The end of the year — and the decade! — is coming and with it is the holiday gift-giving season. And as we always say, books make a wonderful present for all your gift recipients! This year sees many selections to choose from for fans of properties like Star Wars, Star Trek, Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter, Game Of Thrones, and Stranger Things, with some very intriguing themed cookbooks, storybooks for the youngsters, and memoirs, as well as titles by authors like Jonathan Maberry, Seth Grahame-Smith, Dave Hill, and Greg Cox, along with reissued illustrated classics.

Check out here below our Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2019 for Books, eBooks, and Audiobooks for our favorite holiday gift picks for the readers in your life.

Sons of Chaos
Hardcover | Kindle
Writer: Chris Jaymes
Illustrator: Ale Aragon
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release date: June 2019

I’m a sucker for a good historical novel. Done right, it can drop you into a time period, introduce you to characters you see as dear friends or bitter enemies, and immerse you into historical events in a deeply meaningful way. The graphic novel Sons of Chaos by writer Chris Jaymes (Party of Five, Chicago Hope, Lost) illuminates the harrowing 19th-century events of the Greek War of Independence through the lens of tragic underdog Marcos Botsaris. Game of Thrones meets 300 in this bleak-yet-epic saga portraying the costs of brutal and anything-but-fair conflict with impressively natural pacing. Massive, lustrous pages serve as a backdrop to the grandiose, fantastical, and occasionally wincingly violent artwork illustrated by Ale Aragon (28 Days Later, Deadpool).

Queen And Slim
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Writer: Lena Waithe
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith, Chloë Sevigny, Flea, Bokeem Woodbine, Indya Moore
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Rated: R | Minutes: 132
Release Date: November 27, 2019

If art is a reflection of society, then Queen And Slim is a serious call to action to address the societal damages that police brutality and systemic racism cause when it is allowed to continue to fester across America. Melina Matsoukas, who makes her directorial debut using a script written by Lena Waithe, reimagines the outlaws on the run from the law story by adding timely real-world social themes that we see making news headlines too often. Though a film will not completely change the hearts and minds of those who may not see these dangers, it can be a powerful reminder that it still continues to exist and if it isn’t taken care of, these senseless deaths will continue to happen. My review below.

Here are just some of the offerings released this year which will satisfy any music aficionado, young or old, regardless of personal music taste. Music forever remains in perpetuity as not only a great go-to gift, but one that is long lasting and forever. Check out our 2019 Holiday Geek Gift Guide for Music“¦

Knives Out
Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Christopher Plummer
Distributor: Lionsgate
Rated PG-13 | Minutes: 130
Release Date: November 27, 2019

Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out is a deliciously twisted whodunit murder mystery in the same vein of an Agatha Christie novel, but with a modern touch. Though it does rely on many of those Christie tropes of a detective warning the audience about foul play, marking everyone as a suspect, and deliberately setting up all of the clues in plain sight. And true to form, though the film holds the audience’s attention by giving them a well-crafted intrigue that is set up by Johnson, the political subtext allows it to be much more than just a simple murder mystery. And it is able to stay constantly entertaining as it is full of unlikeable and very suspect characters, who are wonderfully played by an all-star cast, that not only keeps things funny, but will also have us guessing until the very end. My full review below.