The Ultimate Gift Guide for Book Lovers: Top 12 Picks
Books have a unique way of touching our lives—they can spark new ideas, offer comfort during challenging times, or inspire us to grow in ways we never imagined. Whether you’re shopping for a foodie, a parent, or someone seeking a deeper connection to themselves and others, this curated list of books offers something meaningful for everyone on your list.
Let’s explore some of my favorite reads to nourish the mind, body, and spirit.
Food & Recipes
Books have a unique way of touching our lives—they can spark new ideas, offer comfort during challenging times, or inspire us to grow in ways we never imagined. Whether you’re shopping for a foodie, a parent, or someone seeking a deeper connection to themselves and others, this curated list of books offers something meaningful for everyone on your list.
Let’s explore some of my favorite reads to nourish the mind, body, and spirit.
Joy of Balance: An Ayurvedic Guide to Cooking with Healing Ingredients
This is the ultimate guide to Ayurvedic cooking by my friend and mentor Chef Divya Alter. With 80 plant-based recipes, this book empowers you to bring Ayurveda to your kitchen and customize it to your needs. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Calm Your Mind with Food: A Revolutionary Guide to Controlling Your Anxiety
This anxiety-busting guide to nutrition is lovingly crafted by Uma Naidoo, MD who merges her expertise as a psychiatrist, professional chef, and nutritional biologist. Learn how you can impact your mental health by adjusting your food. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
The New Whole30: The Definitive Plan to Transform Your Health, Habits, and Relationship with Food
Melissa Urban is back with an updated and expanded guide to Whole30 to help people reset their relationship with food to reduce inflammation, indigestion, and more. With over 100 recipes, this guide includes plant-based and omnivore options. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Mental Health
The holidays are a beautiful time for connection, but let’s be honest—they can also be overwhelming. Stress, anxiety, and even exhaustion can creep in when we least expect them.
I’ve found that books on mental health make wonderful gifts because they offer real tools to handle these challenges. With research-backed tools to calm anxiety and create joy, these reads can help you build resilience.
The Busy Brain Cure: The Eight-Week Plan to Find Focus, Tame Anxiety, and Sleep Again
Uncover the link between anxiety, insomnia, and ADHD with this practical, science-based guide created by board-certified neurologistRomie Mushtaq, MD. This book is perfect for alleviating burnout and stress. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Joy Is My Justice: Reclaim What Is Yours
This radical book by my dear friend Tanmeet Sethi, MD guides you to rediscover joy even in your deepest pain. This isn’t an invite to whitewashed toxic positivity but a profound practice for healing, resilience, and justice. It includes practical exercises and meditations rooted in neuroscience. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body’s Fear Response
Bust the myth that anxiety is “just in your head” with this book by psychiatrist Ellen Vora MD. Learn how external stressors interact with the origins of anxiety in the body. This is a deeply hopeful and practical roadmap toward healing. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Relationships & Community
Too often, the wellness industry focuses on the individual to the detriment of the community. In these chaotic times, amid a loneliness epidemic, we need the people around us more than ever.
These books explore everything from setting boundaries to healing old wounds. They’re the perfect gifts for anyone who wants to build deeper, healthier connections in their life.
It's Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People
No, really, it’s not you. This book by clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula reveals how to identify narcissistic behavior and become resistant to their manipulation. In this essential read, she offers tools for avoiding future toxic relationships and ways to heal from past ones. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Too Much: A Guide to Breaking the Cycle of High-Functioning Codependency
If you ever feel overwhelmed by being the person who takes care of everyone else, this is the book for you. Psychotherapist Terri Cole uncovers what codependency and lack of boundaries look like in high-functioning people who don’t fit our traditional view of codependence. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Glimmer: A Story of Survival, Hope, and Healing
Award-winning Hollywood stuntwoman Kimberly Shannon Murphy shares her story in an unflinching, intimate examination of her life. She reflects on the sexual trauma of her childhood and trying to find strength in her body until she realizes you can’t suppress your past forever. More than a personal story, this book is a guide to healing intergenerational trauma. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Parenting & Kids
If there’s one thing I’ve learned as both a mom and a physician, it’s that kids need just as much support for their emotional health as they do for their physical health. That’s why I love giving books that help parents and kids alike build resilience and confidence. From empowering reads for kids to guides that simplify mindful parenting, these picks are great tools for families to grow stronger together.
Healthy Kids, Happy Kids: An Integrative Pediatrician's Guide to Whole Child Resilience
In an age where kid’s anxiety seems higher than ever, Elisa Song, MD shares an essential guide to building physical and emotional resilience from the inside out. With delicious, gut-friendly recipes, exercises, and quizzes, this book is truly a practical tool for helping kids build resilience. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Always Anjali
Anjali is thrilled to get a bike as a gift for her seventh birthday. But when Anjali and her friends look for personalized license plates for their bikes, she can’t find one with her name. Spunky Anjali demands a new name from her parents but discovers being different is marvelous. This charming picture book by my friend Sheetal Sheth is the first in a series for ages 5-8 years old. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Louder Than Hunger
John Schu taught my children growing up, so I wasn’t surprised by the power of his vulnerability in this fictionalized account of his own experience with eating disorders. This incredible novel explores muffling a destructive inner voice and embracing support and self-acceptance. Appropriate for kids aged 10-14. Buy it on Bookshop or Amazon.
Books have always been some of my favorite gifts to give and receive—they're thoughtful, personal, and filled with the potential to change lives. I hope these books are helpful to you and your loved ones!
Wishing you a season filled with connection, reflection, and thoughtful giving.
Be well,
Avanti Kumar-Singh, MD
