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Best Books to Give a Friend
Matched to the friendship, which you know well, rather than their reading, which you may not.
Updated September 2026 · By Sawyer V.
The short version
Match the book to what the friendship runs on. A friendship built on laughing gets something funny, one built on long conversations gets a novel worth arguing about, and a friendship that has lasted decades can take a book about friendship itself — a newer one usually cannot.
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How we picked
We sorted by the kind of friendship rather than by genre, because you usually know far more about how the two of you talk than about what they read. Several picks are novels about friendship, and we say when those land and when they do not. We have not read all eight.
What we do on every list: read the publisher’s own description rather than a summary of it, check print length and first publication year against library catalog data (last refreshed September 11, 2026), confirm the book is still sold in the format we suggest, and write the match line before the blurb. What we do not do is claim to have read every book here cover to cover. The full method is published, and it is written so anyone can check it.
The short answer
Who each book is for, at a glance. Select a row for the full write-up.
| # | Book | Give this if | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowGabrielle Zevin · 460 pagesThe long friendship | you have been friends long enough to fall out and come back | |
| 2 |  The Lincoln HighwayAmor Towles · 583 pagesThe friend who reads seriously | they like a big, well-made novel | |
| 3 |  People We Meet on VacationEmily Henry · 432 pagesThe friend you travel with | the two of you have a standing trip every year | |
| 4 |  The Thursday Murder ClubRichard Osman · 382 pagesThe one who holds the group together | they are the organizer in your circle | |
| 5 |  Anxious PeopleFredrik Backman · 352 pagesThe friend going through something | they need warmth without a lecture | |
| 6 |  The House in the Cerulean SeaT. J. Klune · 424 pagesThe cozy one | they need something kind to read at the end of a long week | |
| 7 |  SulaToni Morrison · 174 pagesThe short, serious one | they want something to finish in an evening that stays for a year | |
| 8 |  The Secret HistoryDonna Tartt · 608 pagesThe friend from college | you met at school and still talk about it |
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Eight, by what the friendship runs on
1. The long friendship
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin
Give this ifyou have been friends long enough to fall out and come back
Thirty years of a creative partnership between two friends who make video games, including the years they do not speak. It is about the particular love of a friend you make things with, and it lands hardest on people who have one.
One caveat: Heavy in places. Better for an old friendship than a new one.
- Print length
- 460 pages
- First published
- 2022
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
2. The friend who reads seriously
The Lincoln Highway
Amor Towles
Give this ifthey like a big, well-made novel
Ten days in 1954: a young man, his little brother and two friends from a juvenile work farm set out to drive west and immediately head east instead. It is about unlikely friendships formed on the road, with an adventure story's pull and a literary novel's construction.
- Print length
- 583 pages
- First published
- 2021
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
3. The friend you travel with
People We Meet on Vacation
Emily Henry
Give this ifthe two of you have a standing trip every year
Two best friends who took a vacation together every summer have not spoken in two years, and try one more trip to fix it. It is sold as a romance, but the friendship is the spine of the book, and it is funny throughout.
- Print length
- 432 pages
- First published
- 2021
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
4. The one who holds the group together
The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman
Give this ifthey are the organizer in your circle
Four residents of a quiet English retirement village meet weekly to look into old unsolved murders, and then a new one happens on their doorstep. It is a mystery, but what readers remember is the friendship between the four of them.
- Print length
- 382 pages
- First published
- 2020
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
5. The friend going through something
Anxious People
Fredrik Backman
Give this ifthey need warmth without a lecture
A failed bank robbery turns into a hostage situation at an apartment viewing, and the strangers involved slowly turn out to be kind. It is gentle about despair without being a book about despair, which is a narrow and useful thing.
One caveat: Touches on suicide. Know your friend.
- Print length
- 352 pages
- First published
- 2020
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
6. The cozy one
The House in the Cerulean Sea
T. J. Klune
Give this ifthey need something kind to read at the end of a long week
A caseworker sent to inspect an island orphanage for magical children ends up building a family there. Very low stakes, very warm, and a book about finding your people as an adult — which is harder than anyone admits.
