Authors' Picks: Gift Ideas for Every Reader On Your List

DAVE EGGERS, Zeitoun

I'm giving copies of the Qur'an, in a new translation by Laleh Bakhtiar. For anyone who wants to know more about Islam, or simply wants to read a beautiful book, this really is the most accessible version in English.

Like everyone, I always ask for art books for Christmas, given they're not the kind of thing you buy yourself. I'm hoping this year for books of paintings in the Musée D'Orsay in Paris. This is my favorite museum in the world, and it has, I think, the most interesting, and most underrated, collection of paintings.