5 gift-worthy Indiana books include early Pacers history and Ms. Pat’s improbable path

Indiana authors John Green and Roxane Gay made headlines with their books "Turtles All the Way Down" and "Hunger" in 2017, but the year in Hoosier literature doesn't end there.

Before putting a bow on your holiday shopping, you may find the perfect gift among five books with strong Indiana pedigree.

Consider a history of the pre-NBA Pacers, one man's love of pop-culture artifacts, a comedian's one-of-a-kind memoir, an emerging star of poetry and a close look at Indiana designs that surround us every day:

1. “Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis”

Author: Mark Montieth. Retail price: $29.95. Info: Visit MarkMontieth.com.

As someone who covered the Indiana Pacers across 10 seasons dominated by the play of Reggie Miller, former IndyStar reporter Mark Montieth easily could write a book about the team that made its only trip to the NBA Finals in 2000. But Montieth rolls back the years in "Reborn" to examine how the Pacers became an ABA franchise in 1967 (13 years after a popular pro team, the Indianapolis Olympians, collapsed after a high-profile scandal). Populated by Hall of Famers Bobby "Slick" Leonard, Mel Daniels and Roger Brown, the book is an engaging behind-the-scenes triumph that wraps up before the Pacers win three ABA titles and are later saved by a grassroots telethon.

2. “Rare: The Memorabilia Collection of a Lifetime”

Author: Tom Fontaine. Retail price: $75. Info: Visit TJFontaineCollection.com.

It's one thing to get a glimpse of Tom Fontaine's staggering collection of pop-culture memorabilia — items such as jogging suit once owned by John Lennon, a recording machine from Sun Studio and Jim Morrison's W-4 document from a 1967 appearance on "American Bandstand." The pages of "Rare" transcend an inventory of items (and more than 2,000 are collected here) by sharing personal letters and memories from people who were close to the stars of music, film, TV and sports. For Indianapolis native Fontaine, a passion for collecting started with a batch of Beatles trading cards in 1964.

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3. “Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat”

Author: Patricia Williams with Jeannine Amber. Retail price: $25.99. Info: Visit MsPatComedy.com.

Patricia "Ms. Pat" Williams built a career as a touring comedian after moving to suburban Plainfield in 2006. One key to her success? Joking about leaving inner-city Atlanta for a life amid Indiana cornfields. Ms. Pat revisits the old days in detail in her "Rabbit" memoir, including traumatic accounts of sexual abuse, pregnancy at age 14 and crack-dealing at 15. Ultimately, she perseveres and becomes the type of matriarch she never knew. "It's not a book about pity," Ms. Pat told IndyStar in August. "You're not going to feel sorry for me. You're going to get mad at me. All type of emotions are going to come."

4. “Calling a Wolf a Wolf”

Author: Kaveh Akbar. Retail price: $16.95. Info: Visit AliceJamesBooks.org.

Thanks to his poetry-focused website Divedapper.com, 28-year-old Kaveh Akbar is known as a top advocate for the art form. The educated-in-Indiana poet (Warsaw High School, Purdue University and Butler University) earned widespread acclaim for debut book "Calling a Wolf a Wolf," which landed on NPR's "Guide to 2017's Great Reads." Akbar divides "Wolf" into segments titled "Terminal," "Hunger" and "Irons" as he employs ferocious clarity when writing about addiction and spirituality: "It's hard to remember your ribs connect to your backbone / until the chill in your chest reaches around for your spine."

5. “Commercial Article 10: Symbols of Indiana”

Publisher: Commercial Artisan. Retail price: $15. Info: Visit CommercialArticle.com.

"Symbols of Indiana" is the latest publication from Commercial Artisan, an Indianapolis graphic design studio owned by brothers James and Jon Sholly. A 96-page visual achievement devoted to Indiana's graphic identity, "Symbols" includes a fun recap of Burger Chef's glory days and eventual "flameout." The volume also offers the backstory of the wing-and-wheel logo at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a look at decades of branding at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, made comprehensive by the organization's recent move to call itself "Newfields: A Place for Nature & the Arts."

Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him at Twitter: @317Lindquist.