Books for Christmas

Thank you for all your well wishes.  The scrapes are healing and the bruises...as my sweet adoring husband tells me, are turning into lovely yellow areas.  Seriously, I know I am so fortunate.  Again thank you!

Now it is time to get on with the important stuff!  

Have you completed your Christmas list?  I haven't.  
I did spend some time this past weekend aiding the economy, 
but I still have a few things left on the list.

I'm a last minute kind of girl.  There is just something about
the rush of adrenaline when you are on the prowl for the perfect gift.  It is all about the hunt!

Would it surprise you to learn my favorite gifts to give are books?
I spend weeks browsing bookstores and reading reviews trying to match up the
perfect title with the perfect person on my list.

I thought you might be interested in a sampling of the books I've discovered as possibilities.  Some of these titles are on my own list to Santa.

Marmee and Louisa is on the top of my list.
If you know someone who loved Little Women, this dual biography might be a wonderful gift.  Eve LaPlante having the advantage of being a descendant of the Alcott family, takes us into this fascinating mother/daughter relationship.  We learn Louisa's mother was a gifted writer in her own right.  It is throughout Abigail's story we discover Louisa.

In Junior High I loved Agatha Christie.  I often imagined Miss Marple as my aunt,  and who wasn't a just bit intrigued (if not frighted) by the working mind of Hercule Periot?  I'll tell you a secret... I once played sick to stay home so I could finish Death on the Orient Express.   Using Christi's own archives, photos and post cards, The Grand Tour allows the reader and fan of Agatha Christi to accompany her on a year long voyage around the British Empire in 1922.   

For the lover of a good thriller on your list.  
 The Art Forger  looks perfect to me.  Shapiro takes us to the underbelly of the art world where a talented artist finds herself involved with art forgery.    We are promised a 
multi-layered story of "love, betrayal, and authenticity".

If you find this in your stocking I may want to borrow it.  Sounds perfect for a snow day.
(If we are so lucky)

 For your favorite history buff?   What about
Jon Meacham's Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power?

I am dying to buy this for someone!  In Meacham's words, "He endures because we can see in him all the varied and wondrous possibilities of the human experience -- the thirst for knowledge, the capacity to create, the love of family and friends, the hunger for accomplishment, the applause of the world, the marshaling of power, the bending of others to one's own image."  One reviewer called this a "masterpiece".

For your favorite child?
How about 

Susan Jeffers does a beautiful job illustrating and retelling this Christmas favorite and

I adore it.   Susan Jeffers intentionally wrote this book for the younger child using fewer words and gorgeous illustrations.  For so many years "The Nutcracker" was a major part of our holiday.  This book took me back to the Christmas's when Heather and I attended this Christmas tradition, and the following years when she danced several different parts in the Nutcracker.  This would be a wonderful gift to give a child along with tickets to The Nutcracker.

Jan Brett is a favorite who never disappoints me.  
Home for Christmas follows an impish wild troll, tired of his family's demands,  as he leaves his family to be out on his own.  Just before Christmas he finds a family of moose and through unforeseen circumstances is unexpectantly returned home.  Like our friend Dorothy Gale, in another story, he finds out there "is no place like home".   I read this to my children this morning, and everyone was captivated by Rollo's adventure.

Do you enjoy giving books as Christmas gifts?
I hope I have given you a few ideas.
If you have read any of these titles I would love to hear your thoughts.

Oh, I finally finished the tree!

Book cover images 

via B&N and NPR.