2025 holiday book guide: Whether you like your lit naughty or nice, Colorado authors can shape your gift list ...Middle East

How to find them …

It’s never a bad idea to support your local independent bookstore. Here are some tools for deciding the best way to buy: 

NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores

Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

From the “naughty” characters of a cold-blooded thriller to the “nice” of a warm, engaging romance, books gifted during the holiday season carry a special meaning — whether you’re giving or receiving them.

But how to sift through all the literary options? To ease the strain and provide gentle guidance toward a diverse array of possibilities, we asked this collection of Colorado Book Award winners and finalists to select two books from their chosen genre to help you land on that perfect gift (or keep-for-yourself title). 

Of course, we also linked to the authors’ own prize-worthy books — many of which have been excerpted in The Colorado Sun for your sampling. Check them out at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

And this year, we are partnering with independent bookstores across the state whose recommendations you’ve seen on our site for the last several years. They’re graciously helping us get the word out about this guide and have stocked up on many of the titles. Some have even dedicated a table in their bricks-and-mortar stores to our Holiday Book Guide.

So thanks to The Bookies Bookstore in Denver, Out West Books in Grand Junction, Explore Books in Aspen, Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins and Poor Richard’s Books in Colorado Springs. You might consider paying them a visit. And if those aren’t in your neighborhood, check out the independent bookstores in your neck of the woods or click online to your favorite site.

In any event, celebrate the holidays with literature recommended by some of Colorado’s celebrated authors. And keep an eye on our SunLit feature for more excerpts and author interviews throughout the year.

Literary fiction

Melinda Moustakis, an Alaska native who lived in Colorado before migrating to Rhode Island, was a 2024 Colorado Book Award finalist for her novel “Homestead,” inspired by her maternal grandparents’ struggle to build a home and a marriage in the Alaskan frontier. Her abiding love for her home state prompted her to offer one recommendation that rewards readers on two levels.

“Moving Salmon Bay”

Don Rearden (author of “The Raven’s Gift”)  is an Alaskan author who has generously donated his novel “Moving Salmon Bay” as an e-book for purchase to support communities in Alaska displaced by Typhoon Halong in October. The novel itself is about a rural village on the coast of the Bering Sea that has to face relocation due to a changing climate.

“Crooked Hallelujah”

This is an unforgettable multigenerational story of Cherokee women that spans from Oklahoma to Texas. Granny, Lula, Justine and Reney are the main voices in a tale of hard-earned love and survival and familial ties. These characters will stay with you long after you have finished reading the book.

Science fiction/fantasy

Ian Patterson’s “Transference,” the story of a world in which disease can be transferred to willing individuals for a price, won the 2025 Colorado Book Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy. He enthusiastically endorses these two for fans of the genre.

“Chain-Gang All-Stars”

It’s a modern classic of science fiction, and it’s hard for me to overstate how inspiring this book has been for my own writing. Adjei-Brenyah writes about a future dystopian America where the incarcerated are killed in a deadly sporting spectacle to the amusement of a modern audience. Alongside the story are footnotes citing America’s carceral system, policing practices, and all the nastiness that springs from it — racism, torture, sexual violence, chemical weapons used on civilians, so much inequality. It’s clear by the end that the horror of the book isn’t just in the imagined story, but in the real one that exists outside of it.

“Metal from Heaven”

My time with “Metal from Heaven” was beautiful and raw. This dystopian, sapphic fever dream shows a world bled at the altar of ichorite production, a miracle metal that weaves its way into everything from the bullets used to break a worker strike to the impossibly tight dresses worn by robber barons and princesses. It’s a middle finger, a punch to the nose, an unexpected kiss on the mouth, and an ode to anarchy and that ethos that fueled all the young punks I’ve ever known. I cannot say enough about how lush and achingly poetic Clarke’s prose is.

Nonfiction

Sarah Scoles was a Colorado Book Award finalist in General Nonfiction for her book “Countdown: The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons,” that explored the modernization of the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Here are two of her choices for nonfiction reading.

“Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future”

Readers who want to travel to the northern and southern extremes of the planet — without actually having to travel — should pick up Neil Shubin’s new book. From the changing icy environment to its intrepid biological inhabitants, the text journeys through the areas and brings readers along. The book also provides a human view of the scientists who’ve attempted, and are attempting, to make sense of this part of the world that can seem so foreign, but is intricately connected to our more temperate lives.

The Skyland Series

This third book in this series, “Can’t Get Enough,” was released this year to much acclaim. I can never get enough of Kennedy Ryan’s writing, but I also can’t get enough of the lush, rich world she creates for her books. Holiday parties and celebrations take place across this series, so you can get your fix of holiday feels while diving deep into the heads and the hearts of Kennedy’s vibrant characters.

“Time to Shine”

Rachel Reid gets a lot of attention for her hockey romance “Heated Rivalry,” which has just been adapted into a television series by the Crave (Canadian TV) network. But “Time to Shine” is the hockey romance with all the holiday vibes I want this time of the year. This is a cozy read full of characters you’ll love, hockey banter, snow-splashed cabins in Banff, and some very special shoutouts for Christmas Cap’n Crunch.

Poetry

Mark Chartier, who teaches special education in southern Colorado, took the 2025 Colorado Book Award for Poetry with his collection “Tell Me Something Good,” in which he dives into his own life as a person with disabilities who revels in the joys of teaching. He has some ideas for poetry fans.

“Dream of the Bird Tattoo”

In this poignant and rhythmic collection, Morales delivers lines of poetry that invoke lyricism, pace and time as bullseye characteristics that hit their intended mark every time. In memoriam of his late father, Morales takes readers on a sage, humorous, and individualized experience where humanity is celebrated, because, as he elegies, “’He knows where we have to go.’” And what an exquisite journey it is — as beautiful and as loving as its destination.

“FishWife”

In “FishWife,” McCanna brings together a holistic synthesis of the spiritual, emotional, and physical cycles of a woman in today’s society, stamped with her unique and stark images that conjure a higher emotion than most are ready to feel or admit to on a surface level. Throughout this trailblazing collection, McCanna, who won the 2025 Colorado Book Award for this outstanding effort, champions the relatable walk of every woman driven to be more resilient than their challenges, breaking their path when “the world has lifted its skirt to (her).”  And through it all, McCanna’s raw honesty rains down, recounting experiences redacted with hope, introspection and an energy that permits the old to seem new again after every read.

This story first appeared in Colorado Sunday, a premium magazine newsletter for members.

Experience the best in Colorado news at a slower pace, with thoughtful articles, unique adventures and a reading list that’s a perfect fit for a Sunday morning.

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