Holiday books: Great reading for the season

Nov. 29, 2013

Our holiday books gift guide is packed: There are books for teens and toddlers, prizewinning novels and thrillers, science and sports, gorgeous coffee-table books and more.

Book critic David L. Ulin celebrates surprisingly tactile books; Hector Tobar asks an expert panel (his kids) about children's books; and Carolyn Kellogg salutes a handful of America's most senior writers.

And because this year saw some literary gender wars, we asked a bunch of favorite female authors which male writers they've been reading and vice versa -- in order to foster peace, harmony and a love of books by all.