Holiday Gift Guide

 

 

The holiday season has arrived and we're here to help you track down the just-right gift for everyone on your list! Our Holiday Gift Guide is filled with handpicked books by our booksellers and is organized by price, so big or small--we've got you covered. Whether you’re searching for that perfect cookbook, an obscure art book, a can't-miss novel or something you never even knew you needed, you’ve come to the right place. Looking for kids books or young adult? Check out our Holiday Gift Guide Kids Edition for more picks. Still don't see what you're looking for? How about a Gift Card or a subscription to our Apple-a-Month Club--new paperback fiction (handwritten review included!) wrapped and mailed to your door every month!

 

My Heart Hemmed in By Marie Ndiaye, Jordan Stump (Translator) Cover Image
By Marie Ndiaye, Jordan Stump (Translator)
$14.95
ISBN: 9781931883627
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Two Lines Press - July 11th, 2017

From one of the most exciting contemporary French voices comes the most unsettling and insidious novel I've read this year (Maybe best to avoid this one if you already get creeped out by the fog.) Too spooky to be believed; too real to be merely the stuff of nightmares. -Noah


Silencer By Marcus Wicker Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9781328715548
Availability: NOT on our shelves now. Usually ships from warehouse in several days.
Published: Ecco - September 5th, 2017

Playful, insightful, bold, and rhythmic--Silencer is an exciting read for anyone with an interest in poetry with a plot twist, themes of social justice, wit, and humor. -Aya


Sweetbitter (Vintage Contemporaries) By Stephanie Danler Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781101911860
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Vintage - April 4th, 2017

 

A wonderful novel for those in their early twenties, a life as we know it. -Maeve


Electric Arches By Eve L. Ewing Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781608468560
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Haymarket Books - September 12th, 2017

 

Eve L. Ewing's poetry collection is striking and magical. There are poems about finding home--in place and in the body--and poems about reclaiming the past, reimagining the future, and nurturing one's younger self in order to survive in this world. The accompanying art in this collection is a striking as the poems themselves: they are beautiful disruptions.  -Kar


Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness By Peter Godfrey-Smith Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780374537197
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - October 17th, 2017

 For the nature lover or philosopher on your list.  The story--cephalod-based!--of how nature became aware of itself. -Pete


Urban Trails: San Francisco: Coastal Bluffs/ The Presidio/ Hilltop Parks & Stairways By Alexandra Kenin Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781680510201
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Mountaineers Books - November 1st, 2016

San Francisco is home to more than 800,000 residents and hosts more than 17 million business and leisure travelers each year. But few visitors--or locals, for that matter--realize that there are more than 220 premier parks and 70 miles of hiking trails in the city itself.


Art as Therapy By Alain Botton, John Armstrong Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9780714872780
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Phaidon Press - October 24th, 2016

From the author of The Architecture of Happiness, Alain de Botton thoroughly explores what about art we find important and divulges a new way of engaging with art. As he states, art acts as a medium that “can help guide, exhort and console its viewers, enabling them to become better versions of themselves.” Alongside beautiful prints, de Botton removes the intimidation of art connoisseurship and provides the accessibility to art we have always wanted. -Mia


A Loving, Faithful Animal: A Novel By Josephine Rowe Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781936787579
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Catapult - September 12th, 2017

 

This novel is nothing short of poetic. Rowe navigates the story of one family's intergenerational trauma, the complications of love and mercy, the impact of a nation's war, the passing of time, surfaced emotion, and the mysterious landscape of home with a craftsmanship that is elegant and heart-breaking. One of my favorite books of 2017 and one I will think about for a long time. -Kar


Baking With Kafka By Tom Gauld Cover Image
$19.95
ISBN: 9781770462960
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Drawn and Quarterly - October 3rd, 2017

For the person on your list who needs a good laugh. Sharp, slightly odd comics for writers, readers, booklovers, and internet haters. -Pete


Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated By Shea Serrano, Arturo Torres (Illustrator), Reggie Miller (Foreword by) Cover Image
By Shea Serrano, Arturo Torres (Illustrator), Reggie Miller (Foreword by)
$19.99
ISBN: 9781419726477
Availability: NOT on our shelves now. Usually ships from warehouse in several days.
Published: Abrams Image - October 10th, 2017

Basketball (And Other Things) is the perfect gift for the basketball head in your life. Short and beautiful sections, great illustrations and a host of takes on topics ranging from GOAT to a list of the "most disrespectful dunks." This book is great--funny and intelligent. -Nick


