It’s the Just the Right Book Holiday Gift Guide!

In this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, host Roxanne Coady and the staff of R.J. Julia Booksellers share their picks of the holiday season. Listen below and find the perfect gift for everyone on your list this holiday season!

How do you pick a book to gift for the holidays?

Lori Fazio, COO of R.J. Julia: I think everyone should get a book … even someone is generally not a big reader. Someone you know well, you know what they love. What else do you have for me to recommend? Or you can give them something you really love, even if it’s out of their genre. You can pick it because I love it and you should give it a read. Even someone you don’t know well, you can give something you love because that’s meaningful. If they don’t love it, that’s okay because it still came for the heart. Or there are other books that are more inspirational or more a table book. They don’t have to read it cover to cover, but they know it came from a place of meaning.”

Andrew Brennan, head book buyer: For people you don’t know, nonfiction is the way to go. What I’m looking for when I’m picking out the gifts that our stores are going to get behind, I’m looking for niche stuff that grows out of that. For instance, golf. I don’t like golf, but if I find a golf book I like I’m going to be able to recommend that to anyone that wants a good nonfiction. Whether or not you know them, if you like this book but it’s not a subject matter you’re used to reading, it’s something they’re going to like too.

Book Recommendations for This Year!

Lori’s Picks
The Boy, the Mold, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Makesy · The New York Times Book of Movies: The Essential 1,000 Films to See; The Photo Ark Vanishing by Joel Sartore · The Zookeeper’s War by J.W. Mohnhaupt; Charlotte’s Web Audio Edition

Andrew’s Picks
Marley by Jon Clinch · Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders · Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin · Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey Through America’s National Parks by QT Luong · Pop Science: Serious Answers to Deep Questions Posed in Songs by James Ball

Roxanne’s Picks
The Martini Cocktail by Robert Simonson · Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout · The American Story by David Rubenstein · Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman · I Will Be Fierce by Bea Birdsong · The Complete Goal Manual by Steve Newell