Shop local for books: Louisville's 10 best reads for the bookworm in your life

There's nothing better during winter than cozying up with a good book while snuggled under a blanket, drinking your favorite warm beverage. This holiday season, give that experience to someone you love with one of these 10 books written by Kentucky authors.

To help you pick a good book for every bookworm on your list, we asked Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville's oldest independent bookseller, to make some recommendations just in time for the holiday shopping season.

From the sports lover to the outdoor enthusiast, to a new reader or a history buff, this list has something for everyone. Each book is available for purchase at Carmichael's Bookstore,1295 Bardstown Road and 2720 Frankfort Ave. Children's books are also available for purchase Carmichael's Kids, 1313 Bardstown Road.

Happy reading!

"Better Lucky Than Good: Tall Tales and Straight Talk from the Backside of the Track"

By Louisville Story Program

There's almost nothing more synonymous with Louisville than Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby. In this book, written by the Louisville Story Program, readers get a first-hand look at the inner workings of one of the country's most famous racetracks as "grooms, hot walkers, exercise riders, foremen, assistant trainers, jockeys, a clocker, a gap attendant, an outrider, a gate rider, a pony person, a silks seamstress, a chaplaincy associate, a tack and saddle man, a security guard, touts, and more document life on the backside of Churchill Downs racetrack," according to the Louisville Story Program website.

COST: $25

Gift Guide 2019:The top 'shop local' gifts in Louisville for everyone on your holiday shopping list

"Bourbon's Backroads: A Journey Through Kentucky's Distilling Landscape"

By Karl Raitz. Published by The University Press of Kentucky

"With more than 50 distilleries in the state, bourbon is as synonymous with Kentucky as horses and basketball. As one of the commonwealth's signature industries, bourbon distilling has influenced the landscape and heritage of the region for more than two centuries. Blending several topics — tax revenue, railroads, the mechanics of brewing, geography, landscapes, and architecture — this primer and geographical guide written by Karl Raitz presents a detailed history of the development of Kentucky's distilling industry," according to the book's description on the University Press of Kentucky website.

COST: $30 hardcover. Also available at kentuckypress.com

"Think Little: Essays"

By Wendell Berry. Published by Counterpoint LLC

Wendell Berry is Kentucky's gift to the literary world. "Think Little" was first published in 1972 and is Berry "at his best: prescient about the dire environmental consequences of our mentality of greed and exploitation, yet hopeful that we will recognize war and oppression and pollution not as separate issues, but aspects of the same," according to the Carmichael's website.  

"Think Little" is presented alongside one of Berry's most personal essays, "A Native Hill." The website goes on to say "this gentle essay of recollection is told alongside a poetic lesson in geography, as Berry explains at length and in detail, that what he stands for is what he stands on."

COST: $10

"Adolph Rupp and the Rise of Kentucky Basketball"

By James Duane Bolin. Published by The University Press of Kentucky

"Known as the 'Man in the Brown Suit' and 'The Baron of the Bluegrass,' Adolph Rupp (1901-1977) is a towering figure in the history of college athletics. In 'Adolph Rupp and the Rise of Kentucky Basketball,' historian James Duane Bolin goes beyond the wins and losses to present a full-length biography of Rupp based on more than 100 interviews with Rupp, his assistant coaches, former players, University of Kentucky presidents and faculty members, and his admirers and critics, as well as court transcripts, newspaper accounts, and other archival materials," according to the book's description on the University Press of Kentucky website.

It goes on to say "this revealing portrait of a pivotal figure in American sports also exposes how college basketball changed, for better or worse, in the 20th century."

COST: $40 hardcover. Also available at kentuckypress.com

Shop local for teens:Louisville's 5 best gifts of experience for the teen in your life

"Hiking Kentucky's Red River Gorge"(2nd Edition)

By Sean Patrick Hill. Published by Menasha Ridge Press

This guide, in its second edition, includes 28 of the best hikes in the Red River Gorge Geological Area, "from the kid-friendly Original Trail to the challenging Rough Trail. With the expert guidance of Sean Patrick Hill, you'll discover the Gorge's hidden treasures: lush forests, secluded waterfalls, brilliant wildflowers, natural arches, and more," according to the Carmichael's website.

COST: $18.95

"Can I Kick It?"

By Idris Goodwin. Published by Haymarket Books

Award-winning author and playwright Idris Goodwin remixes our cultural past in this book of poetry. Goodwin is the producing artistic director of Stage One, a professional theater company for young audiences, and is a strong supporter of creating and fostering more diverse and equitable spaces for all. "Can I Kick it?" combines "the tongue-in-cheek and the irreverent with the melancholy and incisive" and Goodwin's "poetry samples and re-purposes pop-culture — from 'Back to the Future' to Prince, Missy Elliot to Dominique Wilkins — in order to reflect and remix the stories we tell ourselves and each other in order to live," according to the book description on HaymarketBooks' website.

COST: $16

"Ten Thousand Doors of January"

By Alix Harrow. Published by Redhook

This novel, published in September, is a Carmichael's staff pick and Los Angeles Times Best Seller. According to its description, "Ten Thousands Doors of January" is set in the early 1900s "in a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures [where] January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own."

COST: $27

Shop local for travelers:Louisville's 5 best gifts for the globe-trotter in your life

"Three Ways to Disappear"

By Katy Yocom. Published by Ashland Creek Press

This novel tells the story of former journalist Sarah DeVaughan, who returns to India, "the country of her childhood and a place of unspeakable family tragedy, to help preserve the endangered Bengal tigers. Meanwhile, at home in Kentucky, her sister, Quinn — also deeply scarred by the past and herself a keeper of secrets — tries to support her sister, even as she fears that India will be Sarah's undoing," according to Carmichael's website. The novel explores the notion of saving things that are precious and important, "from endangered species to the indelible bonds among family."

COST: $18.95

"My Moon Wish"

By Jane Brown. Published by Butler Books.

"My Moon Wish" is a special book on this list as all proceeds from it go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. The book, by author Jane Brown, "captures the magic of childhood wishes. A dancing rabbit, wishes hung in trees, and a mysterious Wish Train that whisks children through the night sky are all delightfully depicted in Brown's enchanting dreamscape. My Moon Wish is sure to charm both children and adults," according to its description on Butler Books.

COST: $19.85. NOTE: All proceeds from "My Moon Wish" go to Make-a-Wish Foundation

"Ring Around The Moon: Mommy Goose Rhymes"

By Mike Norris. Illustrated by Minnie Adkins. Published by The University Press of Kentucky

With Kentucky-flavored language and subject matter, this volume of nursery rhymes by Mike Norris brings together the words, art, and music of Appalachia. The poems present classic Appalachian subjects — leaving the homeplace to find work, mountain folklore, country life versus city life — and touch on a wide range of broader themes, such as bullying, gender roles, the power of language, and the power of kindness, according to the book's description on the University Press of Kentucky website.

This work is illustrated by renowned folk artist Minnie Adkins with more than 170 hand-painted carvings. "With sheet music for the original song 'Ring Around the Moon' complementing the text, this book entertains while capturing the spirit and expanding the range of traditional Appalachian nursery rhymes to reach a new generation of readers," its description states.

COST: $20 hardcover. Also available at kentuckypress.com

Reach Features Editor Kathryn Gregory at kgregory@courier-journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @kitgregory.

Shop local for foodies:Shop local for foodies: Louisville's 5 best gifts for the food lover in your life