- Print length
- 424 pages
- First published
- 2019
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
7. The short, serious one
Sula
Toni Morrison
Give this ifthey want something to finish in an evening that stays for a year
Two girls bound together in childhood in a small Ohio town, and what happens when one of them leaves and comes back. It is short, and it is about how a friendship can hold love and betrayal at the same time.
One caveat: Not a comfort read.
- Print length
- 174 pages
- First published
- 1973
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
8. The friend from college
The Secret History
Donna Tartt
Give this ifyou met at school and still talk about it
A group of classics students at a small Vermont college, a death, and the friendships that do not survive it. It is dark, and it is the book people who met at eighteen tend to press on each other.
One caveat: A thriller about friendship going wrong. Read the room.
- Print length
- 608 pages
- First published
- 1992
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
Start with the friendship, not the reader
With family you often know someone's reading from years of shared houses. With a friend you usually know something more useful: how the two of you actually talk. That is a better guide than their shelves.
- If you mostly laugh together, buy something funny and short. A heavy novel from a friend you only joke with reads as a change of subject.
- If you have long conversations, buy something worth arguing about, and read it at the same time. That turns a present into a month of conversation.
- If you have been friends for decades, a novel about friendship itself can say something you would not say out loud. Newer friendships usually cannot carry that yet.
The best version of this gift
Buy two copies — one for them, one for you — and suggest reading it at the same pace. It costs twice as much and it is worth it, because what you are really giving is time together. Books for a book club covers the titles that hold up best to that kind of discussion.
If the friend lives far away, the same idea works in audio: two people listening to the same book on different commutes is a surprisingly good reason to call each other. The subscription panel on this page explains who that suits.
Close to a friend
Books for a sister covers the friend who is also family, books for coworkers covers the friend you see at work, and the birthday list has the occasion-specific picks. If they have told you they do not read, books for someone who does not like reading is the page you want.
Two ways to read this list for less
If several books here appeal, a subscription usually beats buying them one at a time — but only for the right kind of reader. Here is who each one actually suits.
Audible Premium Plus
For anyone whose hands are busy
Driving, walking, cooking, cleaning. It converts hours that were never available for reading, which is a bigger effect than any discount. Books bought with a credit stay yours after you cancel — titles from the included catalog do not, and confusing the two is the most common complaint about the service.
See Audible plans and current pricingHow Audible actually works — credits, gifting and what happens when you cancel.
Kindle Unlimited
For fast readers who browse
It pays off from about three ebooks a month, in the genres the catalog covers well — romance, romantasy, cozy mystery, thriller, progression fantasy. It does not pay off if you are waiting on a specific new hardcover, because those are usually not included. Everything is borrowed, not owned.
See Kindle Unlimited terms and pricingIs Kindle Unlimited worth it? — the arithmetic, done on your own reading.
#ad — how we are funded. We print no subscription prices anywhere on this site, because they change and a stale figure sends you to a checkout expecting something that is not there. And if you read in silence in a chair, neither of these is for you — buy the book, or borrow it from your library.
What we would skip
The book that changed your life
The instinct is to give a friend the book that mattered most to you. It is the gift most often left unread, because it arrives with a test attached — they know you will ask what they thought. If you must give it, say in the inscription that there is no quiz, and put something lighter alongside it.
Questions people ask
What book should I give my best friend?
Match it to what the friendship runs on. People We Meet on Vacation if you travel together; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow if you have been friends for years and had your ups and downs.
Is a book a good gift for a friend?
Yes, especially if you buy two copies and read it together. That turns a present into a month of shared conversation.
Should I give a friend my favorite book?
Carefully. A favorite book arrives with a test attached. If you give it, say there is no quiz and add something lighter alongside.
What if I do not know what they read?
Buy for the friendship rather than the reader. Something funny, warm and short is rarely wrong, and a gift receipt removes the rest of the risk.
Sources
- Open Library Search API — First publication year, median print length and cover art for every book on this page. Queried 8 September 2026.
- Audible Premium Plus membership page — The only authoritative source for current Audible plans, prices and terms.
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- Best Book Gifts for Her
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- Best Books to Give as Gifts
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