book recommendations for every type of person (the ultimate book gift guide)

people often ask me what books they should buy for their friends their loved ones their secret santa and i have recommendations which i'd love to share because i am a firm believer that buying a book for someone specifically based on their interests and their traits is one of the nicest ways to show them that you care it's such a thoughtful gift but you don't have to sell one of your internal organs on the black market in order to afford it so i headed over to my instagram to ask you guys what t

ype of people you are looking to buy books for and i hope that this video will become your ultimate gift guide for buying books so let's dive in firstly we have the environmental activist okay so if you're buying a book for the greta thundberg in your life i would recommend the green ideas collection from penguin it's essentially this new canon of environmental books and speeches and essays and the designs are lovely you could buy one you could buy a couple you could buy the whole collection my

mom wants something that's interesting but still cozy small pleasures is a book about a very ordinary woman working for a small town newspaper and she's basically writing a story on a local woman who claims to have had a virgin birth but while we follow that story the book kind of like the title suggests is about the little things in life that make life so special next up we have the indie girlfriend i would say you cannot go wrong with joan didion she wrote about like 1960s la in these really r

eally honest accounts and i would recommend play as it lays music lover slash producer in need to fall for a non-technical book love is a mixtape was written by the editor-in-chief of rolling stones magazine and it's essentially an elegy for his girlfriend who tragically died very young and it's also about how music is just the soundtrack to our existences and how it intertwines with memories that we have and how music is so closely associated with times in our lives so non-technical but great f

or someone who has a passion for music i would say i need a book for my existentialist boyfriend okay um i would say get them something russian because they were going through it crime and punishment is great it's all about someone who murders an old pawn broker and then has to live with it and it's all about his different emotions that he goes through also the master and margarita is bizarre but quite wonderful people who are secretly very nosy but don't want to personally intrude into someone'

s life i have the perfect book for you and that is malibu rising this is fiction so not real lives but it follows the children of a world famous rock star and they're hosting this massive party with everyone who's anyone and it introduces all of these fictional celebrities and the dramas that they have in their lives and the book kind of wades through everyone's personal scandals and their relationships lots of twists and one for the gossip lovers my friend who loves a thought-provoking twitter

thread or medium article okay i think they'd love no one is talking about this it's an ironic title because i can't shut up about it but the first half of this book is basically a very nuanced discussion about internet culture specifically on twitter where there's kind of always a discourse about everything and then the second half of the book is about a family tragedy in which the character just can't comprehend that something that is so massive in their lives doesn't have this public discourse

going on like everything seems to on the internet which she spends a lot of time on she's so accustomed to that public discourse that the fact that no one is talking about this is really disarming and it's a thought-provoking discussion about internet culture from someone who has a real affection for it and actually spends a lot of time online rather than the classic book about the internet which is just like everything online is bad and horrible and wrong and corrupting our brains my boyfriend

loves books about world war ii but also space the perfect combination of those two things is slaughterhouse five which is a book about kurt vonnegut's own experience of being a prisoner of war in dresden and the trauma that he experienced and it's kind of his way of comprehending that trauma and the ptsd that he experiences so he essentially imagines his captors as aliens who take him away to a different planet but there you go that kind of merges those two interests a poetry loving sister um n

ight sky with exit wounds by ocean wong is just dazzling as a collection someone who doesn't read much but really wants to get into it i'm not joking when i say everyone i know who has read the seven husbands of evelyn hugo whether they have been reading for years or just started adored it it's about a fictional celebrity who's kind of like the most famous woman in the world it's about her life in the spotlight all of the secrets and scandals that went on during her career and it is truly such a

page turner okay the next one is someone who's too risky to buy a book for in case they already have it i have some suggestions for you firstly my ink outside the box reading log where you can keep track of every book you read and then there's also these prompts to help you write a thoughtful review about the books that you're reading and i think it's perfect for book lovers also if they need to get organized there's loads of beautiful stationery on the website including these daily planners ou

tside the box dot co uk baby and then secondly this is stunning and this is basically a collaboration between the agatha christie estate and hunter killer who make these amazing murder mystery games that you can solve and so this is a collector's edition and it sets you your own agatha christie mystery to solve so cool so basically poirot's off sick so it's your job to work out why this old philanthropist has been found dead in his bed so all the clues and essential items that you need are in th

is box and it's such high quality stuff like look at this there's a signet ring in here there's also a hip flask um which is engraved and you know you could keep and display these things forever so immersive unlike any board game i've ever come across before and what a fun and unique way to bring people together to play this this would be such a special gift just like all of the hunter killer games and they very very kindly sponsored today's video and given us a discount code so you can use the

