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Welcome to Fable’s Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide! In this guide, you’ll find super-specific recommendations for all the different types of bookworms in your life (you included!)
Happy Holidays,
From the Fable Team 🎄
Disclaimer: some of the links used below are affiliate links, from which Fable may earn a commission when you use them — thank you for supporting our community!
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1. “Before The Coffee Gets Cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, translated by Geoffrey Trousselot – Boxed Set
This series is the epitome of cozy-yet-emotional Japanese literature. Set in a magical café that allows its customers to travel in time and speak to loved ones for one last time. Each book follows the story of various customers and their lives, both within and outside the café. The box set has the first three books in the series, a great gift to initiate a reader to Japanese literature in general or to add to a JapLit lover’s collection! Read the full synopsis of all three books here.
Kindly sponsored by HarperCollins Publishers
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2. “Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop” by Hwang Boreum, translated by Shanna Tan
A story about burnout, found family, and fighting for your dreams, this book is one of my favorites to recommend when talking about cozy stories. Yeongju is burned out. With her high--flying career, demanding marriage, and busy life in Seoul, she knows she should feel successful, but all she feels is drained. Yet an abandoned dream nags at her, and in a leap of faith, she leaves her old life behind. Quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a small residential neighborhood outside the city, where she opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop.
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3. A pour over coffee kit or a tea steeping mug
In all the books recommended, coffee and tea have an important presence in the storyline, so you might want to consider getting your fellow bookworm something to make coffee or tea with! A pour over coffee set, or a steeping mug, is a wonderful way to enhance any reading experience.
For example, this kit from Blue Bottle Coffee is a great place to start.
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4. “The Healing Season of Pottery” by Yeon Somin, translated by Clare Richards
Similar to “Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop,” our main character is going through a big life shift and finds solace in the small community within a pottery studio. After breaking down at the office and abruptly quitting her job, thirty-year-old Jungmin holes up in her apartment, speaking to no one for days on end. When she finally emerges, she stumbles upon a pottery studio in her neighborhood and is invited in by the mysterious workshop teacher. The smell of clay, the light filtering through the plant-filled windows, the friendly cat, and the incredible coffee the students drink awaken her senses and make her feel alive and inspired for the first time in months.
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1. “Children of Anguish and Anarchy” by Tomi Adeyemi
This book is the conclusion to the epic young adult fantasy series. With inspirations rooted in West African mythology and a story centering on a young girl who must go on a journey to restore magic back to her people, this book will have you hooked by its tempting forbidden romance and action-packed adventures. The main character, Zélie, is ambitious and rightfully angry. She fights every step of the way for herself and what she believes in–two important components of satisfying female rage arcs.
Kindly sponsored by Macmillan Publishers
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2. “This Ravenous Fate” by Hayley Dennings
Perfect for fans of fantasy with a little bit of horror, this young adult historical fantasy features two girls who are on opposite sides of a vampire and human conflict in 1926 Harlem. A vampire and vampire hunter are forced to work together to solve a string of murders that might be connected to a cure for vampirism. They must confront feelings both old and new as the danger grows around them and between them. Despite being wildly different, an ancient anger that goes back centuries drives both girls forward.
Kindly sponsored by Sourcebooks
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3. A dagger bookmark
Both recommended books feature violence and women wielding weapons or using themselves as weapons. Daggers are such iconic symbols and items in fantasy in general. Who doesn’t love a female character with a dagger strapped to her person beneath her dress? With a dagger bookmark, you can keep your place in your book and feel just like your favorite characters in your female rage reads.
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Sometimes, being angry can get exhausting. It’s nice to have something to wind down and cool off with–there’s no better way to do that than to light a candle. There are so many candles to choose from, but a down with the patriarchy-specific candle fits the theme of these books so well. Lighting the candle might feel like burning the patriarchy just as characters in female rage books do.
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