Books make for perfect gifts, especially if they’re for ones you love. It’s an incredible form of intimacy – to read something that someone else has read. To know that they’ve mulled over these exact words and had their own distinct thoughts about it. And discussing thoughts a book has prompted you to have, and your feelings after you’ve completed the book can deepen a friendship. Gifting books to your friends that are centred on the themes of a lifelong friendship is also a great idea. It will make them feel loved and secure. This is a list of such books that are perfect gifts for friends, that will definitely improve your relationship and make them happy.
List of Books That Are Perfect Gifts For Friends:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire-Saenz
Perhaps the first book that comes to mind when thinking about friendship is this poignant novel. Hugely character-driven, this novel follows the life of Ari, a shy and timid boy as he meets his best friend Dante. Their friendship is heartwarming, it feels like a hug for the mind. If you want to tell your friend that they feel like a breath of fresh air on an arid afternoon without putting it into words, this is the novel for you.
Mornings with Rosemary by Libby Page
In this debut that doesn’t feel like one, Page deftly paints the portraits of two women – Rosemary and Kate, and their unlikely friendship. Rosemary is 86, with a full life behind her. Kate is in her twenties, with a whole life lying ahead of her. But as fate throws the loves of these two women together, they form a relationship that defies age. With a swimming pool as its most important motif, this book is as feel-good as it is emotional. And it showcases an important aspect of friendship – the unexpectedness with which it blooms in the most unlikely corners of the world.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
This evergreen novel by Hosseini follows the friendship of two friends from different social classes who form an unlikely bond. Hassan’s unwavering and unabated loyalty to Amir will most likely shatter your heart. But it will also make you feel things you didn’t know you were capable of feeling. This book is like a stab in your chest, but it’s a wound you never want to recover from. It deals with the truest and purest form of friendship and celebrates it like nothing else.
Sula by Toni Morrison
In this stunning portrait of Black womanhood, Morrison dexterously knits the lives of two women of different temperaments and different choices together. While Sula moves abroad and returns as a modern rebel, Nel stays in Africa and leads a domestic price. But with every choice come its consequences. As Sula and Nel deal with these consequences and discover their womanhood differently yet together, a complex relationship comes to fruition. This novel describes the ugly aspects of friendship along with the beautiful, but that just makes the friendship stronger and more real.
The Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
This is the story of Peri as she transitions from her traditional Turkish life to the huge world of possibilities that is Oxford University. In the process, she meets two friends radically different from her – Shirin the rebel and Mona the religious. Peri herself is confused about her views on God. Together., the Sinner, the Believer and the Confused challenge their identities fall in love and get caught in scandals. Through it all, their friendship flowers. Amidst other things, this is the story of friendships unfettered by differences and distance.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagiraha
A brilliantly written and exceptionally moving story of four men, this novel talks about the effect friendship has in drowning the troubles of life. As these four friends navigate their newly emerging careers and personal life, they confront their own demons. Yet, tied together by the unending bond of friendship, they wade through life. This novel is dark at times, it will plunge you into despair that seems endless. But it will find its way into the crevices and corners of your heart that lay hitherto undiscovered and redefine friendship. This isn’t a feel-good book that will warm your friend’s heart but it is a celebration of friendship nonetheless – and a terrific one at that.
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Interweaving music with friendship, this novel follows our protagonists who dream of becoming dancers. They approach dance in different ways – one is kinetic, with graceful movements and an elegant posture. The other is potential, full of ideas about the abstract concept of dance and its relation to identity and race. Inseparable throughout their childhood, a tragedy forces them apart later, but it’s not a friendship they can forget. Its impact on their life, ideas and opinions are profound and they carry traces of the other within themselves. This drama of enduring friendship will move your friend to tears and reaffirm her faith in the importance of friendship.
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