I have a confession. I don’t always shop at local bookstores. An email this morning from NJ My Way, which is sort of a newsletter of “Hey! Jersey’s cool, yo!”, reminded me that there are some great bookstores near me, even if the parking around them is a hassle, and that maybe this year I ought to drive down and shop personally rather than clicking all my gifts for the holidays.
So that’s my goal: buy as many books as gifts as possible, and do not use my mouse to do it.
What books are on your gift list this year?
(Note: Hubby and people who actually know me: This is below the fold for a reason. So don’t go clicking down here, k? Thx.)
Hubby doesn’t read romance. I know. It’s a shame. He doesn’t. He reads biographies, cultural histories, books about sports, and Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers
Otherwise, I come from a family of readers. My sister is a high school French teacher, and I know she loves romance novels, and she’s happy for the mental relaxation of contemporary or historical romance. My mom likes J.D. Robb ever since I left Naked in Death
Note: My dad also firmly believes that if you have unread books on your bedstand, you can’t die. If that’s the case, I’m going to live for damn ever. Psst- vampire romance writers: that’s the secret to immortality. All those vampires? It’s not the blood and the undeadness. They’re all members of a giant bookclub and they never finish their TBR pile. Hence they’re all 400 years old.
So what books are on your gift list, either for giving or for receiving this year? And yo, fellow members of the tribe: Hanukkah starts December 5. Only a month away!?! The moving holidays thing, I’m never going to get used to it.
I have a confession: I don’t have a local bookstore. I don’t have a car, so either I can spend $25 on cab fare to get to the nearest store and back or I can get free shipping at Chapters or Amazon.ca.
My friends by and large don’t read fiction, so I’m buying them these books:
* Bizarre Books: A Compendium of Classic Oddities by Russell Ash and Brian Lake
* The Toothpick: Technology and Culture by Henry Petroski
* Pulp Friction: Uncovering The Golden Age Of Gay Male Pulps by Michael Bronski
A beautiful pop-up book called How Many? by Ron Van Der Meer. Unfortunately his site breaks when I try to go to his books, so I can only look at it on Amazon.
And it isn’t a book, but I love this puzzle toy, Connectagons:
http://hearthsong.com/hearthsong/product.do?section_id=2&bc=1005&pgc=9071&sv=2535&cmvalue=HS|2||2263|COLLECTION|2535|2535-P2
For me, I would like It’s Not About the Accent by Caridad Ferrer and, having just discovered her and she died in 2006 of breast cancer at the age of 37, Melissa Nathan’s Learning Curve.
I am trying this year to pick really personalized gifts, some of which I will handmake, and I am avoiding all national businesses.
Ha ha! Just kidding. I am trying to avoid big box retailers, but I totally reserve the right to run into one on Decemeber 23rd to shop for those people I still can’t figure out what to buy for them, so that they may have a pair of snowman pajamas sewn by third world children.
For me, I come from a family of non-readers, all of them, so if I do pick up books for them, they will all be of the many pretty pictures and few paragraph varieties. For my boyfriend, I am not sure. He loves to read, but he loves to read SF, and I just don’t know enough about SF to pick one that he hasn’t read but will like. He does read romance novels if I hand them to him and recommend them strongly, but I am not sure which ones to go with (last year, it was partially three books by Sherrilyn Kenyon. No joke)
I also have a romance reader friend who turned me on to romance as a genre, and I want to get her a book-related gift that isn’t necessarily an actual book, since she has so many and likes to pick them out herself. Anyone here know of some great book-related doohickies?
I have no local bookstore (sob!) so I can’t feel guilty about not shopping there. Amazon is my friend. That said, most of my friends and family who are readers buy their own books so frequently that if I go the book route, I’m more likely to get them a bookstore gift card than an actual book. The one person I do sometimes give books to for gifts is a friend of mine who lives in New Zealand, where books are hideously expensive ($20 for a mass market paperback – seriously!) so she’s always happy to get books as gifts. She tends to go for mysteries and romantic suspense, although the last book I sent her was “Eat, Pray, Love.”
