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The Daily

Sunday Special: Gifting Books for the Holidays

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The holiday season is here, which means it’s the time to think of great gifts for everyone on your list. While it can feel like a daunting task to choose thoughtful, personalized presents, we’ve got a fix for you: books. On this edition of The Sunday Special, Gilbert is joined by Joumana Khatib and Sadie Stein, editors at the Book Review, for a conversation about the best books to give your family and friends. Joumana and Sadie will share what excited them most this year and also provide recommendations for giftees in very specific categories. Books mentioned in this episode: “The Colony,” Annika Norlin“Perfection,” Vincenzo Latronico“Things: A Story of the 60s,” Georges Perec“The Bee Sting,” Paul Murray“The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” Kiran Desai“The Director,” Daniel Kehlmann“Playworld: A Novel,” Adam Ross“A Marriage at Sea,” Sophie Elmhirst“Entertaining is Fun!,” Dorothy Draper“The Thursday Murder Club,” Richard Osman“The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels,” Janice Hallett“Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes,” Roald Dahl“Mrs. Manders’ Cook Book,” Sarah Manders, edited by Rumer Godden“Halleluja! The Welcome Table,” Maya Angelou“The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life,” Pat Conroy“Les diners de Gala,” Salvador Dalí“Diaghilev’s Empire: How the Ballets Russes Enthralled the World,” Rupert Christiansen“Finishing the Hat and Look I Made a Hat,” Stephen Sondheim“Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run,” Peter Ames Carlin“The Uncool: A Memoir,” Cameron Crowe“The Gales of November,” John U. Bacon“The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson,” Ralph Waldo Emerson“Cats in Color,” Stevie Smith“Archie and the Strict Baptists,” John Betjeman“Stories 1,2,3,4,” Eugène Ionesco“Trip: A Novel,” Amy Barrodale

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome everyone to the Sunday special. I'm Gilbert Cruz.

0:10.0

Thanksgiving has come. Thanksgiving has gone, and that can only mean one thing. The holiday season is fully upon us, and it's time to start thinking about gifts for your family and friends.

0:21.7

I know, I get it.

0:23.3

This can be a stressful activity, but do not despair, because I am here to tell you that books

0:29.2

are the best gifts.

0:30.8

You can literally find a book for every single person on your list, no matter what they're

0:35.9

into, no matter if they even read books. So that is what

0:39.6

we're going to talk about today. With me today are two of my colleagues who I often pester for

0:50.0

gift ideas for people in my life. Both are editors at the book review.

0:55.3

Jumana Khatib.

0:56.4

Welcome, Jumana.

0:57.5

Hi, Gilbert.

0:59.0

And Sadie Stein.

1:00.4

Thank you for having me.

1:04.6

Okay, before we dive in, you both read books for a living.

1:05.7

Amazing job.

1:08.9

But what does reading for pleasure look like for both of you?

1:09.7

Okay.

1:16.4

I can, I know myself well enough that this is going to sound like parody, but I will read any book that doesn't have a plot.

1:18.3

I will read any book about a narrator in some kind of lowercase de-dress.

1:28.1

Okay.

1:31.5

I don't like true crime.

...

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