The books have been purchased. Here's what I'm getting for people:
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Piranesi by Susanne Clark
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve Ewing
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
The Plotters by Un-su Kim
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
I've not actually read most of these, but I like to think I have 1) good taste and 2) a good sense of books. Original Sins was difficult to come to; that's for someone who doesn't read and definitely doesn't read fiction, but I hope he'll be engaged with the topic since he's been an educator.
The Buried Giant is also a bit of wild card. I love it, but I'm not sure who's receiving it will; it's quite ponderous, but really affecting.
The Earthsea novels are for teenagers and I'm not sure they'll be into fantasy, but then again, I think their brains are rotted by iPads, so! Anything is better than that.
Very interested to see how Piranesi and The Plotters are received. Both are for guys who don't read too much. Piranesi for someone who loves Lord of the Rings and The Plotters for someone who errs more toward Grisham and the crime procedural.
I'm getting wrapping paper tomorrow and I'm pretty excited to get them all done up. I'm not big on giving gifts and never expect to receive them, but I realized I also go on about books being a perfect gift—time for me to put what I preach into practice!