I love your Dad’s theory, Sarah. I will SO live forever!!! 😀
Due to little hassles like roadside bombs and crazy dudes who might want to kidnap whitey running around without her hair covered (namely, me) ALL of my shopping is done on Amazon. And oh how we loves each other. Amazon is honestly my longest lasting relationship; we are still going strong after 8 years!
Anyway, I like silly books for Christmas. My best friend and I managed to buy “The Worst Case Scenario: Dating and Sex” for each other one Christmas. That was fun. Other faves include “Kiss My Tiara: How to rule the world as a smartmouth goddess,” any of the Bad Girl’s Guides, and “The Action Hero/ine’s Handbook.”
I like those reality based romances, like this one:
http://galleryoftheabsurd.typepad.com/14/images/2007/11/09/birdsofafeather.jpg
and a sample excerpt:
http://holycandy.com/2007/11/09/fabio-and-george-clooney-sparks-arent-the-only-thing-flying/#more-5200
Oh, panic! panic! panic! I haven’t even started thinking about Christmas presents yet. *sigh* But at least, I’ve already bought Christmas cards! (Which won’t be written and mailed until Dec 27, though.)
Finding presents for my parents is always the most difficult because they are not readers and they’ve got expensive hobbies. And somehow I don’t think a bucket full of silkworm larvae for my Dad’s kois would look all that good under the Christmas tree … Last year, I got my Mum a book with photographs of the old, pre-war Frankfurt (Frankfurt used to be one of the most beautiful medieval cities in Germany), so I can’t get her anything similar this year. Hmph.
As for my friends, we usually exchange only small gifts, so I’ll probably go for homemade jam this year.
But for myself, I’ll get plenty of books—and not only that: I’ll also buy my very first e-reader, namely the new Cybook Gen 3, from Bookeen. I can’t wait to go shopping on Mobipocket and Fictionwise! 🙂
I’m planning to hook someone on the Kushiel books. Mwahahahaha.
I go to all different stores, and Barnes & Noble is one of them, sadly. But the local bookstores just don’t stock romance, so there you go.
Just an FYI, I’ve just signed up for the online Paperback Swap. It’s a great deal, if you have a bunch of books you’ve read and live in a studio apartment like I do (no storage). They allow you to swap non-paperback’s too.
As for what I’ll be getting family and friends. I have no clue yet, but I’ve either got to have it ready to carry with me when I go to MN at Thanksgiving or it’s getting shipped. So I’m probably going to be doing a lot of on-line stuff this year.
Nothing says love for me like a bookstore gift card; a license to read and simultaneously keep death from my door with an enormous TBR pile.
I want to give everyone I know Susan Faludi’s “The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America” so I’ll have lots of company in the pissed-off department, but that’s not exactly the holiday cheer I’m hoping to spread.
I have a couple of smallish local bookstores, and a bigger borders about an hour away, but a lot of tyhe authors I’m reading now are American and it’s totally hit’n’miss whether I’ll find them in the shops. Plus, they’re more expensive there, so I just get them off Amazon most of the time.
The only book I have on my lists for other people is The Art of Discworld for my cross-between-Hermione-Granger-and-myself cousin, who also loves Terry Pratchett and wants to be a cartoonist. Last time i saw my uncle we were looking at my copy and going, “Wow, Esther would LOVE this!”, so I think that’s my personal present to her this year.
I haven’t actually made my own wish list yet (but my Xmas and birthday lists always include lots of books), but I reckon there’ll be a Sherrilyn Kenyon and a Katie MacAlister I haven’t read yet. Oh, and a Linnea Sinclair too. Plus, I totally want the Dark Hunter Companion, but I’m probably going to get it next week when it’s out. Why? Because I’m freaking in it!
Sarah, a little birdie told me we live in the same town. So I thought I’d mention—I adore both of the local bookstores, each in their own way, but neither are places to go with a list of books to buy. When I do, I usually walk out frustrated. They’re both really best for exploratory missions.
We went to the larger one a couple of days ago. My 9yo son found a book called The Time Traveler’s Journal, which he’s been delighting in ever since. It’s got all sorts of pockets and fold-out flaps, historical tidbits and fantastical elements. He’s in heaven. I got some used romance and mystery paperbacks, so I’m happy too.
