Agate has a book for everyone on your list!
For the Literary Foodie
BURN THE PLACE: A MEMOIR
Iliana Regan
Longlisted for the National Book Award, this galvanizing memoir chronicles Iliana Regan’s journey from foraging on the family farm to running her Michelin-starred restaurant, Elizabeth. Her story is raw like that first bite of wild onion, alive with startling imagery, and told with uncommon emotional power.
For the Budding Barista
CRAFT COFFEE: A MANUAL
Jessica Easto
This accessible guide focuses on the issues—cost, time, taste, and accessibility—that home coffee brewers think about the most. No matter where you are in your coffee journey, this book teaches you how to make a great cup at home.
For the Memoir Reader
THE COLOR OF LOVE: A STORY OF A MIXED-RACE JEWISH GIRL
Marra B. Gad
An unforgettable memoir about a mixed-race Jewish woman who, after fifteen years of estrangement from her racist great-aunt, helps bring her home when Alzheimer’s strikes. At turns heart-wrenching and heartwarming, this is a story about what you inherit from your family—identity, disease, melanin, hate, and most powerful of all, love.
For the Thespian
ENSEMBLE: AN ORAL HISTORY OF CHICAGO THEATER
Mark Larson
Drawing from more than 300 interviews, author Mark Larson has woven a narrative that expresses the spirit of Chicago’s ensemble ethos: the voices of celebrities comingle with stories from designers, composers, and others who have played a crucial role in making Chicago a bona fide theater town.
For the Mary Schmich Fan
EVEN THE TERRIBLE THINGS SEEM BEAUTIFUL TO ME NOW: ON HOPE, LOSS, AND WEARING SUNSCREEN
Mary Schmich
This second edition—updated to include Mary Schmich’s most memorable pieces since its original publication—collects her ten Pulitzer-winning columns along with more than 150 others, creating a compelling collection that reflects Schmich’s thoughtful and insightful sensibility.
For the Craft Beer Lover
LUSH: A SEASON BY SEASON CELEBRATION OF CRAFT BEER AND PRODUCE
Jacquelyn Dodd
This cookbook features eighty creative, produce-forward recipes—all of which are made with seasonal craft beer. Whether your Saturdays are spent at the farmers market or your favorite local craft brewery (or both!), Dodd’s creative use of produce and beer opens the door to deliciously complex flavors that evolve with the seasons.
For the World-Traveling Gastronome
THE NEW FILIPINO KITCHEN: STORIES AND RECIPES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
Jacqueline Chio-Lauri
This cookbook collects thirty recipes and stories from expat Filipinos, all of whom have taken their favorite dishes with them from the Philippines. This book preserves food memories from the Philippines, and, if necessary, shows how recipes from home can be tweaked to work in a new environment or a more modern context.
For the Pesto Lover
PESTO: THE MODERN MOTHER SAUCE
Leslie Lennox
Leslie Lennox offers up several favorite pesto recipes and then takes these simple sauces a step further. They serve as the building blocks for ninety-seven kitchen-tested recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and more. From risotto and ramen to chicken fajitas and swordfish kebabs, everything tastes better with pesto!
For the Comedy Enthusiast
THE SECOND CITY: THE ESSENTIALLY ACCURATE HISTORY
The Second City with Sheldon Patinkin and Liz Kozak
This newly revised and expanded edition of The Second City tells the story of the legendary comedy institution and the Emmy-winning sketch comedy classic SCTV, folding new material and commentary in with tales of The Second City’s storied past.
For the Sports Buff
STATE: A TEAM, A TRIUMPH, A TRANSFORMATION
Melissa Isaacson
State is a compelling first-person account of what it was like to live through both traditional gender discrimination in sports and the joy of the very first days of equality—or at least the closest that one high school girls’ basketball team ever came to it. Trailblazing sportswriter Melissa Isaacson shows us how a group of “tomboys” found themselves and each other, and how basketball rescued them from their collective frustrations and troubled homes, forever altering the course of their lives.
For the Swiftie
TAYLOR SWIFT: IN HER OWN WORDS
Helena Hunt
This collection of quotes has been carefully curated from Taylor Swift’s numerous public statements—interviews, op-eds, social media posts, and more. It is a comprehensive picture of her meteoric rise to the top, her ever-savvy business sense, and her increasingly vocal perspective on the music world and beyond.
For Feminists and Activists
VOTE HER IN: YOUR GUIDE TO ELECTING OUR FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT
Rebecca Sive
This book addresses the unrealized dream of millions of Americans: electing our first woman president. It makes the case for the urgency of women attaining equal executive power at all levels, including the presidency, and offers a comprehensive strategy for every woman to be part of this campaign—the most important of our lives.