What books are you giving for the holidays?

The past few years I have been buying books for Christmas gifts. It has taken a lot of the stress out of gift giving for me!

DH and my brother-in-law: Star Wars Art: Visions by J.W. Rinzler (my dh picked it out for our brother-in-law but looked at it longingly!)

Sister-in-Law: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (she works at Johns Hopkins so I thought she could find out if there actually are secret rooms)

Mom: Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand (one of my favorites from this year and she loves horses)

Sister: The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman (trying to get her turned on to one of my favorite authors)

Nephew: The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King (another one of my favorites this year, and he's a sci-fi/fantasy guy)

Niece: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (great sister story, and I was hoping magical realism would be a good transition from Twilight books)

Friends in OR: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (they are all about sustainable living so I thought they would enjoy it)

Just curious what you guys are giving this year.

John Adams by David McCullough. This is one of the Best Books I ever read. Also, Sea Of Glory by Nathaniel Philbrick. Both Excellent Books.

I made several gifts this year, so I'm giving fewer books, but the two I am giving are:

Son: Bats at the Ballpark

Nieces: The Jesus Storybook Bible

There might be a third for a friend whom I won't see until after New Year's, as I'm still debating a gift for her...

I gave The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell to my younger sister, Angel Time and Of Love and Evil by Anne Rice and The Passage by Justin Cronin for my dad, something by Arthur Clarke for my granddad, and I'll probably buy myself Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King.

My mother is getting the new Kay Thompson bio, my father is getting a book about famous football players, and my niece and nephew are getting two age-appropriate books apiece (they're pretty young and don't have particularly concrete literary tastes yet, though the two year old seems to have gone through a Sandra Boyton phase). My brother is getting a book about creating your own desk weaponry, and my sister-in-law doesn't read (leaving me at a complete loss as to what to get her). I'm afraid of being the "bad aunt" who doesn't get the hottest toys of the year for the niece and nephew, because I know that everyone else is getting toys and such. They're getting so many toys already, though; I feel like somebody has to weigh in with some books. And I work in a library, so I know what kids their age like to read (or have read to them, as the case is), so it's not a shot in the dark. Does anyone else have to worry about this being the "uncool" relative who gives something other than Spongebob Squarepants DVDs?

Sister-in-law is getting Cooking With Grease, Like Water for Chocolate. Both nieces are also getting copies of Like Water for Chocolate, as is my step-mother, who is also getting 2 other books: Dancing With Gus, and a little Christian romance I can't remember the name of, right now. I'm going to see if I can find Revalations of the Magi for my dad, but I may have left that one too late.

Touchstones didn't work on the last two.

The books I'm gifting:

Sister: Harry Potter Film Wizardry by Brian Sibley
Mom: The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore
Husband: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Grandmother: Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
Grandfather: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (if everyone isn't sold out, otherwise probably some Michael Shaara and Jeff Shaara books)

Message 5: elvisettey
I do worry about being the uncool relative, but here is a story that might make you feel better.

I few years ago my husband bought a cool video game or toy for our youngest nephew (I can't remember) and I bought him The Dangerous Book for Boys. My husband teased me (in a fun way) and I laughed at myself too, but since I'm a teacher I had to get a book in there. Of course you have probably already figured out that the book is what our nephew was drawn too, and is still doing projects from to this day! (Kudos to his grandma and grandpa who do the projects with him!)

So onward with your book giving!

PaperbackPirate: That does make me feel better! I feel like he'll have outgrown these toys in no time, but the books have a chance of sticking with him. I hope that, like your nephew, he's still enjoying the books when the trendier items have fallen by the wayside. And it's great that your nephew has grandparents who do the projects with him-- what wonderful memories he'll have connected with this book.

One that I hope will be good is The Quiet Book, which is for my neighbor's 2-year old daughter. I don't have any children, so it is an experiment.

k4k

For my six year old little brother I'm giving him a Skippyjohn Jones pack with for in it to complete his collection. I love those books.

I assume everyone doesn't really care if their gift recipient knows what they're to get or else they're pretty sure this thread won't be viewed!!

Happy holiday reading!

#5 elvisettey: I too am the uncool aunt who gives books instead of toys, and usually they are a hit. However, last Christmas I just about snapped when my 3.5 year old niece opened her book only to promptly throw it on the ground. To be clear, I did not want to snap at K, who is understandably more drawn to toys at her young age, and truly was plowing through most gifts; I was wanting to snap at my sister-in-law for not batting an eye at her rudeness and taking advantage of what I saw as a teachable moment. This year I'm trying a new approach, and giving K and her new twin sisters a book jointly, then giving very small individual gifts (blocks for the twins, arts supplies for K).

However, despite knowing that book gifts aren't always appreciated at the moment, I still give books for two reasons: 1) I'm a librarian, so it's awfully hard not to!; and, 2) I am a librarian today because *my* aunt was also an uncool book-giving librarian who introduced me to some great reads and a fantastic profession!

>13 grkmwk: When my nieces were very young, they didn't particularly "appreciate" the gift of books, but always enjoyed me sitting with them and reading the books together. So I kept giving books, in addition to other gifts.

Now, they're 26 and 22. I'm still giving books, and we enjoy talking to each other about what we've read, and suggesting titles to each other. Our viewpoints don't always agree (thank heaven) but we still have fun discussing the books. One of my nieces is an artist, the other is a writer, and taking honors classes at a state university.

My point is, hang in there. We aunts have to get our two cents in, too!

Each Christmas I choose several of the best books I've read during the year to give to my nieces (all of them in their twenties) and to a close friend. This year's stack:

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet

>14 millhold:: I worry about my sister-in-law, too. She doesn't read herself-- at all, and never has-- so I always hope that she's reading to the kids enough. In addition to playing with the kids, I always try to sit down and read a book with them when I visit. I let them pick (and they always have a very definite opinion of what they want to hear, so I know that books do matter to them), and we have a little time just to spend with a story. I hope it's a (borrowing your word) "teachable" moment for my sister-in-law and that she'll think twice before automatically resorting to the TV as a means of entertainment. Like you, I'm a librarian, so it's hard NOT to think of books automatically when it comes to gift-giving! They're very close in age, so I might try to adapt your idea and give them some sort of toy jointly that they can both enjoy.

here it comes with me being the uncool cousin. As I study english and german literatur and work as part time job in a book store I am completely drwan to books and as my family is rather one of those new-toys-and-fashion ones I feel bound to give books at least to my younger cousins. the youngest gets a small bok set in our ste, the other a biography of AC/DC and my dad gets a nice edition of Max and Moritz.

Message 11: DragonFreak

My first grade classes LOVE Skippyjon Jones!!! Great choice!

My husband reads about 5 books a year and he prefers westerns or adventure/thriller so he's getting I, Sniper by Stephen Hunter and The Western Trail by Ralph Compton, along with Deadline by Simon Kernick.

My daughter and son-in-law are big readers so they are each getting a gift card to the bookstore.

My eleven year old grandson loves fantasy novels involving animals (like Red Wall series) so I got him Guardians of Ga'Hoole #1: The Capture by Kathryn Lasky.

My six year old granddaughter is getting a chapter book for she and her mother to read, Gooseberry Park by Cynthia Rylant.

My other daughter isn't much of a reader but her husband is getting a biography of Pappy Boyington of Black Sheep Squadron fame, and a biography of Russell Peters, a Canadian Comedian.