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Last-Minute Gift Ideas For The Wild Cards On Your Shopping List

Don't be the bane of the Secret Santa pool this year.
Sharon Dominick
/
iStockphoto
Don't be the bane of the Secret Santa pool this year.

Ah, the holidays — a time for love and good cheer, for snowflakes that stay on your nose and eyelashes. For full-blown panic attacks in department stores brought on by a particularly perplexing Secret Santa pick.

Fret no more: here at NPR Books, we believe that there's a perfect book out there for everyone on your holiday shopping list. And — lucky you! — we've made it easy to sort through this year's top releases to find just the right read.

Pull up a chair, ding the bell on the counter and say hello to our Book Concierge, an interactive library of highly-recommended books from our critics and staff members. Use the clickable tags to narrow down the pile of potential gift ideas — and in case you get stuck, here are a few tag combinations for those inscrutable, impossible-to-shop-for loved ones in your life.

Your Economist-reading cousin, who thinks books are for frivolous time-wasters
Eye-Opening Reads, Science & Society, Tales from Around the World

Your precocious tween-age niece, who's already daydreaming about potential dissertation topics
Young Adult, Historical Fiction

Your pastry chef uncle, who loves swapping recipes but hasn't finished a book in years
Rather Short, Cookbooks & Food

Your favorite youngster, an adorable dork-in-training
Kids' Books, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Your nosy next-door neighbor, who's always asking inappropriate questions about your love life
Let's Talk About Sex, Love Stories, Realistic Fiction

Your little brother, an aspiring musician who's a total NPR groupie and prone to celebrity worship
NPR Staff Picks, Biography & Memoir, For Art Lovers

Your no-nonsense aunt, whose book club is less Oprah, more Barbara Walters
Book Club Ideas, Seriously Great Writing, The Dark Side

Your corny co-worker, whose cubicle is covered in Dilbert clippings
Funny Stuff, Comics & Graphic Novels

Your Doctor Who-obsessed dad, who's got a lot of time on his recently retired hands
It's All Geek To Me, Mysteries & Thrillers, Rather Long

Browse these titles — and oodles more — on NPR's Book Concierge. Did we miss any? Have it out in the comments.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Christina Cauterucci
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