Need Some Holiday Gift Ideas?

Let the holiday shopping season begin!  The trifecta of holiday shopping - Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday - happens the weekend after Thanksgiving. It’s time to buy holiday gifts for those of us who aren’t so astoundingly organized that we had our holiday shopping done by August.  Well, I have some gift suggestions if you’re searching for just the right present for that certain person on your list – buy books.  Come on, you can’t be too surprised; I am a librarian, after all.

For the literati and book clubbers on your list try:

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami – Stuck in traffic in 1982 Tokyo, Aomame leaves her cab and finds herself in a totally new world while Tengo works hard to refine a submission to a literary contest by a teenager. Murakami weaves these two stories around each other, eventually joining them into one, telling us all we need to know about contemporary life.

The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht – Two stories told to Natalia, a young medic, by her grandfather bracket this creative first novel: a tiger that has escaped a zoo in World War II and the “deathless man” who gathers the souls of the dead.  Obreht was the youngest winner ever of the Orange Prize for fiction in 2011 for this novel.

For those who love great contemporary fiction:

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides – Eugenides depicts a love triangle for the well-read.  Madeline Hanna, 1982 English major graduate of Brown University, must choose between two men:  the footloose Mitchell Grammaticus or the intellectually gifted but disturbed Leonard Bankhead.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett – The author blazes a trail from Minnesota to the Amazon rain forest in this brilliant novel of two women of science, former colleagues who become opponents.  A research scientist from a facility in Minnesota is sent to find the seventy-something doctor who has disappeared in the Amazon while on a female fertility research project. 

For those on your list who love fantasy:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – This indie favorite first novel describes the wondrously magical Le Cirque des Reves, a circus colored only in shades of black and white that appears without warning and only performs at night.  Inside live many amazing performers, but the circus is just a venue for the competition between Celia and Marco, pitted against each other in a magical duel by their fathers to determine the world’s best magician.  The only problem is Celia and Marco have fallen in love with each other.  My personal favorite of 2011.

For history lovers:

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson – Larson, one of the great narrative non-fiction writers, vividly recreates the terror of living in Berlin while Hitler rose to power with a absorbing cast of characters.

Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie – Pulitzer-winning Massie delivers a skillful, intriguing portrayal of the life of German princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst, who became Empress Catherine II of Russia.

For those readers on your list who are curious about contemporary celebrities:

Bossypants by Tina Fey – If you know Fey’s work from SNL, 30 Rock and her movies, you know how funny she can be.  In telling her own life story she adds some of the serious to the silly to give her fans the full picture.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – Jobs’ recent death makes this timely biography by renowned biographer Isaacson a must-have for those readers who want to know more about Jobs, one of the most influential inventors and innovators of our times.

For the cooks or foodies:

Cook This Now by Melissa Clark – Clark, an author of several cookbooks and a New York Times food columnist, gives readers the present of 120 recipes organized by season and month.  A great addition to anyone’s cookbook collection.

Serious Eats: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Eating Delicious Food Wherever You Are by Ed Levine and the editors of Seriouseats – The creators of seriouseats.com manage to condense the essential spirit of the world’s largest congregation of foodies into book form.  They cover the best in American food in an entertaining book that is part cookbook, part travel guide.

For the crafty person (knitting is so hot right now):

The Knitter’s Life List: To Do, to Know, to Explore, to Make by Gwen W. Steege – Steege covers everything from sheep to knits in a fun guide perfect for everyone from beginners to experts.

Okay, that covers gift book suggestions for the adults on your list. For teens and children, check out the gift suggestion lists available soon at the library. Happy shopping!