Around the holiday season, people start looking for thoughtful book gifts for the reader in their lives, and many others want to read more. However, books, unlike other gifts, require a bigger time investment to be truly enjoyed. Readers don’t know what’s in the pages until they dive in. As the saying goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover.
Events like Banter Bookshop’s Bookseller Recommendation Night help people get a better sense of titles across genres, before purchasing books as gifts, or simply choosing their next read. The staff at Banter have been reading all year, so by November they are eager to share their “expertise.” Staff picks range from popular titles customers may have heard of but not yet gotten around to reading, to hidden gems.
Banter held their first Recommendation Night in 2025, and brought the event back on Nov. 4, 2026, to an audience of eager readers crowded into the small shop in downtown Fremont. Recommendations covered children’s literature, to memoirs and nonfiction, to cozy fantasy and horror.
A-DOLL-ABLE In one of Kim Wiegand’s creepy reads, a murdered young woman takes on the body of a porcelain doll and seeks revenge.
Stephanie Uchida
One especially fun aspect of the recommendations is that staff members fall into their own categories: the politics reader, the sci-fi reader, the horror and thriller reader. It’s similar to the way books are now often marketed through “comps”—i.e., “If you are a fan of these other books, you’ll like this one too!” In this case, you can get a sense for the common vibe of books recommended by the same person.
Kim Wiegand introduced variations on creepiness, horror and revenge, starting with the middle-grade novel The Creeps, where a boy and his mom who move into a seriously suss hotel where people who are evicted just disappear. The theme continues with “cozy thriller” Mad Mabel where an elderly former murderess is accused of murdering again, and runs through disappearing actresses in The Unknown, domestic suspense in You Did Nothing Wrong, and spy cameras and female rage in Molka.
On the last, Wiegand quipped, “People die, but it’s usually men, so…”
Wanda Conner’s selections covered nonfiction. On Empire of AI, she said, “It helped me calm down and understand the craziness of AI that’s going to be sticking with us.” Similarly, the boldly titled The Nerd Reich examines the rise of fascism in the tech industry. On a more quotidian note, Conner found Veg Everything helpful for following her vegetarian son’s example and incorporating more plant-based cooking into her daily life—with the help of simple explanations and a page devoted to seasonal recommendations.
Jen King returned with another cautious recommendation of “cozy fantasy,” a genre that usually makes her think, “Well, that’s nice but you forgot the plot. It’s happy and we’re all cozy, but nothing happens.” Her recommendation, Sea of Charms, does indeed have a plot including a one-sailboat shipping business, a revolution and a fake boyfriend. It’s set in the same world as King’s previous recommendation, The Spell Shop.
Of course, kids’ books also appeared, particularly among the recs of Banter owner Amy Davis. The Wise Pickle and It’s My Bird-Day have a thoughtfulness and charm that’s accessible for small kids but not boring for the grown-ups reading out loud. Bathtime for Snow Monkeys, recommended by Conner, is written in all haiku, telling the story of snow monkeys enjoying hot springs in Japan.
Davis, although she admits she’s “not a sci-fi gal,” also recommended Automatic Noodle as a cozy sci-fi about the San Francisco of 2064.
All the cozy, creepy and compelling reads are up on the Banter Bookshop website now. Interested readers can scroll down to the “Bookseller Recommendation Night” banner on the main page to browse through the titles. If a book isn’t in stock at the Fremont store, it can be ordered online.
Banter Bookshop
3768 Capitol Ave. Ste. F, Fremont
Mon–Thu: 10am–6pm
Fri–Sat: 10am–8pm
Sun: 11am–8pm
banterbookshop.com