Holiday Gift Guide... it Begins

There’s a very good reason that books keeping topping all the lists of things that people actually purchase on the Internet: they’re easy to ship. More, the book you see on the shelf in Chicago is going to be exactly the same as the one you see if you’re visiting Portland. If you happen to pop into a bookstore in Mississauga, Ontario, or Norwich in England, that same book might have a slightly different look and some of the words might sport a slightly different spelling, but, at its core, it’ll still be the very same book.

This is why books consistently top gift lists, as well. I can purchase a book in the comfort of my home and have it shipped to my best friend’s home on the other side of the country or across the world. If I choose to purchase the book at my local bookseller’s, I can even package the book with my own little hands along with a box of cookies and a card and I’ll know that, no matter what happens to the cookies, that book will probably arrive just as it was sent.

So, in a nutshell, books ship well. On a shrinking planet, this is a pretty good reason all by itself. But, of course, there are more. Even people who don’t customarily read very much like getting books as a gift. They like them for their shelves and they like them for their coffee tables. A shining new book is like a badge: “I know you think I don’t read much, but my niece in Baltimore? She thinks I do.”

Reading is not even requisite in all cases. Since there are books published on virtually every topic imaginable, there is one out there for every potential reader you can imagine. Here are a few that the January staff have read, enjoyed and feel they can recommend for the current season of holiday book sharing.

Stay with us, because our recommended list keeps growing. Anticipate updates just about every day between now and the end of the season. And why? Because books are important, they’re a good deal. And they make great gifts.

Our growing list of gift book suggestions are here.