code jack 10 to get 10 off at the link i will leave down below so go check it out i cannot wait to play this with my family at christmas now i don't know how to top that but some other bookish ideas that aren't books could be a nice bookmark from etsy or you can actually get these custom library stamps or embossers for your book so you can customize your books you can also get these book lights my grandmother got me one for christmas last year and i loved it you could get some cool bookends for

displaying books or you could get them a blind date with a book which is basically a book that you choose based on a little brief description but you can't see the cover and it's a cool way of discovering a new book that you might not have picked up otherwise or next one's a great one someone who puts down a book if they don't enjoy the first chapter i think maybe the vanishing half because the book is set up in a way where you really want to know what happens i can't imagine not finishing this

because we basically follow these two twin sisters who are black but could pass as white and one sister chooses to live her life as a black woman and the other chooses to live as a white woman so from that point onwards we watch how their lives diverge and collide and also how this impacts their children's lives so i was hooked or also you could try the beekeeper of aleppo the beginning of this is fantastically written but so heartbreaking and the book has some great twists so completely captiva

ting the doomsday prepper um and then the end will come is sort of about the end times but then it flips the idea on its head and encourages people to live in the moment so it doesn't invalidate the belief in doomsday but it suggests that maybe you use that energy in a more positive way so check that one out a book for people who are trained in literature and classics and are snobby about the books that they read hamnit is a book that i think will become a modern classic it's historical fiction

and it's this deep exploration of grief and it's written in a really interesting way because it's about william shakespeare but it never actually mentions him by name it really casts a spotlight on his family and there were just so many lines that made my jaw drop a book for a wannabe journalist the windrush betrayal is a book about the hostile environment that was created by the uk government towards the windrush generation so it teaches you about that but it's also about the power of journalis

m to uncover these things and it's written by a journalist from the guardian who exposed the whole thing this person said something sad and gay a single man chronicles a 24-hour period in the life of a man who has recently lost his husband he also talks about life living as a minority and this book just broke my heart into tiny little pieces also song of achilles is a greek mythology retelling and it fits the criteria of being both sad and gay so there you go someone who loves dystopia but has a

lready read every dystopia i can think of okay so maybe try the memory police which is a japanese dystopia which has been recently translated it's about an island in which things like birds hats ribbon all start to disappear from people's memories so it's all about mind control and the book centers on a group of people who decide to rebel against the system and hopefully they haven't read it if they have i can only apologize oh these two are really similar so my best friend who exclusively liste

ns to taylor swift and then also a book for an introvert who loves cats t the fall and taylor swift common theme here i think that people who love taylor swift's writing would really love the writing of ocean vong he is one of the most exciting up-and-coming writers of our time and his writing is just exquisite so i would really recommend on earth we're briefly gorgeous amazing coming of age sapphic and weird um there is this completely unhinged book called things have gotten worse since we last

spoke and it's about two women who meet on an internet chat room and they have this relationship which has a sexual element to it and they just bring out the worst in each other and i read this all in one sitting because i was just so hooked i needed to know what happened yeah i couldn't put that one down horror lover who wants something a little bit twisted the dangers of smoking in bed is an argentinian collection of short horror stories perfect for your friend who's an edgar allan hoe um and

i hope it passes the vibe check a girl i'm trying to befriend who dresses greatly has read murakami and is cool i'm going to recommend before the coffee gets cold it has that same classic japanese style of magical realism that murakami uses and it's basically about this coffee shop where people can go back in time to speak to people they'd previously had confrontations with but there's lots of rules so basically everything they do in the past won't affect the present day and they only have as m

uch time as their coffee is warm and this book wrecked me i think it's quite a cool book and i think it would give you lots to discuss with this potential new friend so that you can become besties a philosophy lover a chaotic person with a great analytical capacity maybe convenience store woman it's this little book all about the intersection between feminism and criticism of capitalism and i enjoyed it so much it is devastating but in a very subtle way and the character is basically forced to c

hoose between having a flourishing career or a successful relationship and she's essentially this every woman figure lots of different voices telling her what she should and shouldn't be doing and again this is a great book that you could discuss after finishing reading it someone who craves good plot twist but always guesses them really quickly i think that the book with the most shocking plot twist for me was we are all completely beside ourselves but it comes quite early on in the book which

