Does This Taste Funny?
Stephen Colbert and Evie McGee Colbert
HarperCollins
While stuck together at home during the pandemic, Late Show host Stephen Colbert and his wife, Evie McGee Colbert, collaborated on both filming his show and cooking nearly every meal. The Montclair-based couple, married for 31 years, admit to having very different cooking styles—he’s an “improviser” and she’s a “rule follower”—but somehow, they make it work. This charming and cozy cookbook is a testament to their success: a harmonious, humorous and satisfying blend of photographs, family stories and recipes, many influenced by the pair’s shared roots in coastal South Carolina. —Kate Tuttle
Roctogenarians: Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks and Triumphs
Mo Rocca and Jonathan Greenberg
Simon & Schuster
CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca and Montclair State professor Jonathan Greenberg (Mobituaries) team up again to look at inspiring late-in-life stories, from Henri Matisse to Mel Brooks. Estelle Getty was 62 when she got her big break on The Golden Girls, and Sophia Loren returned to films in her eighties—to rave reviews. —Jacqueline Mroz
Honey: A Novel
Victor Lodato
HarperCollins
Honey Fasinga, the glamorous daughter of a notorious New Jersey mobster, now in her twilight years, returns home after decades in Los Angeles. Unexpectedly, she falls in love. But in Honey’s family, nothing has changed. As old cruelties begin to resurface, Honey isn’t sure what she wants—to forgive or to avenge. Lodato, who grew up in Little Ferry, is the recipient of the PEN USA Award for fiction and NEA and Guggenheim fellowships. —Julia Martin
The Best Grandmother Names Ever
Cathy Livingstone
Sourcebooks
Chances are, the grandmother-to-be on your list does not want to be called Grandma. So gift her this tiny tome, filled with hipper suggestions, like celeb names Gogo (Katie Couric), Gaia (Gail King) and Glamma (Real Housewives star NeNe Leakes); international names (such as Oma and Babi), and grandma-grandpa name pairs (Yaya and Papa, Lolly and Pop). —J. Martin
Because It’s Funny!
Billy Van Zandt
Van Zandt/Milmore Productions II
The playwright and actor looks back on his 46-year writing-acting-producing partnership with the late Jane Milmore, and their catalog of 25 plays. Van Zandt, who grew up in Middletown and is the brother of musician/TV star Steven Van Zandt, references his Jersey roots, and the multi-talented cast of local comedians who became an ensemble company and artistic family. —James LaForge
Connie
Connie Chung
Grand Central
Many people have seen groundbreaking journalist Connie Chung on TV, but her memoir offers a chance for the public to read her full story. It’s an interesting one, from her family leaving China to her marriage to Maury Povich and the adoption of their son. It’s an engaging read, seamlessly employing a balance of serious and funny. Chung and Povich had a home in Middletown for years, and a Parkway rest stop is named for her. —Julie Gordon
Believe in the World: Wisdom for Grown-Ups From Children’s Books
Collected by Amy Gash and Elise Howard
Algonquin Books
This small, slender volume slips easily into a Christmas stocking or pocketbook, but it’s packed with inspiring, endearing quotes from children’s books past and present that offer guidance and hope for living in the world today. Organized in categories like “How to Be Joyful,” with charming illustrations. —J. Martin
John Lewis: A Life
David Greenberg
Simon and Schuster
Georgia Congressman John Lewis’s life of service gets a deeper look in this comprehensive, 700-plus page biography. Rutgers professor Greenberg’s ambitious research includes more than 250 interviews with Lewis’s colleagues and friends, as well as previously untapped FBI files and documents. The thorough work follows Lewis from his frontline years in the Civil Rights Movement to his contributions in Congress. —Deborah P. Carter
Want more holiday present ideas? Peruse our main gift guide here, and our museum-shop gift guide here.
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