11 Highly Giftable Books, From Buzzy Memoirs To Gorgeous Cookbooks

La Cucina di Terroni: The Cookbook by Cosimo Mammoliti, $50

This striking tome reveals the magic behind Toronto’s beloved southern Italian restaurant empire. Want to learn about The Social correspondent Jess Allen’s time working at Terroni in the ’90s—or get the recipe for her favourite salad? Craving a Nutella bomboloni? This is your book. Many recipes are multi-day affairs; the time-pressed should head straight to the expansive cocktail section.

The Art of the SNL Portrait by Mary Ellen Matthews, $69

For 25 years, Matthews has photographed the hosts and musical guests of Saturday Night Live under extremely tight deadlines. Known as bumpers, these striking photos are only displayed for seconds in between commercial breaks—until now. In this hefty coffee table book, her artistry gets the attention it deserves.

Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from My Palestine by Sami Tamimi, $45 

Ottolenghi co-founder Tamimi’s first solo cookbook is a verdant ode to the vegetarian cooking he grew up with. Boustany is Arabic for “my garden,” and Tamimi’s is storied, colourful and packed with flavour—think Jerusalem Sesame Bread, Eggplant and Chickpeas with Green Lemon Sauce and Sumac Roast Plums with Cardamom Cream and Pistachios.

A Steady Brightness of Being: Truth, Wisdom and Love from Celebrated Indigenous Voices edited by Sara Sinclair and Stephanie Sinclair, $32

This anthology of letters from Indigenous writers, artists and activists across Turtle Island (including artist Ken Monkman and novelist Jessica John) is an intimate and polyphonic address to the history and future of Indigeneity.  

Everything I Know About Love: Fifth Anniversary Edition by Dolly Alderton, $37

This anniversary edition of the British writer’s wildly funny (and occasionally heartbreaking) memoir chronicles her life as a young woman in London going on dates and making friends, lovers and many, many mistakes. 

Something From Nothing by Alison Roman, $51

The woman behind The Stew and The Cookies is back with a paean to the power of the pantry. Roman’s latest contains over 100 cozy, highly cookable recipes destined to take over your Instagram feed, including Kimchi-Tomato Soup and Forever-Roasted Squash with Brown Buttered Dates. 

Bread of Angels by Patti Smith, $38

Smith is the doyenne of lyrical memoirs, and this luminous meditation on coming of age and turning toward art is her most intimate book yet. She revisits her post-war childhood and wanders through her wayward teens, before arriving at the person she became when writing Horses and building her family. 

We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade by Elyce Arons, $39

Arons’s memoir captures the particular intimacy and joy of growing up with her best friend and eventual business partner, Kate Spade. Detailing their 37-year-long friendship, Arons grieves and celebrates life with “Katy”—who died by suicide in 2018—from the dirty glamour of making It-bag prototypes in 1990s New York to corporate growing pains and the difficult decision to sell their empire.

The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad, $40

Bestselling author Jaouad has journalled for “as long as [she] can remember,” including through a leukemia diagnosis and multiple recurrences. The Book of Alchemy is part investigation, part invitation to take up what she calls the “utterly alchemizing” practice, with short essays and prompts from 100 other creative types. 

The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman by Niko Stratis, $35

Growing up as a closeted trans woman in the Yukon, Stratis lost and found herself over and over in the music of tender-hearted rock and rollers; as much music criticism as memoir, Dad Rock invites queer readings of REM and paints a tender portrait of a genre (which, as she notes, is French for “gender”) in flux.

Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin, $25

The original Black Code was a series of laws enacted in France in 1685, meant to govern Black people all over the world. Lubrin’s ecstatic, miraculous novel writes over and through and around the language of colonialism—from magical realist tales of women going grey overnight to playful formalist riffs on language. Featuring original art from Torkwase Dyson.  

Want more book inspo? Here are Chatelaine’s favourite books of spring, summer and fall.