2025 Best Books to Gift - Adult Nonfiction

We have a book for everyone on your list. You might want a few for yourself, too!

Updated December 11, 2025
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Greater Victoria Public Library
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Book of Lives : A Memoir of Sorts
Atwood, Margaret.
Paper Book
'Fat and satisfying' Observer * 'I loved it' Dua Lipa * 'Deliciously naughty' iNews * 'Beautifully told' Woman & Home * 'Spellbinding' FT * Book of the Year Guardian, Financial Times, Observer, Belfast Telegraph ...
Future boy : Back to the Future and my journey through the space-time continuum
Fox, Michael J.
A marriage at sea a true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck
Elmhirst, Sophie
Mother Mary comes to me
Roy, Arundhati
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FOYLES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 AUDIBLE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 BLACKWELL'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 WINNER OF THE GOOGLE PLAY BEST OF 2025 AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
The art spy : the extraordinary untold tale of WWII resistance hero Rose Valland
Young, Michelle
Between two rivers : ancient Mesopotamia and the birth of history
Al-Rashid, Moudhy N.
The Golden Road : how ancient India transformed the world
Dalrymple, William
Paper Book
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A Waterstones and TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR A SPECTATOR and History Today BOOK OF THE YEAR A revolutionary new history of the diffusion of Indian ideas...
The mission : the CIA in the 21st century
Weiner, Tim
'No one has opened up the CIA to us like Weiner has, and The Mission deserves to win him a second Pulitzer' JOHN SIMPSON, GUARDIAN The epic successor to Tim Weiner's National Book Award-winning classic, Legacy of Ashes: a gripping and revelatory history of the CIA in...
Murderland : crime and bloodlust in the time of serial killers
Fraser, Caroline
The mind electric : a neurologist on the strangeness and wonder of our brains
Anand, Pria
Dead and alive essays
Smith, Zadie
In this keenly awaited new collection, Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects which have captured her attention in recent years. She takes an exhilaratingly close look at artists Toyin Ojih Odutola, Kara Walker and Celia Paul. She invites...
The book of alchemy : a creative practice for an inspired life
Jaouad, Suleika
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A guide to the art of journaling--and a meditation on the central questions of life--by the bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms, with contributions from Hanif Abdurraqib, Jon Batiste, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem, George Saunders, and many more<...
Moral ambition : stop wasting your talent and start making a difference
Bregman, Rutger
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - FROM THE 2025 BBC REITH LECTURER A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE SUMMER 2025 'Gives us hope, humour and guidance at a time when all are in short supply' TIMOTHY SNYDER 'The rare read that might...
Strong ground : the lessons of daring leadership, the tenacity of paradox, and the wisdom of the human spirit
Brown, Brené
Tiny experiments : how to live freely in a goal-obsessed world
Le Cunff, Anne-Laure
Good things : recipes and rituals to share with people you love
Nosrat, Samin
Once I hand them off to you, these recipes are no longer mine. They're yours, to do with as you please. And maybe, in the act of receiving, a little thread of connection will be woven between me and each of you. How can a recipe express the joy of sharing a meal in...

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