‘Tis the season to think about what to get the special people in your life. For the readers on your list, the answer is usually pretty simple: books! But which books? Whether your reader loves history, language, literature or a certain Victorian consulting detective, here are some hot new releases that are sure to please.
For fans of biographies, American history and the Little House books:
Pioneer Girl: An Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Little House book series only told half the story. Written in 1930 and hidden away after being rejected by publishers for some less-than-wholesome subject matter, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s autobiography reveals a more mature look at America’s most famous pioneer family and their travels and travails in the 19th century American midwest.
For Sherlock fans:
Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
In Horowitz’s second Sherlock Holmes novel to be sanctioned by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Frederick Chase, a senior investigator at New York’s Pinkerton Detective Agency, travels to England and teams up with Inspector Athelney Jones in the wake of the deaths of both Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. Moriarty’s passing has left a number of would-be masterminds all too eager to become his successor–and its up to the two detectives to make sure that the vacancy remains unfilled.
For word nerds (and bird nerds):
A Conspiracy of Ravens: A Compendium of Collective Nouns for Birds by The Bodleian Library (Ed.)
Is that a flock of blackbirds you see out your window? Or is it a murder of crows? Or perhaps a plague of grackles? The English language contains a plethora of clever and whimsical collective nouns for different species of birds. This compendium collects more than 100 of them, each of which are illustrated with woodcuts by eighteenth-century naturalist Thomas Bewick.
For literary geeks:
Selected Letters of Norman Mailer by Norman Mailer and J. Michael Lennon (Ed.)
The novelist, playwright and journalist Norman Mailer wrote close to 50,000 letters throughout his life. His correspondences included letters to fans, friends, family, loves, enemies, artists, writers, athletes, politicians and presidents, and he kept copies of almost every letter he ever sent. Those letters are collected here and arranged in a sequence that paints a revealing self-portrait of the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.
