December 15, 2025
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Looking for holiday gifts? The founders of Down North Pizza and Harriett's Bookshop put out books this year. So did Queen Village's own Jake Tapper.
The window to order that personalized cardigan from New Zealand has come and gone, but it's not too late to get one of the most versatile holiday gifts: books. One spin through the shelves can knock out the rest of your shopping and show you've been paying attention to your loved ones' hobbies and interests.
Consider the following romance novels, cookbooks and nonfiction picks. While they vary in tone and content, they all have ties to the Philadelphia region through their authors, subject matter or both. We've grouped them together according to their ideal recipient:
CNN anchor and Queen Village native Jake Tapper takes on a recent chapter in American history with his book "Race Against Terror." It recounts the trial of al-Qaeda operative Spin Ghul, the first person tried in U.S. criminal court for killing American service members on a foreign battlefield (Buy it here.) Another journalist with local ties, New York Times staffer Ali Watkins, explores the illegal gun ring that ran from Philly to the Irish Republican Army in "The Next One Is For You." The title comes from a threatening note left in one of the ringleader's mailboxes, along with a loose bullet. (Buy it here.)
Char Adams, a reporter from West Philly, digs into the FBI surveillance of Black-owned bookstores and the activism that animated them in "Black-Owned." The book highlights, among other shops, Hakim's in Cobb's Creek. (Buy it here.) While "Mounted" author Bitter Kalli didn't grow up in West Philly, they live there now. Their book explores connection between Black communities and horses, as exemplified by "Cowboy Carter" and the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club. (Buy it here.)
Temple professor Bench Ansfield looks back on the landlord-set fires that burned in the 1970s in "Born in Flames." Though the book is largely focused on the Bronx, it touches on the trend's effects in Philly and the complex insurance schemes that made it all possible. (Buy it here.) If you know someone with hard opinions on the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, it's time to break out the big guns. Penn Press put out a three-volume "Greater Philadelphia" series examining the city's history. It covers everything from the earliest settlers' treaties with Indigenous tribes to the garbage barge that roved the seas in the 1980s to the rise of scrapple. (Buy it here.)
A freshly dumped fitness instructor party hops across the country with her former crush in Manasquan author Jamie Harrow's novel "Fun at Parties." Will they turn into something more? Read on to find out. (Buy it here.) Readers will go on an equally adventurous romp with "While We're Young," a spin on "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" that places a teen heroine in Matthew Broderick's iconic role and swaps the Chicago setting for Philadelphia. As Grace and two best friends (one of whom may be more than a friend) trek to the art museum and Pat's and Geno's, her suspicious brother tries to track them down. (Buy it here.)
"It's Me They Follow," the debut novel from Harriett's Bookshop founder Jeannine Cook, isn't strictly a romance. But the semi-autobiographical story has a sweet, slow burn courtship running through it, told partially through letters. (Buy it here.) There's a more traditional formula to "32 Days in May," set in the made-up Jersey Shore town of Evergreen. Nadia, a woman recently diagnosed with lupus, moves to her family's beach house and has a spring fling with former child star Marco. It's just for a month, they swear. But can they stick to their promise? (Buy it here.)
Down North Pizza shared 65 recipes for its sauces, doughs and pies in the Strawberry Mansion shop's first cookbook "We the Pizza." Readers will also learn about incarceration, an issue that's guided the business from the beginning, through the staff's personal stories. (Buy it here.) For game day snack ideas, turn to "Kickoff Kitchen" by former Eagles chef Tim Lopez. He whipped up two recipes for each NFL team, including cheesesteak eggrolls and a roast pork sandwich for the Birds. (Buy it here.)
Any disciple of the Boss will appreciate "Tonight in Jungleland," a history of the making of "Born to Run." Bruce Springsteen biographer Peter Ames Carlin spoke to the Jersey legend yet again for this book, which emphasizes just how much the musician had riding on this release — and how it changed his career forever. (Buy it here.) But what was happening on the other side of the Delaware River as Springsteen made his breakthrough album? "When We Rocked" has the answer. Drawing on interviews with dozens of local acts, authors Mick Michaels and Antonio Aloia paint a picture of the Philadelphia rock scene after "American Bandstand" left the city, focusing on late '70s through the early '90s. (Buy it here.)
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