Friday, 08 January 2010
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Currently
Britten and Brulightly
By Hannah Berry
see relatedBooks as Gifts
I stumbled upon an interesting blog topic this morning (well, it was of interest to me). Anyway...
What books did you give as Christmas presents this year?
Gifting books has been a part of my family holidays for as long as I can remember. Holidays, birthdays, and mostly whenever, for no particular reason other than the joy of sharing books. I can remember some fifty years ago, my grandfather, who was not an educated man, every time he came to visit would bring a book for me and my brothers to share. Books like Spin and Marty, Trouble at Triple-R. Raise your hand, clutching your AARP card, if you're old enough to remember Spin and Marty.Anyway, it would be easy for me to answer that I gifted many copies of my new mystery (and I did), but I also gave a few other books as Christmas gifts this year. I gave Mrs. Doah a copy of The Lineup by Otto Penzler. The book's subtitle says it all - the world's greatest crime writers tell the inside story of their greatest detectives. If you're a fan of the mystery genre, or just intrigued by the creative process, you'll enjoy The Lineup.
I gave my son a copy of Conversations with Stalin by Milovan Djilas. This is, perhaps, a more esoteric reading selection. The book is "a memoir by the former vice president of Yugoslavia describing three visits to Moscow and his encounters there with Stalin." As I say, a more esoteric selection.
And, lest I forget, for my young friend who is struggling with reading and loves professional wrestling, with whom I bonded one summer evening, when the popcorn chicken turned out to be chicken and popcorn, and later, in the Haunted House on Morey's Pier in Wildwood (I'm not too old to admit I was scared) a book about wrestling.
And, it's not exactly an answer to the question as originally posed, but I received from my son a copy of Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry, a wonderful graphic novel detective story.
So I ask you...
What books did you give as Christmas presents this year? What books did you get as Christmas presents?
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Comments (34)
We give and receive many books at our house. One I gave my daughter was an autographed Janet Evanovich "between the numbers" novel. To my husband I gave a book of Kurt Vonnegut short stories and a William Penn biography among others. One I received that I'm looking forward to reading is "If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother" by Anita Renfroe. I don't have your book yet. Had I been able to find it in October, I would have bought it for myself. After October, I'm forbidden from buying books, movies, CDs or clothes for myself until after Christmas. (Apparently I used to make it difficult for my family to buy gifts for me.) Your book was on my wish list and I was hoping, but that was one I didn't get. I did, however, get an amazon gift certificate and will be using it to order now that I finally finished reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I bought Where the Wild Things Are to my sister. She loved it.
I gave OIL "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Murder" I think you're familiar with that author. I gave future SIL a George Carlin book. I gave myself "Dangerously Funny" about the Smothers Brothers. My mom gave me a book about organic and 'simple' living. Gave and received bookstore gift cards. I like books! I have stacks in just about every room of the house. Plus the library stacks, which have to be kept seperate so I remember where they are. Oh, I gave myself a couple Korean cookbooks. (nobody knows what books to get me) No bookstore or library for me today because I'm snowed in. Oh darn, guess I'll have to curl up with books, cats, and tea...
I got
South Of Broadby Pat Conroy, because I asked for it. Last year, I gave my mom the book you autographed for me at Collingswood, and she enjoyed it.
Well, the grandson got Everything kids want to know about baseball, oldest granddaughter got Art activity book by Dale Chuhuly, glass sculptor, little one got If trees grew fishes. Daughter got book of useless trivia. All things they are interested in.
pride and prejudice and zombies. its amazing.
@saintvi - Which Vonnegut collection? Welcome to the Monkey House has long been one of my favorite reads.
@GloomySunday1 - a great book.
@travelerblue - I'll have to find a copy of the Smothers Brothers book. And thanks for gifting a certain mystery.
@didntusedtobelumpy - I haven't read South of Broad yet, but I only hear good things about it
@GoodGuyTheBoss - there's no such thing as "useless" trivia
@lyricsninja - I loved the concept. Read the first fifty or so pages, and then, for me, it sort of got stale. But a truly great concept.
I gave myself It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Murder.
I gave my friend ExLibris a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Connie Schultz, Life Happens. Connie Schultz writes award winning columns for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and she is married to our state senator Sherrod Brown.
@doahsdeer - Look At the Birdie. I couldn't find my list of Vonnegut books I've bought him over the years, so I figured there was a better than average chance he didn't already own a previously unpublished collection.
I remember Spin and Marty! They were in reruns during my childhood, but I spent some time with them (and Annette and Mickey).
I got several vegetarian cookbooks for Chanukah, plus one called Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style. You're jealous now, right?
@transvestite_rabbit - Now don't be pretending you're so much younger (they were in reruns). And yes, I am jealous. After all these years, my Chanukah gifts still seem to be of the socks and underwear variety.
I agreee! That's why she got the book. It's her favorite topic!
Interesting question, Jeff. In our family we gave and received lots of books as gifts this Christmas. I gave my husband a slim book of trivia (he's a trivia king), to one son-in-law a coffee table book on the history of the US Air Force, to my daughter-in-law a cookbook from the SAR Auxillary, to my son, a wine diary, to my oldest grandson, Holling's Paddle to the Sea and an Encyclopedia of Animals from National Geographic, to the middle grandson, a book with movable stickers, to the youngest grandson, a fat version of Moore's The Night Before Christmas (not quite a pop-up but with interesting 3D visuals), to my granddaughter, a board book of counting. I received from my husband a searchable CD of all the issues of Fine Cooking Magazine (OK, not quite a book but in the arena) and from my oldest daughter Baldacci's Wish You Well. Our whole family is comprised of devoted readers and library users whose houses are full of books.
@doahsdeer - Hey, the original Spin and Marty aired in the 50's, according to Wikipedia. I was born in 1965. You do the math!
@transvestite_rabbit - My apologies. You have permission to raise your hand without clutching an AARP card.
@AprilsPlace - I am perhaps getting to it a little late in life, but after googling Paddle to the Sea, I believe I'll be picking myself up a copy.
@TNuts - Well, there's no accounting for your taste in books.
(Editorial note: I've never used a smiley before, and vowed I never would, but I need to make sure you know I'm kidding).
@doahsdeer - I'm sure that you'll enjoy it. The illustrations are wonderful and it's a charming story. I own many children's books and still read children's literature just for myself occasionally. I got hooked back in college with a kiddie lit class. Of course now with grandchildren, I can legitimately indulge myself regularly!
I bought two anthologies of early dr. seuss/ easy readers for my daughter.
@MooncatBlue - I think, if I had to pick my favorite author, just one all-time favorite, it would be Dr. Seuss. Can anyone boast a catalogue the likes of
And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street
On Beyond Zebra
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
If I Ran the Zoo
Horton Hears a Hoo
Horton Hatches the Egg
Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose
The Seven Lady Godivas
I often give books.
none this year
I bought my Mom Patterson's new book. I got my kids 3 easy-to-understand Bibles. I got myself a subscription to Zoetrope: All Story. And I also purchased BASS 2009 guest-edited by Alice Sebold.
The only reading material I gave this year was an issue of "How It Works" magazine. Last year I gave a friend two books on New York City - - The Works: Anatomy of a City by Kate Ascher and Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York by Luc Sante.
This year I received In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John Marzluff, Peterson's Guide to Mammals, A Theory of Justice by John Rawls, and A History of the Great War by CRMF Crutwell.
Though not technically gifts, I received several wonderful books from my grandfather's collection after he died last month. Among them, a Book of Dead Relatives (most of them German, all of them alive at the time their photos were taken - I think), and an 1846 copy of Sanders' Bilder Fibel.