Beloved Dog By Maira Kalman Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780143109884
Availability: NOT on our shelves now. Usually ships from warehouse in several days.
Published: Penguin Books - October 31st, 2017

Beloved Dog is a heartwarming collection of quirky, brightly-colored illustrations of all kinds of dogs from artist Maira Kalman. Accompanied by bite-sized stories and silly poems, these portraits make a tender appreciation of man's best friend that's sure to charm a dog-lover in your life. -Casey


Afterglow (a Dog Memoir) By Eileen Myles Cover Image
$24.00
Temporarily Unavailable
ISBN: 9780802127099
Published: Grove Press - September 12th, 2017

Myles' best work yet-- a dog memoir that transcends the form, and then some. -Dana


Bookshops: A Reader's History (Biblioasis International Translation #21) By Jorge Carrión, Peter Bush (Translator) Cover Image
By Jorge Carrión, Peter Bush (Translator)
$24.95
Temporarily Unavailable
ISBN: 9781771961745
Published: Biblioasis - October 31st, 2017

Jorge Carrion's Bookshops: A Reader’s History is a must-read for bibliophiles! Carrion traveled the world to visit the hole-in-the-walls, the oddballs, the hidden and the heavy hitters of bookstores (including Green Apple!) and the result is part travelogue, part philosophical inquiry, part love letter. Sink into your favorite comfy chair and follow him into the magical world of books. -Emily


The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion--Surprising Observations of a Hidden World By Peter Wohlleben, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (Foreword by), Jane Billinghurst (Translator) Cover Image
$24.95
Temporarily Unavailable
ISBN: 9781771643016
Published: Greystone Books - November 7th, 2017

With the same gentle and reflective voice that made us fall in love with the world of trees, Peter Wohlleben brings us a compassionate glance into the minds of other animals, from the most minute insects to the furry faces we come home to every day. Although a lot of the evidence comes in the form of anecdotes (stories of cross-species friendships abound), by the end it is undeniable how deeply and complexly all animals feel, and that our interactions with them are more meaningful than we can begin to imagine. -Aya


The Book of Disquiet: The Complete Edition By Fernando Pessoa, Jerónimo Pizarro (Editor), Margaret Jull Costa (Translated by) Cover Image
By Fernando Pessoa, Jerónimo Pizarro (Editor), Margaret Jull Costa (Translated by)
$27.95
ISBN: 9780811226936
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: New Directions - August 29th, 2017

This a book I recommend to everyone in my life: it is that far-reaching and that important. A compilation of writings found in poet Fernando Pessoa's possessions after his death, it's a book you can open to any page and find yourself. This new edition comes with a new translation and a new, evocative cover, which all comes together to make a handsome, illuminating book that would make any good gift. -Kar


The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve By Stephen Greenblatt Cover Image
$27.95
Temporarily Unavailable
ISBN: 9780393240801
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - September 12th, 2017

Stephen Greenblatt's long-awaited follow-up to The Swerve, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve is an incredible investigation into a tale we think we all understand. However, Greenblatt offers new revelations that shed light on the origins of this story and contextualize it for anyone reading in 2017. - John


Waiting for the Punch: Words to Live by from the WTF Podcast By Marc Maron, John Oliver (Foreword by) Cover Image
By Marc Maron, John Oliver (Foreword by)
$30.79
Temporarily Unavailable
ISBN: 9781250088888
Published: Flatiron Books - October 10th, 2017

Waiting for the Punch is a superb achievement that collects years and years of Marc Maron's interviews with the disparate likes of Louie C.K., Terry Gross, President Barack Obama, and Amy Schumer (just to name a few). Separated thematically, this book addresses subjects familiar to almost anyone: success, addiction, failure, sexuality, etc. -John


A New Map of Wonders: A Journey in Search of Modern Marvels By Caspar Henderson Cover Image
Not available to order
ISBN: 9780226291918
Published: University of Chicago Press - November 15th, 2017

Caspar Henderson's follow up to The Book of Barely Imagined Beings is a beautiful examination of wonder in modern life. Drawing on philosophy and natural history, art and religion, neuroscience and nanotechnology, A New Map of Wonders will make you see the world anew. -Emily


The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization By Martin Puchner Cover Image
$32.00
Temporarily Unavailable
ISBN: 9780812998931
Published: Random House - October 24th, 2017


