Gifts you can read

Most of the books I read for pleasure are considered science fiction or fantasy classics. While they’ve stood the test of time, they also tend to be by dead White men. Rebecca Roanhorse is none of those things, and her Black Sun is an instant classic. It’s the first installment in an epic fantasy series that consists of two books and counting. It contains some elements one expects in epic fantasy: detailed world-building, magic, the collision of gods and humankind. But it is set in a world that resembles the pre-Columbian Americas, so it offers a treasury of departures from and subversions of the typical medieval European tropes.

Ursula K. Le Guin died in January 2018. Three months later came Conversations on Writing, a book consisting of three extended interviews of Le Guin by one of her superfans, radio host David Naimon. Each interview focuses on a type of writing practiced by the versatile Le Guin: fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Conversations on Writing will delight anyone who already loves Le Guin’s work, and it will provide a compelling introduction for those who haven’t read her. Even read apart from her body of work, these interviews provide rich insights on writing, publishing, gender, and more.

Wingspan is a strategy-based board game that takes about an hour to play. Disclaimer: it is a few years old and rather popular, so if there is a board game lover on your list, they may already have this one. But I wanted (nay, needed) to include the recommendation because, unlike most strategy games, Wingspan is great for non-gamers. It is beautiful and educational, and it’s fun to play even when you lose. Inspired by birding, the game has players compete to assemble the best bird sanctuaries using stylish, informative cards. Each of the 170 cards is like a tiny book about a type of bird. Did you know that the songs of the yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) influenced Beethoven?