For us Black Friday holdouts and for the last-minute shoppers, choosing the right gift for the Holidays can be daunting as we draw closer to the end of the year. You might consider a gift card, but that is truly phoning it in. Don’t worry. All is not lost. As long as we have the written word, we have options. How long has it been since you’ve wandered around a bookstore looking at titles? Whatever your answer is, it’s been too long. I know there aren’t bookstores on the corner of every street, but Fort Worth has plenty of options. And if you’re a serious procrastinator, Amazon can get you a title in a day, but at least try to give that money to one of our awesome local spots. To get you moving in the right direction and make it easy, I have done some legwork for you, starting with some key nonfiction choices (in no particular order).
Did you look around during family Thanksgiving and think to yourself, “Why the hell is everyone on their phone, and what is wrong with these damn kids?” Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt is here to answer that question for you in The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Backed by research and statistics, he delves into the roles that the smartphone and social media have played on rewiring the brains of Gen Z. This is a great book for anyone with kids or for that person in your family who never puts down their phone.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, Dr. Judson Brewer previously tackled anxiety in his 2021 book, Unwinding Anxiety, and he has explored the nature of our minds and addiction in his 2017 title, The Craving Mind. This time, he is back to lend his expertise as an addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist to help people control their eating and end the cycle of dieting. This is perfect for those who love a good self-help book or want to understand our psychology around food.
With the never-ending cycle of violence and war in the Middle East and the constant talking heads in the media trying to give us our opinions, it is easy to lose the story. While this book won’t solve any crisis, it will provide an objective look at the rich history of the Abrahamic Religions and the Middle East. This title is perfect for any religious person, history buff, or avid nonfiction reader on your list.
Klosterman is probably best-known for his pop-culture essays, and in this book that he wrote to keep himself busy during the pandemic, he focuses exclusively on one decade. He not only defines the ’90s via life-changing historical events (according to him, it’s not as simple as January 1 to January 1), but he is also able to bring some insight into what distinguished this point in time. Touching on grunge, politics, art, and entertainment, he never strays too far from pop culture and its wake.
With Texas’ impending mandate of biblical teachings in public schools, Brenda Wineapple’s new book comes at the perfect time. In Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation, the literary critic explores the Scopes trial of 1925 that questioned evolution instruction and tested religion, science, and education.
In fiction, there are too many options to list, but here are a few to get you started.
The first of two books that keep popping up on many notable lists this year is Percival Everett’s reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The journey here is seen through the eyes of Jim (James, in this case), Huck’s Black adult sidekick.
The second novel to make many year-end lists is Long Island Compromise. It follows a fictionalized account of a real kidnapping involving a rich American family and the trauma that ensues from that devastating event.
If weird ecohorror fiction is your thing, or if you love a great science-fiction mystery, then the Southern Reach series by Jeff VanderMeer is for you. This unexpected fourth installment of the original Southern Reach Trilogy picks up some of the dangling threads and handles some of the unanswered questions from Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance. If Annihilation sounds familiar, that’s because writer/director Alex Garland adapted it to film in 2018 starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Issac.
With nuclear tensions rising around the world thanks to Russia, it’s always a good idea to have a handy field guide for the forthcoming wasteland of cannibals, Mad Max-esque freaks, and a dying planet. The Road also happens to be a beautiful work of literary fiction with just enough hope to keep you going. This is perfect for your doomsday preppers and serious lovers of fiction alike.
Described as both “noir” and a “spy novel,” Rachel Kushner’s narrative follows a thirtysomething FBI agent-turned-spy as she infiltrates a French commune in the early 2010s. Mixing comedy and mystery, this is sure to please any lover of international intrigue and dark humor.
Set in North Dakota around the financial crash in the early 2000s, Louise Erdrich’s tale centers on a love triangle between a young Ojibwe woman, her friend, and a soon-to-be-rich suiter. Like the Pulitzer Prize winner’s other novels, a blend of tragedy, romance, and the rich heritage of the Peace Garden State make for what has been described as a complicated and beautiful story. A splendid gift for any lovelorn family and friends.
Local boards light up with festive song and dance this season. Read about it in Santa’s Stages by Anthony Mariani.
