Day 21: Sing-Along Songs

Welcome to Day 21 in The 24 Days of Books. We're almost to the end of our parade of books -- only four more books to talk about. Today it's all about the kids in your life, with Sing-Along Songs -- with accompanying music CD. This adorable board book from Priddy Books, one of my favorite publishers for kids' treasures, contains thirteen classic favorites, all included on the sing-along CD for parents and children to enjoy together. Who can live without such classics as "The Wheels on the Bus," "This Old Man," "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" and that irresistibly infectious song, "If You're Happy and You Know It"???? What a terrific gift for the whole singing family!

For many more gift-giving ideas, check out our gargantuan December newsletter, which you can read by clicking here.

"The Elements" is Back!

Recently I wrote a post about my favorite gift book of the year, The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe, by Theodore Gray. It was a somewhat sad posting, as the book was out of stock everywhere in the known universe. But the book gods smiled upon us, and the publisher got a carton of the books returned to them from a reading -- and they turned around and sent them to us!!

Before we could even get the eight books out of the box, two of them sold, so now we have six copies left. And then they're all gone until after the first of the year. So hurry in now and get this fantastic gift.

The book offers an eye-opening, original collection of gorgeous, never-before-seen photographic representations of the 118 elements in the periodic table that seem to pop off of the black backgrounds. Organized in order of appearance on the periodic table, each element is represented by a spread that includes a stunning, full-page, full-color photograph that most closely represents it in its purest form. Several additional photographs show each element in slightly altered forms or as used in various practical ways. The book is a stunning combination of art and science that would make a fabulous gift for someone special.

Day Twenty: The Children's Book

It's the Saturday before Christmas. And it's Day Twenty in The 24 Days of Books. Yes, it is, because it's only 11:30 pm, so there's still another 30 minutes left in Day Twenty! We haven't talked about fiction for a while, so today we're going to talk about fiction, and darned good fiction. The Children's Book, by A.S. Byatt, was a finalist for this year's Booker Prize.

A spellbinding novel, at once sweeping and intimate, that spans the Victorian era through the World War I years, and centers around Olive Wellwood, a famous children's book author, and the passions, betrayals, and secrets that tear apart the people she loves. When Olive's oldest son discovers a runaway named Philip sketching in the basement of the new Victoria and Albert Museum - a talented working-class boy who could be a character out of one of Olive's magical tales - she takes him into the storybook world of her family and friends. But the joyful bacchanals Olive hosts at her rambling country house - and the separate, private books she writes for each of her seven children - conceal more treachery and darkness than Philip has ever imagined. As these lives - of adults and children alike - unfold, lies are revealed, hearts are broken, and the damaging truth about the Wellwoods slowly emerges. But their personal struggles, their hidden desires, will soon be eclipsed by far greater forces, as the tides turn across Europe and a golden era comes to an end.

Taking us from the cliff-lined shores of England to Paris, Munich, and the trenches of the Somme,The Children's Book is a deeply affecting story of a singular family, played out against the great, rippling tides of the day. A.S. Byatt traces their lives in intimate detail and moves between generations, following the children who must choose whether to follow the roles expected of them or stand up to their parents’ “porcelain socialism.” It is a masterly literary achievement by one of our most essential writers.

One reviewer wrote this about The Children's Book: “This book made me thirsty: Whenever I put it down, it nagged me to pick it up again…. Monumental, pure, beautiful…. After more than 40 years of writing, Byatt can still breathe magical life into historical fiction, giving her abiding interests new relevance with each work.”

A.S. Byatt was born Antonia Susan Drabble in August 1936 in Sheffield, England. Her younger sister is the novelist Margaret Drabble. In 1990 she was awarded the Booker Prize for fiction for her novel Possession: A Romance.

For many more gift-giving ideas -- including lots more fiction suggestions, such as this year's Booker Prize winner -- check out our gargantuan December newsletter, which you can read by clicking here.

Day Nineteen: Lit

It's Day Nineteen in The 24 Days of Books. Today we're talking about Lit, the third memoir from author Mary Karr. Lit follows The Liar's Club, which told the story of her messed up childhood, and Cherry, which told the story of her messed up adolescence. And guess what? Her initial attempts at adulthood were pretty messed up too, as she turns to alcohol just about the time her alcoholic mother quits drinking. The good news is that despite all of this messing up, an area where Karr definitely doesn't mess up is in her writing. The book does not fall into the self-indulgent trap and is instead howlingly funny in places and is full of acute self-awareness and acceptance of responsibility for bad choices.

