Cooking, Humor, History, and More: 64 Nonfiction Books Perfect for Giving

If You’re in My Office, It’s Already Too Late: A Divorce Lawyer’s Guide to Staying Together 

For the record, I bought this because of a hysterical review in the New York Times, not because my marriage is falling apart. Once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. Learn how to do marriage the right way by watching people do it the wrong way!

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography 

When I needed a laugh, this book was perfect.

The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity 

Dreading the holidays because of difficult relatives? Read this book, then buy everyone you know a copy.

Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of ’80s and ’90s Teen Fiction 

Perfect fun gift for any 40-something gal who once loved Tretorns, friendship bracelets, and a little Sweet Valley High.

The Art of Being Bill: Bill Murray and the Many Faces of Awesome 

This is the single best book celebrating Bill Murray ever published. A must-have for every fan, it’s at the top of my Christmas wish list.

The Power of Love: Sermons, reflections, and wisdom to uplift and inspire 

This slim volume makes an excellent gift for that person you know who is always encouraging others. Go ahead and get it for a loved one who is in need of encouragement as well. Curry ties together the issues of race, religion, and love in a package that is both intellectual and soulful.

Hope and Other Superpowers: A Life-Affirming, Love-Defending, Butt-Kicking, World-Saving Manifesto

Sometimes we get overwhelmed by helplessness. When this happens to me I often turn to books to still my whirling thoughts. John Pavlovitz is one of those writers who puts all my thoughts about politics and religion into a concise format and calms me, giving me hope during turbulent times.

Almost Everything: Notes on Hope 

This book is sure to be a new favorite for all Lamott fans, but I think it will also serve as a new beginning to usher in readers who will discover her for the first time. This is the perfect time of year to embrace promise.

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger 

This is a brilliant and deeply researched treatise, one that should be read by both women and men — or anyone who cares about the potentially game-changing force of women’s anger and the way it has historically been misrepresented and misunderstood. A timely and important intervention.

Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump

By Obama’s former communications director and current co-host of Pod Save America, this book is the perfect gift for your friend or relative who desperately hopes there are brighter days ahead for our nation.

Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany

I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life

• Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship by Kayleen Schaefer 
• Sad Animal Babies by Brooke Barker
• The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018 edited by Sheila Heti 

Milk Street: Tuesday Nights: More than 200 Simple Weeknight Suppers that Deliver Bold Flavor, Fast

Christopher Kimball has made Americans better cooks. This is probably his most well-executed cookbook to date, its raison d’être being one we can all get behind: easy, weeknight dinners that are big on flavors and short on time. It’s for the home cook who wants to eat well without being a slave to the stove. (Save that for your weekends.)

(Signed copies available while they last!)

Almonds, Anchovies, and Pancetta: A Vegetarian Cookbook, Kind Of 

Bon Appetit recently started a cookbook book club, and made this its second selection! A beautifully illustrated guide to making vegetables the focus of each meal (but allowing a little meat, too).

Danielle Walker’s Eat What You Love: Everyday Comfort Food You Crave; Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Paleo Recipes 

Danielle has done it again! If you suffer from food allergies, gut disorders, or just really love eating clean — this book is a must! You’ll have friends and family amazed that grain-free and dairy-free does NOT mean taste-free! (Coming soon: This book will be published on December 4, 2018.)

Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration 

Ever since that season of Top Chef where she changed Tom Collichio’s mind about the greatness of okra — and we saw the soulfulness of her cooking ooze across the tv screen — I’ve been a fan of Carla Hall. Perfect gift for anyone who loves the kind of cooking that can only come from a hometown Nashville girl. I ask you: WHO WOULD NOT LOVE ZUCCHINI CHEDDAR BREAD?

Don’t miss our event with Carla Hall, in conversation with Kellie Pickler, at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 4, 2018, here in the store. For details, click here.

Rose’s Baking Basics: 100 Essential Recipes, with More Than 600 Step-by-Step Photos

THE book for anyone who wants to feel confident about their desserts. This is such a great mix of classics — those dishes everyone needs a go-to recipe for — and desserts that would impress even Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

River Cafe London: Thirty Years of Recipes and the Story of a Much-Loved Restaurant: A Cookbook

This cookbook is also a work of art. Three decades of the legendary London restaurant sparked this collection of new and classic recipes. For anyone who loves the simple, high-quality Italian cooking that the River Cafe is famous for, it would make a great gift.

• Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow. by Shalane Flanagan, Elyse Kopecky
• Israeli Soul: Easy, Essential, Delicious by Michael Solomonov, Steven Cook
• Apéritif: Cocktail Hour the French Way by Rebekah Peppler

She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity 

In an age where we have the ability to find out more than we ever thought possible about our DNA, this book explains heredity in engaging, accessible terms.

• The Lost Words by Robert McFarlane, illustrated by Jackie Morris
• Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush
• The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018 edited by Sam Kean and Tim Folger

The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England 

History buffs will love this one, which covers a LOT of territory, time-wise: from before there was an England or a Scotland until now.

Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age 

The subtitle really says it all on this one. If the subject of trade with China — either hundreds of years ago or right now — interests you, dig into this epic history with surprisingly current implications.

On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle 

Here’s a little-remembered battle in an oft-forgotten war, where the scene is set against the extreme vanity of General MacArthur and the utter failures of the political leadership — and yet the tales of individual heroism and unfathomable personal bravery in the service of fellow marines facing such a futile endeavor will have you choking back tears.

How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization 

Beard is an amazing historian who writes in such a fun, readable way. Here she expands on the topic she discussed on the BBC/PBS show Civilizations about how art influences the way we view ourselves. Perfect for anyone who loves art, history, or just musing on the human condition.

The White Darkness 

Another wonderful true tale from the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, this is the story of a polar explorer determined to recreate Ernest Shackleton’s trek to the South Pole. No one writes narrative nonfiction any better!

Behold, America: The Entangled History of “America First” and “the American Dream” 

This enlightening book traces the history of the phrases “American dream” and “America First” back to the beginning of the last century. It’s a look at our past that may tell us a good bit about our future.

• The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers
• The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson
• Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island by Earl Swift
• The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington
• The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre
• The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham
• In the Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown by Nathaniel Philbrick
• Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston
• Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy
• Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown

Nashville Pikes Volume Five 150 Years Along Buena Vista, Whites Creek, Brick Church, and Dickerson Pikes

The fifth volume in Ridley Wills’ tremendously popular Nashville Pikes series. We can barely keep these on our shelves.

Monument: Poems New and Selected 

Even if this book hadn’t been long-listed for the National Book Award (which it was), it wouldn’t be any less essential — a hefty cross-section of work from one of our best poets, plus new work that shows her still at the top of her game.

Nashville: Scenes from the New American South 

Photographer Heidi Ross captures Nashville as it is today, with hints of what it was and what it will become. Whether you live here or are a visitor, you will want this portrait of our vibrant city on your coffee table.

(Heidi chimes in on this staff pick: “Nashville, this is for you. I love you.”)

Rachel Cobb: Mistral: The Legendary Wind of Provence 

How do you take pictures of the wind? Rachel Cobb does it, and in the most beautiful way possible.

Sara Berman’s Closet 

A beautiful look back on a mother’s life and liberation. Her closet is so remarkable that it becomes its own traveling art exhibition. Maira Kalman is a consistent genius.

Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism 

I couldn’t get over how much I loved this! When my friend Laura told me I needed to read it, she said: “Thought provoking and relatable, this is a journey through Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade while also being a history lesson on what it means to be black and a feminist.” She’s right!

Author: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan 

Are you shopping for someone who loves books so much that you’re too intimidated to choose one for them? You’ll impress the pants off any book lover with this gorgeous volume sporting Donna Tartt on the cover.

Fins: Harley Earl, the Rise of General Motors, and the Glory Days of Detroit 

Every year, I pick a favorite book to recommend to car buffs, and this is it for 2018! Don’t miss the special photo section in the middle. These automobiles are works of art.

Imagine John Yoko 

Curated by Yoko Ono, this eye-catching coffee table book will appeal to music fans and art lovers alike, as it’s full of never-before-seen photographs and art.

Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Designers of the Past 100 Years 

Did your mom keep every issue of World of Interiors and say you could NOT CUT THEM UP for school projects? Or perhaps it was Southern Accents. (But not Southern Living… it was okay to cut up Southern Living.) Anyway: Get her this book by Sewanee alum Jennifer Boles.

The Patch 

This is my pick of the season for the sports fan who also loves to read great prose (and for John McPhee devotees in general).

Quarterback: Inside the Most Important Position in the National Football League 

Another fantastic volume from this prolific sports writer.

Basketball: A Love Story 

If you’ve seen the ESPN series that inspired this book, you need to own the book too — an oral history of basketball, featuring conversations with many of the sport’s all-time greats.

The Game: Harvard, Yale, and America in 1968 

It’s about a football game, yes, but it’s really about America in 1968.

Silicon States: The Power and Politics of Big Tech and What It Means for Our Future

All about the Silicon Valley power players and how they’re affecting global policy — give this one to your sister or brother who just got a hotshot job at a tech company.

Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms 

This is an absolutely fascinating and even fun read about whether algorithms are a good or a bad thing. I bet you can’t put it down once you read the inside flap.

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World 

How often do you find a book blurbed by billionaire businessperson and philanthropist Bill Gates and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson? This book asks whether the “good causes” championed by some of the world’s wealthiest people came about in order to fix problems created by those very same people in the first place.

• Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great by Carmine Gallo

• The CEO Next Door: The 4 Behaviors that Transform Ordinary People into World-Class Leaders by Elena L. Botelho, Kim R. Powell, Tahl Raz

• The Challenge Culture: Why the Most Successful Organizations Run on Pushback by Nigel Travis

Coming up next week: Our favorite memoirs of 2018! Make sure you’re subscribed to Musing, so you’ll get the list delivered straight to your inbox. Meanwhile, if you’re shopping for someone special, stop by or give us a call at 615.953.2243 — we’d love to help you pick the perfect book.

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