by Clelia Sweeney

If you’re anything like me, the holiday shopping season has snuck up out of nowhere. The time crunch after Halloween can be stressful, but I always end up enjoying the planning part of the process. Making lists, browsing websites, and shopping for other people puts me in the festive frame of mind. 

Every year, library staff create gift lists to help you buy books for loved ones. It can be hard to select books for someone else, especially when their reading taste varies from yours or you haven’t been keeping up with new, buzzworthy releases. Out of all the books published in 2025, we recommend ten per genre that are appealing and deserve wide readerships. Perusing these lists is also a great way to catch up on a few of the year’s best (at least, according to us!) titles.  

I have taken on the General Fiction list this year. It’s my favorite kind of fiction to read, but that also makes it hard to narrow it down. As I’ve been wrestling with which books to include, I’ve added many to my own reading list. One is The Antidote, by Karen Russell. It’s a little intimidating at 443 dense pages, but sounds well worth it.

The story interweaves storylines from a cast of characters living through the Dust Bowl in Nebraska, struggling with their various dramas while surviving in an unforgiving landscape. The writing is gorgeous and hypnotizing, and the scope wide-ranging. It sounds like a great book to get lost in, one of those historical novels that really immerses you in the time. 

Another book I am looking forward to checking out is Pick a Color, by Souyankham Thammayongsa. It is the inner monologue of a sharp, sardonic nail salon owner who is an enigma to the people she works with and around every day. As she says, “I live in a world of Susans. I got name tags for everyone who works at this nail salon, and on every one is printed the name ‘Susan.’” 

I also want to plug our little in-house used bookstore, Literary Grounds, for all your gift-buying needs. As you enter the library, turn right and you will be in Literary Grounds. We also sell DVDs, records, antiquarian books, comics, and more. There’s also an upcoming library book sale from November 13-16. The Auditorium will be filled with rows upon rows of tables stocked with books, and you never know what you will find.