The Girl's Guide
Issue 121: The Book Lover's Gift Guide
Better late than never, right? I’m in your inbox on a Monday because I have lots of ground I want to cover before Christmas arrives! If you missed the most recent issue of The Girl’s Guide, find it here.
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The Book Lover’s Gift Guide
Books are the gift that keeps on giving, so I think it’s only fitting that my first Christmas gift guide of 2024 center on books (that’s right, you can expect more than one gift guide this year!).
I tried to pull together a truly diverse selection of books for all the friends and family members in your life. There are many reasons why you may want to give a book to a loved one: because it’s a physically beautiful object, or because it contains knowledge you think will help them in their daily life, or because it tells a story you want to share with the giftee. Whatever your reason, I hope you find some inspiration on this list!
For the children
Who says Santa Claus can’t bring a book or two when he comes down the chimney? For children 3 and under, Tiny Hands Hymns is a board book that makes a great bedtime story. Every page features a verse from a classic hymn, from Amazing Grace to Crown Him With Many Crowns. Our almost two-year-old daughter is a huge fan of Tiny Hands Hymns and requests it every night – she’s already picked up the words to half of the hymns. The Tiny Hands series includes the Tiny Hands Prayers and Tiny Hands Promises board books as well.
Reading stories together is really fun, but it’s also amazing to watch kids learn to love reading independently. The Hank the Cowdog series by John R. Erickson is great for readers who are ready for chapter books. Boys, girls, elementary schoolers, middle schoolers – everyone loves Hank and his hilarious adventures on his family’s Texas ranch. You can get a set of the first 10 books in the series (there are more than 80 total) on Amazon.
For the non-fiction reader
It’s funny to give an avid reader a book with “How to Read” in the title, but How to Read a Book: Advice for Christian Readers by Andy Naselli is anything but frivolous. This book is in my to-be-read pile but comes highly recommended by my husband Nick. Is reading simply about input – creating lines of 0s and 1s in your brain with the information you need to be smarter than everyone else? Or are you shaped by what you read in a way that’s profound and even spiritual? Naselli covers this and more in How to Read a Book, which was published this year.
A good biography can feel as intimate and exciting as a novel. Many people have a renewed interest in the British Royal Family thanks to Netflix’s hit series The Crown, which features the late Prince Philip as a major character. I recently gave my husband a copy of Young Prince Philip: His Turbulent Early Life by Philip Eade, and he really enjoyed it. The Crown briefly explored how Prince Philip’s tragic childhood shaped him into the tough, adventurous man he became, and this book gives readers the full picture of a most interesting life.
For the C.S. Lewis aficionado
Yes, I’m devoting an entire section to C.S. Lewis-related books because I can. Obviously, Lewis is not writing new books, but he continues to inspire contemporary writers. I recently reviewed Canon Press’ new release My Dear Hemlock by Tilly Dillehay. The novel puts a twist on Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters – in it, the diabolical Madame Hoaxrot gives instructions for tempting a Christian woman. Women in any stage of life will find My Dear Hemlock both entertaining and edifying. Read my full review here.
Growing up, I read the The Chronicles of Narnia series over and over again. I even read Pocket Companion to Narnia: A Guide to the Magical World of C.S. Lewis by Paul F. Ford like a book, even though it’s designed to function like an encyclopedia. Pocket Companion is truly the perfect companion to The Chronicles of Narnia as it will help young readers keep track of characters and kingdoms, as well as enhance the important themes in Lewis’ original work. This is a great gift idea for a preteen or teen!
I’m currently reading Lewis’ The Ransom Trilogy, a science fiction series which he published before The Chronicles of Narnia. The trilogy is composed of Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. Over the years, more and more readers have turned to The Ransom Trilogy to make sense of our modern world, and any C.S. Lewis fan would love a hardcover set of these three books on his or her bookshelf. There are one-volume sets of the trilogy on the market, but I think this three-volume set from Exodus Books would be a great gift. You could even pair it with Life on the Silent Planet, edited by Rhys Laverty, a new collection of essays examining this underrated Lewis masterpiece.
For the gourmand
Call me old-fashioned, but I vastly prefer using a recipe from a cookbook to a recipe on my phone or laptop. If I could only pick one cookbook to give to friends and family for the rest of my life, it would be 100 Recipes: The Absolute Best Ways To Make The True Essentials by America’s Test Kitchen. I have a lot to learn in the kitchen, and this cookbook’s explanations of the “why” behind techniques make me feel like I’m getting my own mini cooking class. The recipes range from basic to very involved. That means there is a recipe for the perfect scrambled eggs, but there’s also a recipe for the best pot roast ever (believe me, I’ve tested quite a few pot roast recipes, and they are not all created equal!). There are also several recipes for desserts and international foods.
Since 100 Recipes is a fairly inexpensive cookbook, that means you can splurge on some fun add-ons too. Since this is a book lover’s gift guide, a literary apron could be fun – check out Etsy for this Jane Austen-themed apron or this canvas heart motif apron. And of course, don’t forget a cookbook stand – this stand from Williams Sonoma is beautiful and affordable.
Do you think your giftee may already have a copy of 100 Recipes? Check out my 2023 cookbook gift guide here for more inspiration.
For the francophile
It’s me, I’m the francophile! You could probably convince me to jump off a cliff by saying, “It’s what the French are doing.” Home Sweet Maison by Danielle Postel-Vinay and Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman are two of my favorites of the “American goes to Paris and learns she’s been doing everything wrong” genre. Postel-Vinay’s book discusses the philosophy underpinning how we arrange our homes, and therefore, our lives. Druckerman’s book discusses the French philosophy of integrating children into family life rather than centering them in family life.
And I would be remiss not to include some of the great book recommendations in previous Girl’s Guide interviews this year:
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt -
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Jonathan Haidt - Ella Ramsay
Leadership and Emotional Sabotage: Resisting the Anxiety That Will Wreck Your Family, Destroy Your Church, and Ruin the World by Joe Rigney - Tryn Haney
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - Ella Ramsay
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry - Victoria Marshall
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott - Nicole Moore
Real Food for Pregnancy: The Science and Wisdom of Optimal Prenatal Nutrition by Lily Nichols - Lauren Fernandez
Interview with Abi Dills
Today’s interview is Abi Dills, my fellow Patrick Henry College grad who decided to stay in the DMV! Follow Abi on Instagram and X.
What does your life look like right now?
I work and travel for work quite a lot, I’m a project manager and policy analyst for America First Policy Institute. I help to manage a coalition of professional athletes and we put on a lot of events across the country so I travel one to three times a month! It’s been hard, but a lot of fun and I’ve gotten to travel to places I never would’ve otherwise visited! I’ve been to the Southern Border twice, I've been all over both coasts and through tons of small towns in the midwest.
I still consider myself newly married, three years in November, YAY! The only hobbies I have time for at the moment are cooking, occasionally writing, and online shopping (that counts right?). My husband and I are involved in a small local church we LOVE, Citylight in Falls Church Virginia! We both like to spend time helping at events or hanging out with our friends from church. I’m also really blessed to have a lot of college friends who live in the area, so I try to make time to see them whenever I can!
What's the biggest lesson you've learned in your 20s?
My best friend from college, Carrie, passed away unexpectedly a little over two years ago which dramatically changed my life. Obviously this deeply affected me and it emphasized how life can change at any moment and it really pushed me to make some meaningful changes in my life. Her passing taught me to be more grateful, to invest in friendships and family even when it’s inconvenient, it deepened my faith, and pushed me to have an eternal perspective on life. It’s also made me want to dream bigger and have more adventures because Carrie was FEARLESS, and I’ve realized life is too short not to live it to the fullest! So this is a reminder to all the girlies reading to hug your BFF more often, make time for people even when life is crazy, and to be fearless like Carrie.
What's the best book you've read in the last year?
The Postcard by Anne Berest. It is a semi-autobiographical novel about a Jewish woman who uncovers the truth behind her family’s lives during World War II. It’s a beautiful story, very sad but I highly recommend it.
What's your favorite Thanksgiving or Christmas tradition?
Both of my parents love to cook but my dad especially loves to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is an entire event for my family. My dad starts prepping days ahead of time, and makes everything, even pie crust, from scratch. I swear by his recipes and since being married I’ve tried to recreate them! He preps the turkey the day before it soaks overnight for hours in brine, the mashed potatoes have lots of butter garlic and bacon, homemade dinner rolls, and he makes really great pumpkin pie. I love recreating these recipes and cooking everything from scratch takes time but you feel so accomplished at the end!
What's your favorite or most useful clothing purchase of the last year?
I have two pieces, but they are the same style: a tennis dress with a built-in bodysuit and a tennis skirt with built-in shorts. In spring and summer I loved grabbing my skirt or one of my tennis dresses, and I felt like it instantly gives you such a classic elevated look without any effort, and it’s so comfy! Even on a cooler fall day, a tennis skirt/dress with a sweater is so CUTE!
Do you have any beauty products you swear by?
ILIA and Kosas Beauty products!! I try to get all clean beauty products and these are my absolute favorites so far: Kosas mascara and lip gloss, and ILIA foundation, concealer, and blush. Especially the ILIA skin tint — it has sunscreen in it, and I find my skin looks better after days of wearing it, and it never causes breakouts.
The Haps
The First “Podcast Election”
President Trump is returning to the White House in 2025, and appearing on apolitical podcasts and YouTube channels was a big part of his media strategy. A lot of ink has already been spilled about the so-called “podcast election,” but you can read Politico’s writeup from before the election here. I have often bemoaned the death of the interview — TV journalists seem overly influenced by negative online discourse instead of real life, and they seem to take pride in putting interviewees on the defensive rather than drawing out an actually interesting or surprising answer. I’m excited for the future of podcasting and a return to long-form interviews, which require skill to be done well.
Addison Rae Takes Cigarettes Mainstream
The return of the cigarette perfectly illustrates the life cycle of a trend. TikTok darling and pop music aspirant Addison Rae smokes (and even double-smokes) in her new music video “Aquamarine,” which has three million views. Public health campaigns certainly made cigarettes less than desirable in the 2000s and 2010s — but now, even bubbly pop singers are using them as props with no fear of backlash. It’s unclear to me whether the return of the cigarette is organic or manufactured (turns out there’s an entire group of people called “cigfluencers”), but I think we can definitely thank (or blame) a lot of right-wing personalities for memeing them back into relevance. BBC is catching onto the trend — read the article here.
Here are more links to what I’ve been reading and watching:
Labi Siffre on Songwriting (BBC Archive): A delightful interview with Siffre, a UK musician who had several hits in the 1970s. I’m listening to his song “Cannock Chase” on repeat.
Dare Gift Boxes Curates Items That Warm the Heart (Northern Virginia Magazine): A feature on Dare Gift Boxes’ Rebekah Murray — read my recent interview with her here!
Make America Beautiful Again ft. Justin Shubow (Moment of Truth): A great season closer for American Moment’s Moment of Truth podcast.
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