Eight Books for That Impossible-to-Shop-for Person on Your Gift List

There’s always one on every shopping list: the friend with the oddly specific hobby, the cousin with “unique” taste or the co-worker who already has everything. No matter what you find while shopping for their holiday gift, nothing ever quite seems to fit. Luckily, there’s a book for that.

Discover eight new and notable reads from independent Canadian publishers that make gifting easy (and meaningful). Give a book to make that friend, cousin or co-worker feel truly seen this holiday season.

Now, here are the titles that just might round out your list!

For those ready to make a change and break the cycle

Black Creek
By Susan Grundy (Inanna Publications)

As a child, Kate Stong Smythe drew castles. Now, at 35, she’s found herself hard-edged and uncompromising, designing slick condos in a gentrified Montreal neighbourhood. When Kate’s enigmatic mother dies, she calls out five mysterious names from her deathbed, propelling Kate on a journey to unravel the mysterious dreams she’s had since childhood. Kate’s unsettling visions take her from her home in Montreal to an abandoned farmhouse in the northern suburbs of Toronto, increasingly consumed by her ties to the past and desperate to make a change to the ancestral cycle that is holding her hostage.

This compelling debut novel explores family secrets, violence against women, the cycle of abuse and the courage it takes to break it.

For the truth seekers wanting to uncover the past

Hunting History: A Writer’s Odyssey
By Erna Paris (At Bay Press)

Blending investigative journalism with memoir, Paris traces a lifelong quest to understand the psychological and cultural forces that shape the best and worst of human behaviour — its triumphs and its darkest impulses. In this, her final work, she delivers a profound and urgent meditation on truth, justice and the writer’s role in illuminating the past to guide the future.

For the queer person in your life who grew up in rural Canada

Queer Country Crossroads: Stories of Strength, Struggle and Belonging from Rural Canada
Edited by Mabe Kyle (Caitlin Press/Dagger Editions)

Queer Country Crossroads is a tapestry of stories and poetry from rural queer people across Canada. It is a symphony of 50 voices sharing their personal stories. From coming of age and adulthoods spent isolated, this book deals with the very real problems faced by queer people in rural areas.

A compilation of beautiful stories, this book is for every queer person who has ever felt lost and isolated. In the words of Betsy Warland, author of Breathing the Page, this anthology will “invigorate, delight and move you.” It is a reminder of the strength and resilience of queer people across time.

For the anti-colonial activist who will keep fighting for a free Palestine

Palestine and Feminist Liberation
By Nada Elia (Between the Lines)

How can we explain that Israel, despite its genocidal attacks in Gaza and its violation of international law, remains immune to criticism? Why do many feminists in the Global North remain silent when it comes to decrying the gendered impact of Israeli apartheid in Palestine? In Palestine and Feminist Liberation, Nada Elia argues that Palestinian women have long played an important role in resisting their people’s dispossession, first by the British Mandate, then by Israel. Elia discusses the challenges diaspora Palestinian feminists face when organizing on Turtle Island, where the dominant discourse has long upheld the Zionist narrative, steeped in Orientalism and anti-Palestinian racism. She articulates a vision for liberation grounded in Indigenous feminism, with its focus on collective empowerment, rather than individual advancement.

For the person in your life who is worried about the Big One (or any other kind of societal collapse)

Ladder to Heaven
By Katie Welch (Wolsak & Wynn)

In Katie Welch’s sophomore novel, Del Samara is a long way inland from the earthquake that tore apart the Pacific coast and changed everything, but her life is spiralling out of control. People and animals can now understand each other. As Del wonders if she’s losing her mind and struggles with an opioid addiction caused by an accident years before, her ranch burns down. Deciding the world, including her family, is better off without her, she retreats to the wilderness.

Three years later she emerges, thin and scarred, to a world that has been ravaged by climate change to begin an epic journey to find her family and, perhaps, forgiveness.

For male readers, young and old, who are craving literary fiction they can relate to

Give Us This Day
By Terence Young (Signature Editions)

The stories in Give Us This Day explore the weight of the past through a kaleidoscope of voices and styles. From retired grandparents thrust into unexpected child care to young labourers adrift in mines and road crews, from teachers struggling to find meaning in their classrooms to couples at a crossroads, these stories capture the quiet reckonings of everyday existence. Whether intimate or expansive, meditative or urgent, each story reveals how missteps and circumstances shape identity, and how, for many, the past is never truly left behind.

Praised for his concise, unflinching style and emotional precision, Young writes with rare honesty about what it means to be flawed, resilient and human. Give Us This Day is for readers young and old who crave literary fiction that reflects their own struggles and small triumphs — stories that don’t judge, but simply see.

For those who dream of a pioneering life in the stunning beauty and staggering isolation of the northern wilderness

Wilderness Mother: A Memoir of 13 Years Off the Grid
By Deanna Barnhardt Kawatski (Ronsdale Press)

Over 100 miles from the nearest paved road and cut off from most contact with the outside world, Deanna and her husband Jay created a life of remarkable self-sufficiency. They built their own log home and grew and harvested all of their food while raising their two children. The unrelenting work of a pioneer life is balanced with their deep love of the natural world. CBC broadcaster Grant Lawrence calls it “required reading for those who dream of stepping away from technology to live life and raise kids by the rhythm of nature.”

Wilderness Mother is also a love story between two people who shared the dream of a pioneering life but were driven apart by the struggles of mental illness. This new edition expands on their relationship, Jay’s mental health challenges and the breakup of their marriage.

For the storytellers ready to elevate their writing

Story Is a State of Mind: Writing and the Art of Creative Curiosity
By Sarah Selecky (Assembly Press)

Short, personable essays with gentle coaching, practical advice, writing exercises and meditations from writing instructor and Giller Prize finalist Sarah Selecky. This thoughtful guide offers abundant opportunities for writers to build awareness, confidence and technique.

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That’s a wrap on this first day of book gift recommendations from Canadian independent literary publishers. Purchase these titles via the supplied links or at your favourite local independent bookstore.

Come back to The Tyee tomorrow for Part 2, featuring eight more gift-worthy books to round out your holiday shopping.