Martin Puchner begins his book with the 1968 Apollo 8 mission and ends his study with Harry Potter. The texts he examines range from The Epic of Gilgamesh to The Communist Manifesto, and with each writing he presents a comprehensive understanding of how that that text shaped the way we think. As Margaret Atwood stated, “Well worth a read, to find out how come we read.”  -Mia


The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World By John Davies, Alexander J. Kent, James Risen (Foreword by) Cover Image
$35.00
ISBN: 9780226389578
Availability: NOT on our shelves now. Usually ships from warehouse in several days.
Published: University of Chicago Press - October 17th, 2017

Before Google Maps could chart the most efficient route to your local delicatessen, the Soviet Union was busy mapping the entire world. The Red Atlas (courtesy of the folks at the University of Chicago Press) is an aesthetic artifact and a wonder to behold for lovers of history and cartography. -John


Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking By Samin Nosrat, Wendy MacNaughton (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Samin Nosrat, Wendy MacNaughton (Illustrator)
$37.50
ISBN: 9781476753836
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Simon & Schuster - April 25th, 2017

 

More than just another cookbook, this is cooking school between two glorious covers. With clear and lovely illustrations, this is an excellent gift for anyone who wants to improve in the kitchen. -Pete


Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life and Afterlife By Pamela Bannos Cover Image
$47.25
Temporarily Unavailable
ISBN: 9780226470757
Published: University of Chicago Press - October 10th, 2017

Pamela Bannos delves into the life of the elusive photographer Vivian Maier with this fantastic biography that attempts to separate the myth from the reality. A compulsively readable account of one the twentieth century's greatest photographers. -Emily


San Francisco Noir: Photographs by Fred Lyon (San Francisco Photography Book in Black and White Film Noir Style) By Fred Lyon Cover Image
$45.00
ISBN: 9781616896515
Availability: NOT on our shelves now. Usually ships from warehouse in several days.
Published: Princeton Architectural Press - October 10th, 2017

Fred Lyon's photos of San Francisco in the '40's and '50's capture the city in a way no other photographer has.  In black and white, light and shadow, sunshine and fog, his photos of street life show a city long gone, and yet one that is very familiar. -KPR


Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World By Christopher de Hamel Cover Image
$45.00
ISBN: 9781594206115
Availability: NOT on our shelves now. Usually ships from warehouse in several days.
Published: Penguin Press - October 24th, 2017

The closest you'll ever get to time travel. Well, or at least to feeling like a highly trained Medieval scholar. Mostly though this book will recapture your sense of wonder. -Emily


The California Field Atlas By Obi Kaufmann Cover Image
$45.00
ISBN: 9781597144025
Availability: Click the TITLE to view store availability
Published: Heyday Books - September 1st, 2017

This book is a treasure trove of useful information and gorgeous watercolor illustrations. California is an adventurer's paradise, and Obi Kaufman has expertly captured the state's wild spirit. -Noah


William Blake and the Age of Aquarius By Stephen F. Eisenman, Mark Crosby (Contribution by), Elizabeth Ferrell (Contribution by) Cover Image
By Stephen F. Eisenman, Mark Crosby (Contribution by), Elizabeth Ferrell (Contribution by)
$48.00
ISBN: 9780691175256
Availability: NOT on our shelves now. Usually ships from warehouse in several days.
Published: Princeton University Press - October 17th, 2017

William Blake and the Age of Aquarius is a stunningly illustrated look at how Blake's radical vision influenced artists of the Beat generation and 1960s counterculture. A beautiful gift for art and history buffs alike. -Emily


This Land: An American Portrait By Jack Spencer Cover Image
$60.00
ISBN: 9781477311899
Availability: NOT on our shelves now. Usually ships from warehouse in several days.
Published: University of Texas Press - March 7th, 2017

This is the most gorgeous book of photographs I have ever seen. Spencer renders all of the sublimity, majesty, and heartbreak of the  American landscape as he travels  - by car, of course - from West to East. From the awe of Monument Valley to the crumbling ruins of Indiana to the primeval islands of Georgia, This Land is truly spectacular. -Noah


Monograph by Chris Ware By Chris Ware, Ira Glass (Preface by), Francoise Mouly (Introduction by), Art Spiegelman (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Chris Ware, Ira Glass (Preface by), Francoise Mouly (Introduction by), Art Spiegelman (Introduction by)
$66.00
Temporarily Unavailable
ISBN: 9780847860883
Published: Rizzoli - October 17th, 2017

theres no cure for a brilliant mind -Frank