Editor’s Note: Each holiday season, Syndicated Book Reviewer Terri Schlichenmeyer prepares a list of book suggestions for holiday gift-giving. The titles, which are listed in several categories and age groups, will be published over the next few weeks.

 

It’s officially holiday shopping season. Books are easy to wrap and easy to give, and they last a while, too.

So why not head to the bookstore with your Christmas List and look for these gifts…

For the Sports Lover

The fisherman on your list will love opening “The Unreasonable Virtue of Fly Fishing” by Mark Kurlansky this year. The thing to know is that this isn’t a how-to, it’s more of a how-to-love the art of casting and catching, from coast to coast and around the world.

No doubt, there’s someone on your list who plays favorites, when it comes to sports. That’s why you’ll want to wrap up “Talking to GOATs” by Jim Gray. It’s a book full of interviews with sports’ Greatest Of All Time competitors (GOATs, get it?). Surely, there’s more argument in this book, just as there’s more to know about superstar professionals.

Want to make a home run this holiday? Then wrap up “42 Today: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy,” edited by Michael G. Long. It’s a collection of essays on the impact Robinson left on folks today, and memories that others have of the great man.

For the woman on your list who has a love-hate relationship with sports, wrap up “Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America” by Julie DiCaro. It’s a book that looks at pro sports’ “thorny issues”of sexism, exploitation, and the toxicity that women sometimes face when competing. Not for the faint of heart, for sure.

If there’s a young player on your list, here’s a book for their parents: “The Brain on Youth Sports” by Julie M. Stamm, Ph.D. Help them lay to rest the myths and be armed with the facts on brain injuries in kids’ sports.

History

The reader who can’t have enough World War II history will relish reading “Into the Forest” by Rebecca Frankel. It’s the true story of a family that escaped the Nazis by hiding in a nearby wooded area and they were able to stay safe for two years. Decades later, long after their liberation in 1944, another miracle happened and so did love. Wrap it up with a tissue. It’s that kind of book.

For the person who races through books faster than fast, wrap up “The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from The New Yorker,” edited by Jelani Cobb and David Remnick. It’s a thick anthology filled with essays from decades ago but is still relevant, thoughts that need reconsideration, and historical tales that modern eyes need to see. Wrap it up with “Black Nerd Problems” by William Evans & Omar Holmon, a book that’s perfect for geeks, nerds, Con-lovers, and gamers of any race.

History lovers will love unwrapping “Travels with George” by Nathaniel Philbrick, a book that chronicles the author’s trip across America to see how our country has changed, including the way we see George through modern eyes.

• Terri Schlichenmeyer of The Bookworm Sez is a self-syndicated book review columnist. Schlichenmeyer’s reviews include adult and children’s books of every genre. You may contact her at bookwormsez@yahoo.com