The 13 best books to buy pop-culture lovers this Christmas

Our 2021 guide to all the biographies, memoirs, and art books you'll want under the tree this year

Books Features Hanif Abdurraqib
The 13 best books to buy pop-culture lovers this Christmas
Clockwise from top middle: A Little Devil In America (Image: Random House), The Boys (Image: William Morrow), You Got Anything Stronger? (Image: Dey Street), When Women Invented Television (Image: Harper), A Bathroom Book For People Not Pooping Or Peeing But Using The Bathroom As An Escape (Image: Forge) Graphic: Natalie Peeples

Tired of reading The Night Before Christmas every holiday season? Just can’t make it through another re-read of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas? You’re in luck! We’ve put together our list of the 13 best books to buy pop-culture lovers this year. Whether it’s a comedy legend’s memoir or a film auteur’s art book, these are the tomes you’ll want to give—and get—this holiday season. And trust us: If nothing else, they’re much better reads than The Christmas Shoes.

previous arrowMike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris next arrow
Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris
Image Random House

Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark HarrisAnother book about a legendary funnyman, tells the story of Nichols’ remarkable life. Born Igor Peschkowsky to a Jewish couple in Berlin in 1931, Nichols was put on a ship to America in 1939, where he was bullied and ostracized. Just 20-odd years later, Nichols would be so successful and popular that he was living in a three-storey Central Park West penthouse and hobnobbing with Jacqueline Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor. It’s an inspiring story, and one that should serve to make Nichols’ legendary life and achievements that much more awe-inducing.

3 Comments

  • rowan5215-av says:

    thanks for reminding me about A Little Devil in America! I haven’t read it yet but Hanif is my favourite writer working today, he’s absolutely incredible

  • bluesalamone-av says:

    Hey Zombie AVC, how about a little love for your Rushmore former writer Nathan Rabin’s bad-taste celebration, The Joy of Trash, instead.  So gross you went with a deeply inferior, non-AVC alum instead…

  • djburnoutb-av says:

    Cannot wait for All About Me, it’s at the top of my list. Mel is 95, and it’s going to be a very sad day when he passes away – but he has brought so much joy to the world, I’m really glad he wrote a full memoir to preserve even more of his legacy! LONG LIVE MEL BROOKS! 

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