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Books

Gimme gimme: Book lover

Holiday gift ideas for people who love literature.

By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published December 3, 2006

The readers on your holiday shopping list will love unwrapping a new book. But which one? We have bookmarked a few ideas.

Before Harry met Sally: Nora Ephron has written bestsellers like this year’s I Feel Bad About My Neck and several hit movies. Crazy Salad, the 1975 collection of her columns for Esquire and other publications, was her first big splash, and it’s still hilarious and smart (as well as a great time capsule). Modern Library, $12.95.

Marking the territory: Fulfill a book geek’s fond fantasy with elegant, custom-designed, personalized, archival-quality bookplates from www.bookplates.com, 250 for $90.

A little Dickens: If your favorite Charles Dickens fan has worn out a beloved copy of his best-known work, wrap up A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books. This new edition has original drawings from the first edition of A Christmas Carol, four other stories and an introduction by an Oxford don. Oxford University Press, $25.

Cigar City mystery: Crime fiction fans and Tampa history buffs alike will revel in Ace Atkins’ darkly compelling novel White Shadow, based on a real 1955 mob murder in Ybor City. Berkley, $7.99 paperback.

On my list: In another life, I wrote most of a dissertation on the hard-boiled novels of the great Raymond Chandler. To replace my lovingly tattered paperbacks of The Big Sleep and all the rest, I’d be delighted to unwrap Library of America’s two-volume hardback collection of all Chandler’s pulp stories and novels, plus a screenplay, letters and essays, intelligently edited by his biographer, Frank MacShane. $70. 

Cheese balls and cocktails: If you can’t wangle an invitation to her holiday party, the next best thing is actor Amy Sedaris’ I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. With its hipster vibe, retro art and chapter titles like “A Rich Uncle Comes to Visit,” this book about throwing parties is so much fun you may not need to bother doing it yourself. Warner Books, $27.99.

The power of the page: Finally, a plastic role model for bibliophiles: The Deluxe Librarian Action Figure is a 5-inch figure based on real-life crusading Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl. She comes complete with library diorama (bookshelves, reference desk, computer) and Amazing Shushing Action! Order from www.signals.com, $13.95.

For every gamer on your list: Ever wish you (or your kid) could get paid for playing video games? Julian Dibbell’s Play Money: Or How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot is a fascinating look into the intersection of the virtual world of online gaming and the real-money economy, a place where imaginary weapons sell for hundreds of dollars and thousands of low-wage laborers get paid to play Ultima Online. No lie, dude. Basic Books, $24.

The full Nelson: Give them a gorgeous coffee table book or a meaningful piece of history? Make it both with Mandela: The Authorized Portrait. The South African leader’s life is chronicled in more than 60 interviews, 250 images, facsimiles of documents and introductions by Desmond Tutu and Bill Clinton.
PQ Publishers Ltd., $50.

Look it up: Most almanacs are written by committee, and read like it. Schott’s Almanac 2007 is a reference book with a personal bent, compiled according to the wide-ranging interests of the charmingly eccentric Londoner Ben Schott. Bloomsbury, $25.95.

 

[Last modified November 30, 2006, 17:06:52]