The 2022 Holiday Gift Guide for Book Lovers

For romance enthusiasts, Love from A to Z and its sequel, Love from Mecca to Medina, by S.K. Ali are the perfect choice. Adam and Zayneb’s relationship is heartwarming and entertaining, but there are many questions the two must face. Was their meeting just an oddity? Or, like the greatest marvels of the world, can their love transcend anything? Journey through the story of their relationship, and adventure through Qatar and Saudi Arabia as the backdrop of their love story.

Nancy Lam’s The Loyal Daughter is a novel in stories, told from the perspective of mother, daughter and granddaughter; spanning through generations from the 1940s to modern day. Following a young woman in Communist China to her life in Toronto, the book is filled with heart-breaking sacrifices, struggles and secrets, and provides a thought-provoking portrayal of a woman’s resilience.

In Toronto, I Love You, Didier Leclair explores various perspectives of Toronto, from the friendly and welcoming ideal to the darker, hidden struggles of the Afro-Caribbean community. After fleeing unrest and misery in Benin, protagonist Raymond Dossougbé is initially enamored with Toronto as a new home, but he soon uncovers complex social dynamics in a community unwilling to adapt. Part love letter, part social critique, this book is a great gift for the literary readers in your life.

Thomas King’s books are a gift that always keeps on giving. Deep House, the sixth book in the DeadfulWater series, sees Thumps DreadfulWater entangled in a new mystery when he unexpectedly finds a dead body. It throws his peaceful, post-pandemic life in small-town Chinook into a puzzling adventure. With King’s usual wit and wry humour, it’s a perfect choice for those looking for a cozy mystery.

A perfect gift for detective fiction fans, The Dark Flood features two superstar detectives on a pursuit to clear their names after an unauthorized investigation threatens to reveal corruption in South Africa’s halls of power. Deon Meyer is a South African author known for writing with a powerful punch, full of twists and sharp prose. This spotlight on state capture and corruption lends political weight to an already intriguing story.

Inside the Montreal Mafia leaves no stone unturned with an exclusive inside look at the North American Mafia through the secret confessions its authors perilously collected from high-ranking Mafioso Andrew Scoppa between 2014 and 2019. This investigative work will appeal to true crime readers everywhere.

The visceral collection of personal essays, Run Towards the Danger, was announced as the 2022 Toronto Book Award winner in November. Toronto-based, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director and actor Sarah Polley delves into her past to illuminate powerful truths about post-traumatic memory, our relationship to the body and how we tell our stories. It’s an honest, humorous and inspiring read for anyone brave enough to confront the constant human state of becoming, learning and changing.

As a finalist of the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, Saeed Teebi’s short story collection is a must-have for readers this year. Teebi offers compelling reflections on the Palestinian diaspora with grace and deep insight. From the perspectives of a doctor, professor, student, refugee and more, these intense and compelling stories share diverse perspectives of the immigrant experience.

Tsering Yangzom Lama came onto the literary scene with a bang with her debut novel, We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies, making the shortlist for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the longlists for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and Toronto Book Awards. The book is a poignant meditation on colonization, displacement and rebirth, recounting a Tibetan family’s 50-year journey through exile and their struggles to shape new lives.

A perfect gift for the banana and dinosaur-loving child in your life; Benny the Bananasaurus Rex is a fun, beautiful and wholesome book about a kid named Benny. Benny loves bananas. He eats them morning, noon and night. He even rides a bike with a yellow banana seat. In fact, Benny has a secret, he hopes one day he will turn into a banana! And if there is one thing Benny knows, it’s that with a little imagination anything is possible. This is a great gift for kids aged 3 and up.

The Global Ocean is a stunning book that explores the ocean’s enormous influence on the planet, as well as humans’ often detrimental influence on the ocean. It may seem like Earth’s five oceans are separate and distinct, but they are actually a linked system of circulating water that is one single ocean: the global ocean. This book provides young readers with the knowledge about inspiring initiatives that are underway to restore and heal Earth’s most important feature. This gift is recommended for children aged 8 and up.

Give your YA reader Louisa Onomé’s latest novel, Twice as Perfect, this year. The novel follows 17-year-old Ada and her struggle of putting everyone else first, from school and the debate team to her Nigerian parents and even her cousin. Amid parental pressure, reconnecting with her estranged brother and her cousin’s enormous wedding, Ada faces the question, what makes her happy? This book is recommended for readers aged 12 and up.