Recs if you like Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste...

Niche nonfiction, aka micro-histories!

This list was a winner of the Q2 2026 Community Voting event - if you'd like to participate in the Quest, a link is pinned in the comments.

Niche nonfiction books that dads are still likely to enjoy that either 1) are not military history at all or 2) a niche area of a war that is not military history

A mix of non-fiction on drinking history and culture, and tried-and-true recipe books. I will only add a recipe book to this list if I have personally made three delicious cocktails from it and find the instructions clear and useful. Feel free to share your recs for books I should test and history/culture reads, or hit me up for tips on making drinks at home. Please enjoy responsibly.

nonfiction on the history and lives of alcoholic beverages & spirits

Non-fiction food based books

I've listened to every episode of the Book Riot Podcast post-2021. Below are Rebecca & Jeff’s recurring faves, or books that I just associate with them through osmosis. Disclaimer: this list starts once you’ve read the complete works of Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, Zadie Smith, Kazuo Ishiguro, Percival Everett, and, of course, Marilynne Robinson.

Books about food, travel, nature, and the ways they intersect. May be narrative cookbooks, travelogues, foraging guides - anything that makes my feet itch for travel and my hands quest for spices and spoons.

Giftable books