I don’t think I know of any locally owned bookstores in the area except for one of the used book stores, any more. The old local one got bought out by Books a Million years ago, even though they kept the old name. So I shop Barnes & Noble, in the store or online if I’m spending enough to get the free shipping. At least they’ve got a good Buy Blue rating.
I don’t think I’m giving any books this year. Most of the things that I know people on my list would read, it’s hard to find something from that I know they don’t already have. At the moment, my wishlist consists largely of Heinlein, because it was getting low on books so I picked an author I wanted to read more of and added pretty much everything except the juveniles. A few Kelley Armstrong books that I have read from the library and think I’d like my own copies of, a Michael Chabon or two, and a couple of French Revolution mysteries.
I’m giving my mom a (signed!) copy of Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair by Laurie Perry. And I’m really, really hoping to find All Through the Night by Brockmann and Empire of Ivory by Novik under the tree.
My dad is probably the biggest reader in the family, but he’s impossible to buy for. His favorite thing to do is to go to on the last day of the library sale and buy a couple of grocery sacks full of books for a quarter a sack. He doesn’t even really care what the books are, just that he got them super cheap. The house is bulging with them. Mom says if he comes home with one more bag of books she’s pitching the whole collection out on the lawn.
No local bookstores here either. Just the chains.
I’m not sure what I’m getting or receiving yet this year LOL Haven’t made my list.
If this is true:
“My dad also firmly believes that if you have unread books on your bedstand, you can’t die.”
Then I’m living forever too!! LOL
I’ve lent my copy of “Outlander” to two friends so far trying to get someone hooked on them, but neither one finished it. I have high hopes for my older sister though, who is the second biggest reader in my family (after me). I’d give it to my mother-in-law, but I know for a fact that she wouldn’t be able to get past one particular shocking scene, so I’m not even going to bother. My younger sister barely reads anything, though I got her reading like crazy when I made her read “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer, so anything for her will likely be some exceptionally engaging YA.
I went to a local book fair this week and was thrilled to find a copy of Jasper Fford’s “The Well of Lost Plots” which I prompted bought to give to my hubby. Thanks for the recommendation, Bitches!!
Other books? Will have to be Amazon. Though only my sister and father are readers and I haven’t got a clue what to get either of them.
Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair
Hell, I need that book. I have two out of three already (and no, I’m not telling you which three).
I was looking at Jasper Fforde the other day in my local bookshop (uh, his books, not him). Might add one or two to my Christnmas list. Plus, I was thinking, I’ve never read a Flashman novel. Anybody got any opinions?
For those of you interested in the Jasper Fforde books, make sure you or your intended recipient start/s with The Eyre Affair. Jenyfer Matthews, sorry, but your hubby will be tearing his hair out if he tries jumping into The Well of Lost Plots without the background of the other books.
I’m blessed with good, local independent bookstores, like Goerings Books, Jonesberry, and Books Inc. Usually I try to get to their charity booksales before the holidays, where when you buy a book a percentage goes to a particular local cause, but this year I don’t have a shopping list. Yet. I have bought some random books during the year as gifts, most recently Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar for my son the philosopher. It’s funny and smart, and makes a nice gift.
For fiction the only author I can think of off hand for my needs list is P. C. Cast, who is next to impossible to find out here in the burbs. Oh there are tons of others, but I’m braindead lol. I also want I Am America and You Can Too by Stephen Colbert. I read a few snippets out of curiousity at Wal-Mart and was hooked, but the $32 price tag is just too high for me.
“Plus, I totally want the Dark Hunter Companion, but I’m probably going to get it next week when it’s out. Why? Because I’m freaking in it!”
Ooooh, do tell! I am so jealous.
I find abebooks.com is your friend if you’re looking for used (or better yet OOP) books, as they often can find stuff at better prices than the “Used & New” Amazon listings. (Be sure to check book conditions, though.)
Have already bought my mother’s copies of Nocturne and Setting Suns off of author Elizabeth Donald. (had her autograph them, too) Mom’s also getting Torqued Tales (S.A. Clements, ed).
As for other books, no clue.
