Books are a few of my favorite things...
Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.
–Vera Nazarian
By Kimberley Allen McNamara
If the above quote reminds you of Zuzu Bailey and how an Angel gets their wings at the end of the Frank Capra movie It’s a Wonderful Life then the Gifting Season is probably crashing in on you and you are looking for gifts to give to your friends, family, coworkers, host/hostess, postal carrier, custodian, and your local homeless shelter/soup kitchen. While the thank you for the host and hostess - wine, chocolate, candied pecans or an ornament for their tree (if they have one), the remembrance to your postal carrier and custodian - chocolate, gift cards, home baked goods - are often Done and Done.
Now for your friends and family...this is where gifts can get a bit tricky. The solution: Books! Or for those with vision problems or recovering from TBIs (traumatic brain injury/concussion) or enduring long commutes (or just because sometimes it is just nice to be read to) then perhaps a subscription to Audible.com . Books are also good gifts for your local homeless shelter (Rosie’s Place in Boston often needs books for moms who come with their little ones or school age children for dinner and I’ve seen many a homeless person reading at the Boston Public Library or Barnes and Noble).
Books. Books. Books. The solution to your Gifting Woes.
Yes, Books. The magical transporter of reader through Time and Space. The door to the another world, another life or to information. It is said that no two people read the same book. Each takes something different from a shared book and this “Take-Away” gives them the gift of discussion and connection. To help you along in your quest for such gifts consider the following:
For the Lover of Books on your list - whose bedside table is actually their TBR (To-Be-Read) pile with coffee table book balanced as the top, consider:
Best Gifts for Book Lovers 2017: A Holiday Gift Guide for Readers ...with recommendations for both Fiction and Nonfiction finds of 2017 by Anthony Schneck. Schneck states that there is no substitute for a good book even in this technology driven world and I have to agree with him.
The Refinery The Best Books To Give This Holiday Season (compiled by Elena Nicolaou) takes it one step further breaking down the books by type of friend you have - very tropey of them: If you have the friend: that is into politics, is Gilmore Girl-like quick with words and reference, about to get married, or shared your college years with you - they’ve got recommendations. (My personal favorite list so far)
Self Magazine offers up 19 Books to Gift Every Kind of BookWorm In Your Life. Each book earned at least 3.5 stars on Goodreads.com and was published in 2017.
For the young adults and little ones in your gifting life consider these sites previously referenced in my BlogPost revisiting former childhood favorite books.
And if you are like me and fell in love with The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (as did my own girls) here some other children’s books with characters of color to consider as found here at Cup of Jo.
Our own Lee Hoffman recommends the following Children’s Literature books:
Middle-grade :
Kate DiCamillo “Raymie Nightingale”;
Kelly Barnhill “The Girl Who Drank the Moon”
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley “The War that Saved my Life”
Julie Berry “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place”
YA Books:
Laura Amy Schlitz “The Hired Girl”
Laura Buzo “Love and Other Perishable Items”
David Arnold “Mosquitoland”
Becky Albertalli “Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda”
Now, if one book doesn’t seem enough or you are one of those Gift-Givers who enjoy doing a theme of gifts consider combining a book or two or three.
Sarah Addison Allen's : Garden Spells and it’s sequel First Frost - two wonderful novels that follow the Waverley family and their special magic mix with book on baking with edible flowers such as: Cooking with Flowers: Sweet and Savory Recipes with Rose Petals, Lilacs, Lavender, and Other Edible Flowers by Miche Bacher (Author), Miana Jun (Photographer) and you have a perfect medley of magical realism and creating magic confections.
Or consider this Trifecta for the winter armchair traveler or coastal lover : A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline combined with Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea by Morgan Callan Rogers and Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan. These three books will give you a view of Maine in all its achingly raw beauty from the start of the 20th Century through the present day (each one following sixty years after the other). If you've never been to Maine you'll want to go.
Or for a book that inspires creativity for those snowy day activities consider: Dream Something Big by Dianna Hutts and Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and his Art mixed with a collage kit . Voila - a gift that will inspire and create and keep giving.
If A Christmas Carol is your go to holiday favorite, remember it is really only a ghost story tied up with the trappings of the season, a Gothic tale woven to explore the social injustices of an economic caste system in the light of the yuletide season. Why not ponder a new kind of Gothic: The Things We Lost in the Fire: Stories by Mariana Enriquez. These stories are an assemblage of Enriquez's interests in ghost stories, witchcraft, social injustice, violence and history. Paired with In The Country: Stories by Mia Alvar, who explores the universal loss of displacement and the yearn for connection across borders, with an added dose of Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier you’ll concoct a Gothic espresso that will have you sitting up late into the night dendrites firing.
There is a book out there for everyone and anyone. Give a book and you will make the world a bit brighter. And if you’re like me - you’ll find a few for your TBR pile whilst shopping. The best part of Gifting is the Giving so I highly recommend you indulge; you'll be glad you did.
