They say gifts often reveal more about the giver than the recipient, and the following books, the biggest and best of 2014, will inevitably show the world your impeccable taste.

Lila by Marilynne Robinson -- Probably best in combination with the first two volumes of Robinson's Midwestern trilogy, this has been a major prize-winner from a Pulitzer Prize veteran.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell -- If your friends or family are already David Mitchell fans, they've undoubtedly already read this, but if they aren't yet, they soon will be. His novels are ambitious and he nails it every time. This was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize this year.

An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alamedinne -- An NPR Staff Pick for 2014, this novel follows a reclusive woman in Beirut as she reflects her memories on the Lebanese War.

Bark by Lorrie Moore -- A collection of short stories by an American master, and a NYT Notable Book of 2014.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacquline Woodson -- Yes, it's technically YA, but it's also a National Book Award winner for young adults, and was recently purchased by the Obama girls. A ringing endorsement, if ever there was one.

The NYT asked authors Gillian Flynn and Cheryl Strayed to discuss women authors and women characters and the experience of having your runaway best-seller optioned for a movie adaptation by Reese Witherspoon.

Usual K. LeGuin was the recipient of an award for her distinguished contribution to American letters at the National Book Awards (hence her inclusion in this week's #ReadWomen2014) and she used the acceptance speech to throw shade at the literary community for largely ignoring writers of genre fiction, like herself. She also is not a fan of Amazon, apparently.

Meanwhile, there were some surprises in this year's National Book Awards recipients; I was very pleased to see Louise Gluck and Jacqueline Wilson win for poetry and young people's fiction, respectively, and was very surprised that Marilynne Robinson didn't take home the prize for Lila, which is certainly still a contender for every other major literary award for 2014.