books for other people.

For adventure lovers - Monuments by Will Kostakis

Sixteen-year-old Connor is simply trying to avoid his ex-best friend when he stumbles upon a trapdoor to a secret chamber under his school, leading him to discover the Monuments – gods who have been buried for generations – who created the world and hid themselves away from humanity to keep us safe, only now they need protecting.

Will Kostakis is a legend of Australian young adult fiction for a reason and I’m a big fan of his under-appreciated novel Monuments. Firstly a writer of contemporary realistic fiction, Monuments is Kostakis’ foray into fantasy and it’s full of feeling, romance, adventure and fun. 

Age range: 14+ | Content warnings

For murder mystery/true crime/sarcasm lovers - Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone in Ernest Cunningham’s family has killed someone, including Ernest himself, so when a body is found at the ski resort where they’re having their family reunion, the suspects are plentiful.

This book has the near-impossible double appeal to both Agatha tragics who are convinced they know better (like myself) and to those who just want an entertaining read (like most normal people). Benjamin Stevenson has created such a distinctive voice for Ernest, a sarcastic but lovable rogue. It’s an easy to read page-turner which is perfect for the escapist week between Christmas and New Year’s.

Age range: 18+ | Content warnings

For your literary friend - A Girl’s Story by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer

Annie Ernaux goes back in time fifty years to revisit the summer of 1958 when she worked as a holiday camp instructor in Normandy and recounts the first night she spent with a man.

Winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature, Annie Ernaux is a masterful writer. This memoir is beautifully written and considered, supported by the narrative momentum of Ernaux’s own younger life and accompanied by the wisdom of her older self looking back on the past.

Age range: 18+ | Content warnings

For fairytale lovers - Everything Under the Moon edited by Michael Earp and illustrated by Kit Fox

An anthology of twelve fairy tales spun through a queer lens to reflect our world in stories as old as time from wonderful young adult writers.

Everything Under the Moon is a truly excellent anthology of queer young adult fairytales. It’s a brilliant mix of the familiar (fairy tales we all know and love) with the new (told in creative and original ways). It’d also make a great gift for those with a shorter attention span suited to a snappy short story or those who love visual storytelling through beautiful illustrations.

It includes stories by Michael Earp, Alison Evans, Helena Fox, Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner, Will Kostakis, Jes Layton, Gary Lonesborough, Amber McBride, Abdi Nazemian, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Alexandra Villasante and Lili Wilkinson.

Age range: 14+ | Content warnings: Death, queerphobia, racism, transphobia

For the enemies to lovers die hard - The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

Rival enchantresses Zosia and Marynka are in a bitter competition to steal the (literal) heart of Lechija’s pure-hearted prince but discover they might be falling for each other instead.

When done right, the enemies to lovers romance trope is brilliant and Alicia Jasinska absolutely nails it in The Midnight Girls. A brilliant page turner full of romance and action scenes that leap off the page into imaginary three-dimensional wonder.

Age range: 14+ | Content warnings

For someone who is constantly having an existential crisis - Constellations by Nick Payne

The story of Marianne and Roland’s relationship and how it both changes and does not change across multiple universes.

I know that reading a play might seem counterintuitive, but I read Constellations before I saw it and absolutely loved it. It’s a gift for friends looking for something a bit beyond the ordinary, something deeper than an airport flick. It’s a great read for fans of stories told in alternative and poetic formats.

Age range: 18+ | Content warnings: Death, suicide

For your teeanger - Completely Normal (And Other Lies) by Biffy James 

Stella Wilde is secretly in love with Isaac Calder, despite the fact that he already has a girlfriend, Grace Reyes. When Isaac is killed in a car accident, Grace is able to mourn publicly while Stella is left with only unresolved and complicated feelings that she and Isaac were becoming more than friends.

What would I know about what teenagers these days are into? Great question. I recommend Completely Normal (and Other Lies) for the teenagers in your life because it has recently won two awards completely voted by teenagers: the Shadow Judging Award for Older Readers from the Children’s Book Council of Australia and the inaugural Gab Williams Prize from Readings. So you don’t have to take my word for it (but my word, officially, is that I totally love this book), you can simply listen to the teens.

Age range: 13+ | Content warnings