If you're shopping for books this holiday season...

And you are, aren't you? 

Allow me to recommend a few books I read this year and loved. These books are anything but boring and predictable, and they're all from terrific independent presses. I reviewed them at The Next Best Book blog - click the links below to read my reviews. 

Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotun
Unnamed Press (2014) 

I'll Be a Stranger to You by Cara Diaconoff 
Outpost19 (2011) 

Bessarabian Stamps by Oleg Woolf
translated by Boris Dralyuk
Phoneme Media (2015) 

New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani
translated by Judith Landry
Melville House (2013) 

Us Conductors by Sean Michaels
Tin House Books (2014) 

Don't forget! You always get bonus points from the literary community when you buy your books at a locally-owned, independent bookstore.

If the reader in your life is secretly (or otherwise) a writer, consider the gift of writing classes. Writers at Work in Los Angeles is a wonderful place to hone your craft and find the support a writer needs to kickstart a new project or see one through to the end. I wouldn't be the writer I am today without Writers at Work. Gift certificates are now available: