'Early' Christmas Shopping for the Booklovers in Your Life

Okay, I wasn't going to get into the whole Christmas shopping thing until later in the month, but I suspect many of you have already jumped into the fray and are deciding that this year, yes, you're shopping early. (If November 9th is even viewed by those shopping zealots out there, as really early.) Don't you hate it when you wake up mid December and decide, finally, to venture forth to the stores or online and you discover your friends have been finished since October and not only that but EVERYTHING is wrapped? GAK!

And by the way: Don't you wish it was that easy to shop for everyone else as it is to shop for a book lover? Just a thought. Of course, if everyone you know loves books, then your work is basically done even before you start.

In yesterday's review of the Chet and Bernie books by Spencer Quinn, I dropped a hint about how this series would be a special treat for any mystery loving/dog loving reader on your list. So I needn't go into it again. Just keep Chet in mind.

Over the next few (very few!) weeks before The Big Day (Ta-Dah!), I promise to post any holiday recommendations (some of them quirky, some of them not), as I think of them or run across them online or elsewhere - in the general spirit of making your lives a little bit easier. (Smile. Smile.) I'm not a shopping blog and I have no fingers in the pie of where you shop, but if you check out the websites listed on my upper left sidebar, you can link directly to anyplace there and probably find whatever I might mention. If not, then use your imagination and hunt the thing down. That's part of the fun. Or so they tell me. If I see some book or movie or art-related thing on etsy that I think you might be interested in, I'll plug etsy, but that's about it. Don't have a finger in that pie either.

Why am I doing this? Because it's fun for me and I have the time. Maybe next year I'll hook up with a store or two and try to get in on a little of the shopping action, but for now, it's all out of the goodness of my heart. (Smile.) Oh, and I hope to have my own etsy shop up and running by next year as well - but more on that in the months ahead.

1)The Librarian Action Figure. What book lover wouldn't want one of these? I certainly would. They're nonsense, they're fun, especially if you are a big Nancy Pearl fan OR just a fan of your local librarians, local library or libraries in general. Check out Nancy Pearl's blog here. You will love her reviews and her enthusiasm for books (she's a Seattle librarian who speaks about books on NPR and elsewhere). You will also love her book recommendation anthologies (which, with the action figure would make a nice Christmas duo): Book Lust, More Book Lust and Book Crush - this last title is chock full of book recommendations for kids and teenagers. I've rarely gone wrong reading any book Nancy recommends.

2) Postcards From Penguin - One Hundred Bookcovers In One Box. Something new this year and under 20 bucks. Check it out. Only a tried and true book lover would LOVE to have these, but I'm sure you know a few. Think of it: you could use them in some sort of collage, or keep them boxed and take them out and admire them when the mood strikes, or you could send one out each to a hundred friends - use them as holiday cards even. If it were me, I'd hoard them - but that's just my nature. Ha!

3) Amelia Peabody's Egypt - A Compendium - Edited by Elizabeth Peters and Kristen Whitbread I have this book and I simply love it. But then I'm a BIG fan of Peters' Amelia Peabody books and all the Victorian ladies who ventured forth on daring adventures at the turn of the 19th century. A nice duo for a reader not familiar with the Peabody books would be the first Amelia - Crocodile on the Sandbank - and the Compendium. Peters has a degree in Egyptology, so her fiction is based on some fact and she often includes actual figures of the times in her stories. This compendium, though, is all non-fiction, beautifully designed and illustrated with b/w graphics and lithographs of the times. Egyptology was a big draw during and near the end of the Victorian age and it's all categorized here with appropriate bios and intriguing facts. By the way: This book would not be inappropriate for a teen interested in Egyptology and/or history of the times in question.

4) Anna Sui. If you know a book lover who is also a fan of quirkier-than-most fashion designer, Anna Sui, as I am, then this might be the book for them - new this year. A bit pricey at about 38 bucks, but if you hunt around, I'm sure you can find it for less.

5) The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. I read this recently (well, about a year ago) and loved it. If you know someone who loves history, loves reading about daring-do and the French Revolution, loves the whole romance of this kind of story - then this is the book for them. Many people have seen the movies, but not as many have read the book. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was and how much I enjoyed it.

6) The Bill Slider Omnibus by Cyntha Harrod-Eagles. For someone, like me, who loves English police procedurals, this is the book to have. It contains the first three books in the Inspector Bill Slider series: Orchestrated Death, Death Watch and Death To Go. I've read the entire series over the years and I can truly recommend them, most especially if you love the police procedural. I would heartily recommend though, that they be read in order, especially the first three or four or five. The Omnibus is a neat and tidy way to do it.