holiday gift guide 2011

Holiday Gift Guide: A Free and Hardy Life: Theodore Roosevelt’s Sojourn in the American West by Clay S. Jenkinson

December 7, 2011 admin 0

It’s true that no other President is as closely associated with the American West as Theodore Roosevelt. Born and educated in the east, Roosevelt first set foot out west when he was a young man and instantly fell in love with the open spaces and way of life. These things would come to influence both him and his presidency greatly, his noted conservationism shaped as it was by his extensive association with the life and […]

Holiday Gift Guide: The Country Cooking of Italy by Colman Andrews

December 7, 2011 admin 0

Someone who has a complete collection of Italian cookbooks will obviously require The Country Cooking of Italy (Chronicle) in order to make it more complete. A beautiful book meant to be cooked from and shared, coffee table-style, and with a pedigree that will make aficionados demand it. Author Colman Andrews is something of an American foodie blue blood. Andrews was a co-founder of Saveur magazine,was the periodical’s second editor-in-chief and has won eight James Beard […]

Holiday Gift Guide: The Last Testament: A Memoir by God with David Javerbaum

December 6, 2011 admin 1

In the beginning, I took a lunch with Daniel Greenberg of the LevineGreenberg Literary Agency.For the future of print was without hope, and void; and darkness had fallen upon the face of the entire publishing industry. There is something pitch perfect about the tone and tenor of The Last Testament: A Memoir by God (Simon & Schuster). Something so frankly charming, as well as funny, it’s hard not to sit and enjoy. Among other things, […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Architecture Now! Houses: 2 by Philip Jodido

December 5, 2011 admin 0

Say the word “house” and everyone creates their own mental picture. A place, perhaps, of comfort. Shelter. Even safety. And those are fine things, maybe even good things. But what we come to understand in Philip Jodido’s book, Architecture Now! Houses: 2, (Taschen) is that “house” can mean so much more. Jodido brings us the idea — not a new one, but still — that “house” can be more than the sum of its parts. […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Sinfully Vegan by Lois Dieterly

December 5, 2011 admin 0

At a glance, the words “sinful” and “vegan” have no business showing up together in a sentence, never mind the title of a book. But Sinfully Vegan (Da Capo Longlife) puts a lie to all of that, filling a whole book with delicious and completely vegan desserts. Who would have thought that was even possible? Ironically named author Lois Dieterly says that she enthusiastically embraced a vegan lifestyle a decade and a half ago. She […]

Holiday Gift Guide: 50 Underwear Questions by Tanya lloyd Kyi, illustrated by Ross Kinnaird

December 4, 2011 admin 0

It’s difficult to imagine the child who wouldn’t be tickled by the slightly risque nature and spirited delivery of 50 Underwear Questions: A Bare-All History (Annick). What’s Under a Sari? What is a knickerbocker? What kind of underpants should a superhero wear? And maybe the most fun of all: what might future underwear look like? 50 Underwear Questions is more than just whimsical questions and answers, too. There are underwear facts and histories; underwear jokes […]

Holiday Gift Guide: My Last Supper: The Next Course by Melanie Dunea

December 2, 2011 admin 1

It’s rare that a really good book be followed by an even better sequel, but that just what’s happened here. Melanie Dunea (Precious, My Country) follows up her wonderful 2007 book My Last Supper with My Last Supper: The Next Course (Rodale). And the next course really is terrific. Here’s the premise: photographer Dunea asks famous chefs to talk about their own last meal. What would it look like? What would it be? Easy enough, […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

December 2, 2011 admin 0

It’s encouraging to me as a human to see the large numbers of really good authors of young adult and children’s books getting a lot of attention and drawing ever-increasing armies of new readers. I’d be hard pressed this holiday to choose a single must-have book to buy in the place where a Twilight or a Harry Potter book used to go. Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games books are contenders, of course. As is anything by […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Beer Quest West by Jon C. Stott

December 2, 2011 admin 0

Though it covers a relatively small region, it does so with amazing depth. If you’re looking for a gift for someone from or in Western Canada who has a passion for beer, Beer Quest West (Touchwood) will answer all the questions… and then some. According to author Jon C. Stott, Canada’s two westernmost provinces are home to more than 70 microbreweries. Compare this with the ten breweries that operated in the region in 1980. Of […]

Holiday Gift Guide: My First NHL Goal by Mike Brophy

December 1, 2011 admin 0

Though sports journalist Mike Brophy’s My First NHL Goal (McLelland & Stewart) is ostensibly about the goal that marked the beginning of 50 hockey player’s professional career, it’s actually about so much more. Most of this it due to Brophy who knows the game about as well as anyone can and who has, through his career, had access to the top players in the land. Well, in any land, and that’s reflected in the book, […]