Might do a PoD version of a couple of mine for my Dad. (the 40 yo semi-pro author’s version of the clay ashtray)
Pulp Friction: Uncovering The Golden Age Of Gay Male Pulps by Michael Bronski
I loved this book!
Thanks – guess I’ll see if I can locate “The Eyre Affair” and give them as a set 🙂 I have a month still – surely there is one copy in my part of Cairo (right???)
Cat – My hubby loves and adores the Flashman novels.
Jen C, A friend and I (actually Amy Fuckheady Bitchypants) wrote a DH parody for the Purple Prose contest a few years ago. It was a cross between DH and Bridget Jones (it was called Widget Jones’s Diary). Well, SK herself read it, loved it, and asked if she could put it in the companion. So…
Normally book are for birthdays, but this year there are some real gems out there and I’m sneaking them on the purchase list.
The littlest ones are getting A Night Before Christmas by Niroot Puttapipat [illustrator] – has a stunning pop-up at the end. Also on my list is the new Iain M Banks for the cutie, Clive Cussler for the brother-in-law, Maisie Dobbs series for the mother-in-law and of course Law School in a Box for niece #1 [first year law student and she needs a little laughter].
You know, if you want to shop locally but don’t want the hassle of crap parking, you can always use Booksense [www.booksense.com]…it finds your local independent [I think 25 miles or so by using your zip code]. Search out your books, order from them right then and there, then go collect the books when they’re all there.
I shop for my mom this way, she can stop off at her little independent in her town and pick up a book I’ve bought. In fact, you recently dealt with my local independent [think Suzanne Brockman] who is in the Booksense collective 🙂
Happy shopping!
ooooh, Tilly Greene, is that Night Before Christmas the new one from Candlewick press with the lovely cut paper illustrations? It’s beautiful. I’m recommending that as a gift this year (I work at an indie bookstore and am part of a ‘great holiday gift ideas’ event at the store every year just after Thanksgiving). I’m still trying to figure out who I know that I can give Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan
http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/oop/click_ord/showdetail.html?sid=1624&isbn=0307352803&music=&buyable=0&assoc_id=&spring=
and my brother is already getting a signed copy of the War by Burns, so he doesn’t get anything else.
Oh, and I read Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande last night in one sitting and that’s totally getting a plug or two this holiday season.
Thanks to Tilly for the information on Booksense; I was unaware that it existed. It’s great! I’m also pleased to hear that, by one theory at least, I’ll have a loooong life.
Books usually make up a large portion of my holiday present list. So far I’ve picked out (to give), Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs and The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them) by Peter Sagal (yes, that is Peter Sagal of Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me fame, if there are any NPR fans here).
Love this website, where else could I learn I’m living forever based on the size of my TBR pile?…yeah hoo!
Booksense confirmed my hunch about local indys…would have to travel 50 minutes to Seattle, to find a snobby shop that turnes up their artsy nose at romance. Although Seattle Mystery Bookshop has a good rep.
Hubby just started his birthday book, really enjoying it…“Six Frigates, the epic history of the founding of the US Navy” by Ian W. Toll.
The new Brian Jacques for my youngest. For best girlfriend, the daughter is considering “Be Honest – your not that into him either: raise your standards and reach for the love you deserve”.
When the children of my friends and family arrive at that certain age I get them “Everyone Poops” for x-mas and a follow-up “Everyone Farts” for their birthdays…truely a book gift of delight…for me anyway.
I received a copy of Jewtopia for Hanukkah last year, and now everyone on my list is getting a copy this year.
Oops, sorry for the screwed-up tags; not paying attention.
I like the unread book on the nightstand theory. Especially since one of my nightstands is a small bookshelf with a few TBRs on it for middle of the night book emergencies.
appeared97- Lord, I hope not.
Cat, I find the Flashman books completely racist, sexist, offensive, and unfunny. However, my father, who has somewhat different sensibilities (and has actually read Tom Brown’s Schooldays, can’t get enough of them.
wow really very nice and good information you share here on how to choose best gifts. I have also same confusion that how i choice best gifts for my mother. I want to give something different form all years. I want to give personalized mothers day gifts to my mom Really very nice and thanks for your nice information.