2019Holiday Gift Guide

March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women

By Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado and Jane Smiley (Library of America)

$21.95 | A century and a half after its publication, readers still obsess over "Little Women." Its devotees include these four contemporary writers, who offer personal insights on what the March sisters mean to them.

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

By David McCullough (Simon & Schuster)

$30 | At 86, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian continues to deliver definitive accounts of America’s past. In this case, he turns his attention to the trailblazers who settled the Northwest Territory.

The Source of Self-Regard

By Toni Morrison (Knopf)

$28.95 | Before her death this year, the Nobel Prize-winning author of "Beloved" released this collection of essays and speeches that are just as moving and incisive as her celebrated fiction.

Inland

By Téa Obreht (Random House)

$27 | Obreht made a splash in 2011 when she published her stunning debut, "The Tiger’s Wife," at just 25. Her follow-up — a tale set in the unforgiving landscape of the 19th-century American West — again demonstrates Obreht’s remarkable talent.

The Yellow House

By Sarah M. Broom (Grove)

$26 | Broom links her moving meditation on her family’s history to the house where she grew up — a home, bought by her mother in a once-promising New Orleans neighborhood, that would be destroyed decades later by Hurricane Katrina.

A Game of Thrones box set

$195 | HBO may have wrapped up its treatment of George R.R. Martin’s novels, but the book’s fanatics are still waiting. To hold them over until Martin’s next installment, distract them with this lavish collector’s edition.

The Dutch House

By Ann Patchett (Harper)

$27.99 | The best-selling author of "Bel Canto" and "Commonwealth" returns with another irresistible novel this year: the story of a couple of neglected siblings growing up in an extravagant estate.

Booked: A Traveler's Guide to Literary Locations Around the World

By Richard Kreitner (Black Dog & Leventhal)

$29.99 | For some readers, the printed page isn’t enough. With this book, they can continue the story by going to the source, whether that means Forks, Wash. ("Twilight"), Segovia, Spain ("For Whom the Bell Tolls") or London ("White Teeth").

An American Sunrise

By Joy Harjo (Norton)

$25.95 | Harjo made history this year when she became the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States. Her most recent collection considers the bounty of her homeland but also the injustices suffered by her ancestors.

Literary Insults Chart

$25 | Why reinvent the wheel when so many talented writers have already come up with the perfect put-down? Just remember that whoever you give this to may use it against you.