Often, in Christmas you need to buy last minute gifts to a dear friend or relative. At these times, it is possible to get lost, not knowing what to choose, but books are certainly good choices and options. Check out ten suggestions below.
Among the productions highlighted in the list are great authors, such as Annie Ernaux and Han Kang — winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature — or Camila Sosa Villada and Virginia Woolf — authors who mark generations with the strength of their writings.
The set of nominations is made up of books that were released in 2024 in Brazil or that were highlighted for some specific reason this year.
10 books to give as a gift at Christmas
“Imposter: Yellowface” – RF Kuang
The plot follows writers June Hayward and Athena Liu, who graduated from Yale and published their debut novels around the same time. Everything indicated that they would reach stardom together, but, shortly after graduation, Athena began to reap literary laurels, while June received only crumbs of recognition.
When Athena dies in a strange incident, June decides her time to shine has come. On impulse, she steals the manuscript of her friend’s new book, an experimental work about the relevance of Chinese workers during the First World War.
But someone seems to know that Athena Liu’s masterpiece was stolen, and debates about plagiarism and racial identity are taking over social media. June then realizes that she won’t be able to escape this ghost forever. What will she be capable of to protect the success she believes she deserves?
The book was released in August 2024 by the publisher Intrínseca in Brazil.
“Promised Land” – Joan Lowell
Released in Brazil in September 2024 by publisher Ercolano, the book presents an intriguing account of the American actress who becomes a con artist after living in the Anápolis region, in the center-west of Brazil. Originally written in 1952, the work challenges the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction and highlights Lowell’s talent for creating compelling narratives that have fooled even Hollywood stars.
The actress’s experience caused a furor in the film community, and her writings served as propaganda to attract other artists to the center of Brazil. Without delay, big names in the entertainment industry, such as Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor, settled in Goiás with the blessing of the pioneering author.
As reporter Chico Felitti writes at the beginning of the book: “There is fiction. There is nonfiction. And there is a gray and mysterious area where the Promised Land lives.”
“Welcome to Hyunam-dong Bookstore” – Hwang Bo-reum
In this book, the author presents a moving story about the decisive moments in our lives and how books are capable of healing wounds and changing people.
The story follows Yeongju, a character who has been feeling unmotivated. Her life has become a succession of frustrations and she feels an eternal emptiness in her chest. Tired of living like this, she decides to leave everything behind and put an old dream into practice: opening a bookstore.
“The useless trip: Trans/written” – Camila Sosa Villada
This autobiographical book recovers the author’s primordial memories, from her childhood in Córdoba, to reflect on literature, writing, family, poverty and the relationship between all of this. In a self-investigation exercise, Camila talks about her relationship with writing and how she has been transformed by this tool over the years.
The book, released in Brazil by publisher Fósforo in June 2024, contains anthological phrases and unforgettable definitions on various topics, such as: “I discover that there is power in the exercise of reading. The power of the pleasure of solitude. I’m not interested in more ada. Soon after, as an inevitable consequence, comes the practice of writing.”
Camila shows how, for her, reading and writing are essential acts, capable of transforming and anchoring life.
“Look at the lights, my love” – Annie Ernaux
The publisher Fósforo was also responsible for launching the new book (October 2024) by French author Annie Ernaux, an author who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2022 for her entire body of work.
In this work, Ernaux turns his attention to the phenomenon of large supermarkets, an omnipresent space in modern life and the domain par excellence of women in patriarchal society. Recording her visits to a hypermarket inside a shopping mall near Paris over the months, she exercises what she considers an “impressionist way of apprehending things and people”, that is, “a free recording of observations, sensations, to try to capture some life thing that unfolds there.”
“The Asheham Diary” – Virginia Woolf
One of the main feminist authors of the 20th century, Woolf describes the days she lived between 1915 and 1917, when she suffered a breakdown that prevented her from reading and writing.
Asheham’s diary, which for a long time was despised by critics and abandoned by publishers, due to the supposed lack of importance of the content, was launched in Brazil in June 2024 by the publisher Nós.
“A question a day: to light up your life” – Deepak Chopra
Unlike previous works, this book is, in fact, a diary to be written by each reader. On each page, there is a question and three spaces for answers – one for each year.
The idea is to help the owner of the book get to know themselves better over time, as they answer the question of the day, mapping their emotional, physical and spiritual growth and developing self-knowledge.
The proposal was created and written by Indian doctor and Deepak Chopra. The new edition of the work has just been released in Brazil by the publisher Intrínseca.
“God’s nap” – Raïssa Lettiére
The writer challenges the reader to think about the creation of the world and spirituality from different perspectives and perspectives. The book presents a narrative that is both bold and reflective, which mixes existential questions and human conflicts, revealing the ambiguities of the sacred.
Treating religiosity in a sensitive way in a fictional work is something little discussed in contemporary literature, but it can be enhanced when themes such as the creation of humanity, the meaning of life, the existence of evil are subtle presences in the midst of a narrative that is intertwines full of enigmas.
The book was released in Brazil by publisher Faria e Silva in October 2024.
“Human Acts” – Han Kang
Winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature and one of the most important contemporary authors, Han Kang creates in this book a demonstration of her powerful literary resources.
In May 1980, in the South Korean city of Gwangju, the army suppressed a student uprising, causing thousands of deaths. The event with tragic consequences was transfigured into this extraordinary fiction, poetic, violent and full of humanity.
The book was released by the publisher Todavia in May 2021 and gained new attention after Kang received the Nobel Prize.
“Gilberto Braga, Globo’s Balzac” – Artur Xexéo and Mauricio Stycer
The biography of Gilberto Braga, written by Artur Xexéo and Mauricio Stycer, presents a plot that could be a soap opera: family tragedies, social ascension, overcoming in professional and personal life.
The text helps to tell not only the story of one of the greatest soap opera writers in the country, but also of Brazilian television drama itself, responsible for revolutionizing serials, bringing important themes and often treated in an unprecedented way.
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This content was originally published in From diary to Nobel Prize: 10 books to give as a Christmas gift on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