is good if you're like a serial guesser of plot twists because then you can actually enjoy the rest of it then also um lonely castle in the mirror has some great twists and turns as does never let me go so a few options there hopefully one of them works loves maths but also literature weird mix i know i have the perfect book for you the housekeeper and the professor does exactly this it's about this retired mata professor who has a really short memory so he forgets pretty much everything and his

housekeeper has to reintroduce herself to him every time she comes over but the one thing that has stayed firm in his memory is his love for numbers and i hate maths right it's not my forte but even i enjoyed this book it's just completely enthralling so yeah that's a good combination of maths and literature my best friend had a zoella phase that just hasn't ended and also loves korean culture okay love that shout out to baby otterly i would recommend kim jaeongborn 1982 which is all about the

female experience of living in south korea but also beyond that it's also about womanhood more generally and the things that happen to the character are also backed up with facts of real life events and it really really makes you think a book for people who can't wait for season two of bridgeton listen it's gotta be jane austen i think emma is her best piece of work it's all about misunderstandings and miscommunication and it's genuinely so funny but also if you want more of that bridgeton style

of call thing then maybe go for northanger abbey which is another great one of her works a book for my uncle who loves fishing weirdly i have a few recommendations for you here the hungry tide is set in india's tidal region and it's all about the symbiotic relationship between fishermen and the water or you could go for moby dick go a bit more classic um or the old man in the sea so some very fishy options for you there light reads for reading by the pool firstly very jealous secondly um i read

queenie when i was on holiday this year and i really enjoyed it it has this brilliant cast of a really diverse range of characters and it's all about this girl who just keeps making bad decisions when it comes to her love life and her friendships and her personal relationships but it has this really authentic voice and it's such a page turner or you could get clap when you land which is all about these two girls who both lose their fathers in a plane crash um and again captivating from the get-

go spiritual people might enjoy siddharta it's about a man who is searching for his faith but ultimately finds everything that he needs within himself and it's good just please for the love of god don't buy them the secret please artsy party girl with a nine to five who wants to get into reading but doesn't think she has the time this makes me think of lost girls and love hotels which is about these two girls living in tokyo who go to lots of parties they're very witty and it's also a very sex p

ositive book so um maybe check that one out a sally rooney lover who can't find books that just hit in the same way the most similar writing style i've found to sally rooney is exciting times it's set in hong kong it's all about human connection and being incredibly introspective having messy complicated relationships but on top of that there's also wider cultural criticisms and quips and i also really liked lustre which is about a woman who is having an affair with a married man and she actuall

y ends up moving into his house at his wife's request again very messy and one of the best books to come out of 2021 i think a book from my dad who likes personal accounts of hardship chuggy bane i think fits the bill here it's about child growing up with an alcoholic mother and it is a very very tender exploration of pride and poverty and also complicated family love i want a book that will fill me with love and then break my heart into tiny pieces call me by your name we'll do exactly that a b

ook about coming to terms with sexuality despite having a homophobic family okay um funny boy by shine salvadurai is set in sri lanka and it's all about identity politics coming to terms with who the main character is but you also learn a bit about sri lankan history which is kind of bubbling away in the background of the narrative and i think this is just so beautifully written i think it's an absolute masterpiece my dad wants something a bit psychological the good soldier features potentially

the epitome of the unreliable narrator told in a non-chronological way and we basically slowly start to realize that we really can't trust the story that we're being told by the narrative voice he's being very misleading so you have to sort of read between the lines and there's death and adultery and lying what more could you want a book for a big fan of peaky blinders okay so brighton rock is very very similar it's about a gang in brighton and it has one of the best opening lines of all time ha

le knew before he had been in brighton three hours that they meant to murder him how could you not read on after reading that right people who want to read but just don't have the time short story collections are your new best friend i would recommend what i talk about when i talk about love the stories are very concise and self-contained but they get you hooked also the house guest i really really enjoyed as well as no one belongs here more than you and short story collections are great for peo

ple who only read in short bursts because then they feel like they've actually kind of achieved something and i think it would encourage you to keep picking it back up to read another story fiction for men who only read non-fiction and then in brackets i'm trying to get my dad and my boyfriend to branch out okay the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is a comedic sci-fi book in which the world ends and the character then ends up kind of going into space and it's just a bit silly but also good fun

to read or on a different kind of note you could go with misery which is about a famous writer whose number one fan kidnaps him and holds him hostage and it's pretty gripping i think they'd like it my two best friends are harry styles fan boy and a harry styles fan girl what an iconic duo get them a copy of my policemen so they can read the book that is being adapted into the film before it comes out and honestly i thought the book was phenomenal harry styles is also a big fan of norwegian wood