Lit tells the story of her growing alcoholism, the collapse of her marriage to an Ivy League WASP husband, the birth of her son (now grown), and her descent into depression and thoughts of suicide. As she endeavors to move away from drinking, she finally -- and rather reluctantly -- embraces Catholicism. And she writes about it even more reluctantly, saying "Talking about spiritual activity to a secular audience is like doing card tricks on the radio."

This memoir offers a great read for someone on your "gift list." For many more gift-giving ideas, check out our gargantuan December newsletter, which you can read by clicking here.

Day Eighteen: Basketball for All!

Welcome to Day Eighteen of The 24 Days of Books! In honor of the Portland Trail Blazers oh-so-impressive comeback victory last night over the Phoenix Suns, today we're going to talk BASKETBALL!! Specifically, two books. The first is The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy, by Bill Simmons. This monster of a book (more than 700 pages) is equal parts history and analysis. Simmons, a regular columnist on ESPN.com, summarizes the history of the league, discusses his personal fandom, analyzes Most Valuable Player choices through the years, and dissects the careers of the league's all-time best players.

He also includes a fascinating "What If" chapter that counts down the top thirty-three "what ifs" in NBA history, in reverse order, building up to #1: "What if the 1984 draft turned out differently?" The 1984 draft, you might recall, is the one in which the Trailblazers passed up on Michael Jordan and instead drafted Sam Bowie. (He also presents the "three great what-ifs in my life that don't involve women," the first being "What if I had gone west or south for college? This haunts me and will continue to haunt me until the day I die. I could have chosen a warm-weather school with hundreds of gorgeous sorority girls, and instead I went to an Irish Catholic school on a Worcester hill with bone-chilling 20-degree winds....")

This book would make a wonderful gift for the basketball fan on your list. And, while you're at it, take a look at When the Game was Ours, by Larry Bird and Earvin Magic Johnson, with Jackie MacMullan. This remarkable collaboration by two NBA legends recounts the decades long journey of their relationship, from bitter rivals to lifelong friends.

So, there you have it, two great gifts for the sports lover in your life. For many more gift-giving ideas, check out our gargantuan December newsletter, which you can read by clicking here.

Day Seventeen: Anonyponymous

Yikes! It's already Day Seventeen in The 24 Days of Books! Where does the time go?? Today I'm going to tell you about a cute little book that would make a wonderful stocking stuffer or just a terrific gift for the language lover in your life. Anonyponymous: The Forgotten People Behind Everyday Words, by John Bemelmans Marciano, does exactly that: it tells you the fascinating but little known stories about people who have (typically inadvertently) bequeathed their names to language but the original person has been long forgotten.

The word eponymous means "giving one's name to a person, place or thing," and we all know what anonymous means. Hence the title. Anonyponymous tells you about the real life person whose name was taken by algorithm, blurb, crapper, dunce, nicotine, pilates, galvanize, maverick (I can assure you it has nothing to do with either John McCain or Sarah Palin), and nicotine. You'll learn about The Earl of Sandwich, Harry Shrapnel, Joseph-Ignace Guillotine, Charles Boycott, and Jules Leotard. The book offers a compendium of intriguing trivia and a window into the fascinating world of etymology.

The author, who also did the sketches in the book, is the grandson of award-winning writer Ludwig Bemelmans, author of the beloved children's books about Madeline, who lived in "an old house in Paris that was covered with vines.....[with] twelve little girls in two straight lines....The smallest one was Madeline." I have always loved Madeline -- yes, even as a grown-up. Marciano lives in Brooklyn with his wife Andromache and daughter Galatea and cats Maud and Liddy. According to his website, "In Brooklyn we name our pets like people and our people like obscure cultural references."

For many more gift-giving ideas, check out our gargantuan December newsletter, which you can read by clicking here.

It's a Mystery to Me!

How do you like your mysteries? Hard-boiled? Cold-hearted? Warm and fuzzy? Historical or contemporary? Around the world or close to home? However you like 'em, we got 'em! Lots of favorite mystery writers have new books out recently: Chelsea Cain, Jacqueline Winspear, Michael Connelly, Sue Grafton, Maggie Barbieri, Patricia Cornwell, Andrew Vachss, Patrick McManus, Robert Parker, David Baldacci, Jonathan Kellerman, James Ellroy, Vince Flynn, James, Patterson, and J.A. Jance. And more. Come see us! We also have the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books by Val McDermid, which are the books that set Chelsea Cain down the path of writing her Portland-based serial-killer series. Need a good page-turner to take your mind off the stress of the holidays? Oh wait, who said holidays are stressful?? Not me!