When I was @BerkeleyLaw, each December the @BerkLawLibrary would solicit holiday book recommendations from the community. Even though I'm now @nyulaw, old habits die hard. Here are the books I'm using for stocking stuffers this year:

I read this last January. Who knew the beautiful writing would sustain me through an unprecedented year? @the_gar_spot's debut, Sin Against the Race, is a stunning bildungsroman chronicling the coming of age of a young black gay man.

I read this in April in the midst of quarantine. A glimmer of loveliness in an otherwise uncertain time. I was late to the party, but of you haven't read Yaa Gyasi's ( @GiveBlackFound) Homecoming, you need to get on it. Also on my nightstand is Transcendent Kingdom, her newest.

Once I finished Homegoing, I worried that no other book would be able to match it. @britrbennett's The Vanishing Half is a worthy successor. An amazing story of identical twins--one who passes for white and the other who makes her life in the Black community. It's gorgeous.

. @StrictScrutiny_ fans, don't worry! I did some SCOTUS reading, too. @CoreyRobin's The Enigma of Clarence Thomas is a riveting psycho-jurisprudential profile of a most enigmatic Justice.

. @mrstevenrowley's The Editor was the perfect summer read--even if I never left my own backyard. The premise is terrifically whimsical: A writer sells his first novel (titled "The Quarantine") to the country's most famous editor, Jackie O.

Fall brought Back to School weather (even if you weren't actually going to physical school) and @esglaude's searing Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own. A timely read about James Baldwin and our current moment.

I bought @liaratamani's Calling My Name for my favorite tween. A beautifully crafted YA novel about a young girl's journey from middle school to high school, my young reader pronounced it "really really good." Very high praise.

File these under nostalgia. In 10th grade, Mr. Travis Rogers made us read The Iliad and the Odyssey (not in Greek, but not the kids version, either). Circe and The Song of Achilles, both by the very talented @MillerMadeline, are imaginative homages to Homer's originals.

In an effort to get my littles to read more, I subscribed to @jambobooks, which sends a monthly box of books featuring kids of color as protagonists. @djolder's The Dactyl Hill Squad has been a hit--Civil War Era orphans fight ... dinosaurs and the Gangs of NY. Why not?

. @lilykingbooks's Writers and Lovers was a recommendation from @JenniferKHenry, who has impeccable taste in books. This was a gorgeously written meditation on the writing process and the nature of love and loss.

File @csittenfeld's Rodham: A Novel under "alternative universes I would not mind living in." With just one decision, Hillary Rodham changes the course of her life--and American history. As good as Sittenfeld's American Wife, which I loved.

To round out a year that has been long on serious topics, I dove into @VictoriousJane's Ties That Tether--a terrific story about a Nigerian-Canadian immigrant caught between her mother's expectations and her own. I gobbled it up in one sitting.

And of course, no list would be complete without a shoutout to @thebestjasmine's Royal Holiday, which uses the Other MM's (now defunct) royal life as a jumping off point for romantic hijinks. Finished it in an afternoon.

Anyway, that's what I'm reading and gifting this year! All of these titles can be found in most bookstores, including small independent ones. I bought a bunch of these from @GreatGoodPlace and @MahoganyBooks, but you do you, boo! Happy Holidays, readers!

And please help me start my 2021 reading list with your favorites! Go!