which is one of the best books i read this year um it will make you want to visit tokyo so much and it's about love and mental health and complicated relationships yeah it's very good oh no my friend is going through a breakup and needs a fluffy romance with new comfort characters red white and royal blue is exactly what you need it's about a fictional prince of england and a fictional son of the u.s president who meets let's say and it's just a really heartwarming love story people who love rea

ding sad books and crying about them to you i mean a little life is probably the saddest piece of literature i have ever encountered it's about these four men in new york city who have been friends since college and it documents their whole lives and the personal tragedies that each one of them experiences and it made me ugly cry real tears but also i would just say be careful about who you buy this for and make sure you've read the trigger warnings beforehand make sure they have read the trigge

r warnings as well yeah just be careful because we want them to cry we don't want them to be traumatized my sister who just found out she's pregnant and then in brackets by accident the hungover games is about expecting a child when you can barely look after yourself and it's full of this dark sardonic wits and i think they find it really refreshing my husband who is training to run at the new york marathon wow okay i think that what i talk about when i talk about running will really resonate wi

th anyone who loves well running and i think it would be good to motivate him to keep going and i hope that he smashes it my friend who is going through a divorce okay so when they decide to take a break from listening to adele i think maybe they would enjoy reading changes a love story it's set in ghana and it's all about leaving a marriage and negotiating a new single life a person who likes collecting books but not reading them okay call your friend out i think that any bookshop lover will be

come enamored with 84 charing crossroad it's this charming little book which is written as a series of letters in a correspondence between a book lover and buyer in new york city and book sellers in london so warm so cozy and just lovely depressed bestie who just likes reading books about women with depression my year of rest and relaxation basically details different types of depression and it's about a woman who essentially decides to take a year of hibernation from the world and it's so vivid

ly written you can really feel how pointless everything seems to her but again re-trigger warnings for this before buying it the person who is utterly obsessed with k-pop i would recommend if i had your face which is an illuminating book all about modern south korean culture set in seoul it's all about beauty standards one of the characters is a huge k-pop stan okay leading on from that the next one says the bts stan the army is here okay two options firstly demian really influenced the blood sw

eat and tears music video and then secondly ursula kayla quinn's the ones who walk away from omalus really inspired the spring day music video so if you can find that short story in one of her collections i think they'd really love to learn more about it i'm looking for a contemporary fictional book which touches upon racial criticism okay such a fun age is about a black woman who is babysitting a white child when she's essentially arrested at a local supermarket by the security guards who think

she's kidnapping the child and the book really centers around the messy nuances of privilege but it's written in such a natural and vivid way that you just get completely lost in it what to buy for a university fresher now you all know that i love normal people i think it's the perfect book for university aged people um thinking about their first relationships and communication with other humans but as an alternative to that i also really enjoyed loveless by alice oseman it is set at durham uni

versity so it does have a very special place in my heart but it's all about moving to university the experience of being a fresher and being away from home but on top of that it's also an exploration of asexuality and being aromantic and i'm so glad i read this book because i feel like in the future i'll be a much better friend and ally so i'm very glad that i stumbled upon this book oh or you could get the my book the universe by jack edwards um my ultimate guide to university damn nearly miss

an opportunity to plug that the mythology lover and then in brackets they've already read a song of achilles okay in fairness everyone loves that book um ariadne is a new book that has just come out about a greek mythology retelling but i would also highly recommend love in color which is a selection of mythological retellings in a modern context and it retells those mythological stories from lots of different countries and cultures my girlfriend who loves art especially cubism oh um clara and t

he sun has elements of cubism it's a sort of dystopia about the rise of artificial intelligence and the final one says my girlfriend just really wants a book about women i would recommend girl woman other it is this sprawling story across generations about a myriad of fascinating women and i think it would make your feminism so much more intersectional so check it out and on that note my brain has been completely emptied of ideas i hope this has been helpful i hope it serves as a good gift guide

for any time you need to buy someone a book i'm sure anyone would be really grateful to receive a book that you thought they would love and if they hate it you didn't hear this recommendation from me thank you very much there's loads more bookish content on my youtube channel as well as tons more recommendations so don't forget to subscribe give this video a like if it helped you out and a massive shout out to hunterkiller for sponsoring this video the link is down below until next time all the

best stay in touch have a wonderful christmas and i'll see you soon bye bye