Your Weird Gay Aunt’s Holiday Picks: Books, Laughs, and a Little Magic

Books You’ll Love to Gift (and Borrow Back Later)

This is a free post for subscribers of Landline, a pop culture and history newsletter for people who care about the Titanic, and the the Kate Winslet vehicle of the same name. Consider subscribing to the paid plan to get my weekly email of recommendations and links, a podcast episode, and more! You can also help me spread the word by sharing it with a friend who would love it.

I am not here to “influence” you or get you to buy things I like. I just want to fully lean into how seen I still feel by this tweet:

The only core difference is that I like Truvia in my iced coffee, but otherwise, this is me.

Look, life is messy and I really just want to be the weird gay aunt who rolls into your inbox and delivers things that bring you joy, make you think, and hopefully, makes you laugh.

These are books I love to gift time and again. I perpetually re-read many of these books, and am always down to talk about them (seriously, drop a comment or dm me, I mean it). I am burying myself in books these days when reality feels insane, so hopefully, these offer some fun diversions for you!

PS I just launched some of my designs (drawing is a longtime hobby) on Etsy, including a daytime talk toile and iced coffee-themed design if you need some non-book gifts (especially for yourself). I will be gifting notebooks to everyone, including notebooks with a mall toile I will launch soon.

History Books

These are some books I enjoyed recently, and some books I enjoy gifting.

Garrett M. Graff. Watergate: A New History

I didn’t think there were new things to say about Watergate, but Garrett Graff proved me wrong. I go through a Watergate phase every few years, and this book set me spinning. It’s very readable and fun, and invites a lot of thought about how we got to a place where Nixon felt like THE answer. It’s also insane to see how he, somewhat inevitably, threw it all away.

Nora Krug. Belonging: A German reckons with History and Home.

This is an incredible multi-media memoir of the author’s attempts to navigate learning she has Nazis in her family tree. Through a beautiful meld of artwork, archival images, and text, she explores how to sit with the guilt of her ancestor’s actions and be active in the present in both owning it, making amends, and finding a way forward with her personal history.

Alexandra Lange. Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

I loved interviewing Alexandra in Landline this year, and I love gifting her book.

Erik Larsen. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin

Erik Larsen is for everyone. Really at a loss on Father’s day? Erik Larsen. Do you want to bond with the AP US History teacher you’ve encountered at Target? Erik Larsen. Is your doctor struggling to make small talk, and you are desperate for an out? Erik Larsen. This is one I often gift because it shows his skill at mixing the importance of personal history with political history. Many people think political history should just be stories of presidents, etc. This book does a great job of demonstrating just how vast a term “politics” can be, and how enthralling stories are when we look for them in places where power battles determine all, whether in the family or government. In Larsen’s telling, it’s easy to see how the dating choices of the Ambassador’s daughter, for example, could be a powerful political act as much as her father’s attempts to manage Hitler. I could not put this down.

Kristen Richardson. The Season: A Social History of the Debutante

Clint Smith. How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

This is very well-written, well-researched, and a great example of how to write about ideas using place (something I like to do too). He travels to Monticello and Angola prison, among other historic sites, and uses these places to explore histories of slavery in our country and the white people who have erased them (and still do).

Creative Nonfiction

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx.

When I finished this book the first time, I remember staring into space and wondering what it would be like to write this well. I recommend this all the time and will forever.

Mary S. Lovell. The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Sisters.

This book took over my life when I first read it years ago. I could not believe one group of sisters could be so immersed in their moment. One sister befriends Fitzgerald and Hemingway when she moves to Paris to be a writer, another fights Franco in Spain then moves to the US to take on the funeral industry as a journalist (among other causes). Two others get really into fascism, and one of them falls in love with Hitler. It’s bonkers and such a fascinating read.

Michael Finkel. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obessession

This book is very fun and has the thief’s full participation so we get intel on how a hugely successful art thief pulled off so many thefts. If I had to make this book sound smart and not just fun, I’d say it’s also about the larger question of who art is for and what it means that so many great works are paywalled in museums.

Sarah Vowell. Assassination Vacation.

This is a book I love to gift because it’s really funny and shows history can be smart and playful. I simply love it. It’s one of my most favorite books and really inspired me to do what I do.

Lawrence Wright. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

If you told me as a teen I’d be weirdly invested in histories of scientology and attempts to take it down, . . . .I probably would believe you. Regardless, this is the best history of what exactly Scientology is, why it’s focused on Hollywood, and how its many scams operate.

