Gayle Shanks, owner of the Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe, Ariz., likes the novel "Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter; Deb Perlman's "Smitten Kitchen" cookbook; and Marcus Samuelsson's memoir "Yes, Chef."

Barnes & Noble is suggesting works of humor ("The Onion Book of Known Knowledge"), music (An illustrated Rolling Stones biography to mark the band's 50th anniversary) and history ("Reporting the Revolutionary War").

Sarah McNally, owner of McNally Jackson Books in Manhattan likes Alice Munro's story collection "Dear Life"; Alan Ryan's two-volume history "On Politics" and Louise Glueck's "Poems 1962-2012." Kate Milford, a children's author and McNally Jackson employee, suggests the picture book "Cecil, the Pet Glacier," by Matthea Harvey; the middle school novel "Twelve Kinds of Ice," by Ellen Bryan Obed and illustrator Barbara McClintock.

"This is going to be one of those things adults buy for a kid and end up keeping themselves or giving to other adults, too," Milford says of the Obed book. "It's beautifully illustrated, beautifully written, and just feels like a classic gift book."