If you are seeking a gift for a book-loving friend or family member, look no further. Plotted: A Literary Atlas is absolutely perfect for the bibliophile in your life.

Andrew DeGraff has created 19 literary maps, making some of the world’s written masterpieces into absolutely exquisite visuals. Ranging from classics like Homer’s Odyssey and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, to meaty 19th century American novels (such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Moby Dick), to 20th century fantasy (A Wrinkle in Time and a short story by Ursula LeGuin, “The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas”), there’s really something for everyone.

I was particularly taken with Pride and Prejudice’s tangled relationships depicted on a roller-coaster like structure connecting the various homes (with the Bennett family’s estate standing on a very un-firm foundation) and the journey illustrated for the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, showing us the east coast of the U.S.A. and some of its most painful history, not all that long ago. But everyone will have their own favorite, and it’s a real treat to look at these familiar narratives in new and inventive ways.

And if by chance you haven’t read some of the works depicted here, it’s as good an introduction as you are likely to get to them. Each map is accompanied by an engrossing short essay by Daniel Harmon, and each is clearly a labor of love. Or possibly obsession. (Well, there’s a fine line between love and obsession when it comes to much-adored books…)

For lovers of maps (a group that often overlaps with lovers of books) there is a nice list of additional suggested reading…and the creators of this volume have good enough taste that I’d feel quite confident relying on their further literary judgment.

BOOK: Plotted: A Literary Atlas

AUTHOR: Andrew DeGraff

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2015

IMAGE: book cover, Zest books