If you haven’t heard already, this stunning coming of age novel by Stephanie Danler is one of the best things I’ve read in years. The pain and exhaustion and confusion and desire of your first year living in this city she outlines so poignantly, it makes you somehow kind of wish you could go through it all again. Her words embody all of the complex contradictions of life in New York, how we walk the gossamer thin line of constant self-evaluation and simply blaming the city for any perceived shortcomings. The pleasantness of exchanging a smile across the subway platform is immediately usurped by train traffic delays, a rat on the platform, a homeless man crying out. Tiny, vital victories that are swallowed immediately by some reality that was waiting there all along, just masked by a sweet summer day or full coffee card. Everything defined by utter gravitas as we all just float along, somehow. Sheer joy and earth-shattering defeat, it’s all just the allure of the city, of course. It’s what brought us here and keeps us here, somehow. This work is as stunning, captivating, electrifying, honest as the city it’s set in. Fall in lust with New York again. Get this one for your for the one who needs to be reminded just why she’s living here.

Creative living beyond fear. There’s no denying that making the leap into the unknown of your own passionate hustle is scary as fuck. Take the words of someone who did and has and is, and use them to motivate you to get beyond this fear. Elizabeth Gïlbert has evolved in such a beautiful way, with words that won’t leave you. Give this to your friend who needs to believe in herself and follow her dreams, or who just has and could use a little (or a lot) of reassurance.

By Caroline de Maigret and co-written with three of her friends, this slightly snarky and wholly charming book about embracing life of the Parisien woman and seeing the world through a distinctively European lens. It describes and exudes a woman who is approachably confident and unyieldingly seductive and deceptively complicated and, well, French. Buy this one for your tightest girl group and read it together and be cooler than everyone else.

This is the equivalent of an adult workbook created by the most inspiring, moving, and wholly creative-minded person you know. You can’t help but interact with it. I bought this just after moving back from Barcelona and found that it helped by rediscover and embrace the world around me through a new lens. This is the cure for reverse culture shock and the answer to the broke and temporarily stagnant traveler. Give this to your Gypsy friend who you can tell is getting restless.