Celeb Memoirs in my Hall of Fame

I’m not going to go into all of these books, but just trust they are great conversation starts. I like to gift these and say, please hit me up when you’ve read it so we can have coffee and discuss.

Mariah Carey. The Meaning of Mariah Carey

Leah Remini. Troublemaker.

Jessica Simpson. Open Book

Barbra Streisand. My Name is Barbra

Novel Escape:

These are all books I either read this year and loved, or just love in general. Hilary Mantel is a forever recommendation for me.

Kevin Kwan. Lies and Wedding

Hilary Mantel. Wolf Hall

Val McDermid. 1979: An Allie Burns Novel

This is a lesbian mystery writer who created a great series focusing on a lesbian journalist in Scotland who solves mysteries. Each book takes place a decade from the previous. I accidentally read 1989 first because my brain is too Taylor Swift-coded, but you should start with book 1 aka 1979.

Ann Patchett. Tom Lake

I listened to Meryl Streep read this while painting my sunroom and it made the time fly by. I loved listening to her, and to Ann Patchett’s incredible ear for characters and the ways they describe their lives. I am also a sucker for Our Town, so this had me from the jump.

Rufi Thorpe. Margo’s Got Money Troubles

Kevin Wilson. The Family Fang

Books I gift to everyone, regardless of age

Okay, I am a firm believer that children’s books are not just for children. These are all books I share with loved ones with little ones, but I also send them to full-grown adults at different moments. Here are the recs I send fellow alleged grown-ups:

Tomie dePaula. Strega Nona

I will send this to anyone for any reason, and like to also send it with pasta if I can. This book is a way to say “I love you” with food because it is about a woman whose magic pasta pot makes endless pasta (not unlike the Olive Garden) fueled by the magic of love.

Louise Fitzhugh. Harriet the Spy

I like to gift this with a composite notebook to anyone who loves a mystery or who perhaps feels misunderstood. Who hasn’t felt like an investigator trying to solve the crime of life in 2024? We have so many strange rituals and habits as people and Harriet completely got that. This book is for fellow weirdos, queer people, people who don’t fit in, and anyone who likes some drama, aka everyone.

E.L. Konigsburg. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

I like to gift this book with museum tickets for an adventure with a friend or loved one. It is still so funny to me and I love a children’s book that features a cranky adult who does not like kids. It also presents the MET as a magical place, which is still how I think of museums.

Peggy Parish. Amelia Bedelia

This is a book I send to anyone who feels like they’ve messed up at work or in life. I have been there. I’m just going to say it, this woman gets a bad rap! I too mixed up the spellings of “there,” “their”, and “they’re.” Guess what? She didn’t let that stop her. Do I get her fashion? No, but I felt the same way about Lady Gaga and both continue to sustain me.

Louis Sachar. Sideway Stories from Wayside School.

Still simply one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. I love the absurdity of it and the depth of the world he creates with every single character. No notes.

Mary Oliver. Felicity or New and Selected Poems, Volume One

Poetry is for everyone, and this is my favorite. We had my aunt read from Felicity at our wedding, and I really think poetry is the best way to start the day. It is what I turn to most when I need a moment to take me out of the mundane annoyances of a Monday, sit with the sadness of grief, or appreciate the feeling of really, truly, being in love with someone and not being able to believe it.

Crafty books

Paint by Sticker: Works of Art

I send this to people of all ages because it’s paint by number, but with stickers. No skills required and very soothing.

Ray Marshall. Paper Blossoms for All Seasons: A Book of Beautiful Bouquets for the Table

I love to send this to people who love flowers (like me), but especially if they live a ways from me and I want to be sure they can enjoy the flowers for a long time.

Martha Stewart. The Martha Manual: How to Do (Almost) Everything

I am currently in the process of mosaic-ing a tabletop, and I am using a lesson from this book as my guide. This book won’t allow you to “be” Martha (nothing will). However, it will offer very clear instructions on how to complete all kinds of home crafts.

What is a book you love to gift?

Call Me! (or not!)

I’d love to hear from you! Drop your thoughts in the comments to share with the Landline community, or reply to this email to contact me. You can also find me on Instagram, or email me. I don’t have a dedicated phone line yet (just like in my youth), but maybe someday I’ll achieve Claudia status and get a Landline.

Thanks for reading!

This is a free post for subscribers of Landline. Consider subscribing to the paid plan to get my weekly email of recommendations and links, a podcast episode, and more! You can also help me spread the word by sharing it with a friend who would love it. Thank you for being a friend!

Note: All books referenced in Landline can be found in my bookshop.org storefront from which I earn a small percentage of all books purchased.