So what books are you people buying as gifts?
 

I've bought a lot of books as gifts this year. My two favorites happen to be comics: the boxed set of Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus : A Survivor's Tale : My Father Bleeds History/Here My Troubles Began and Roz Chast's Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, and Health-Inspected Cartoons, 1978-2006.

What books are you giving?

I gave my sister Cool Restaurants Los Angeles. There's a whole series of these from cities around the world. Not only does it have profiles and photographs of some of the swankiest restaurants, it's got recipes from the chefs, which was pretty cool.

I only bought one Christmas present this year and it wasn't a book. But I did buy a book as a gift this month.

For a new colleague who is great at his job (information architecture) but new to doing it in the banking industry.

Maus is a great Graphic Novel. Excellent stuff.

For the past year I've been evangelizing Haruki Murakami and giving his books out like Gideon give Bibles, but so far for Christmas, I've purchased no books.

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski remasterd hardcover edition for my little brother, as well as a london travel guide. Michael is getting Pirateology, as well as Wizardology, and Dragonology. Indi is getting a freaking awesome Dinosaur pop-up book, Jade is getting a Curious George set. I got myself One Skein Wonders, a knitting book. We're book people.

I always get my dad books because he never makes a wish list, but I know he reads a lot.

I try to get him books I think he'll like, but not necessarily ones he would pick up on his own. This year I got:

The Fire: The Bombing of Germany 1940-1945 -- It's translated from German and details the Allied bombing campaign on Germany during WWII from the German perspective. My grandfather was a bombardier during WWII, so he likely was involved in some of the campaigns detailed inside.

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion

Terry Pratchett. I'm continuing a propaganda campaign to get everyone I know to read his books. I'm giving my sister The Wee Free Men along with the other two books for younger readers. They're all wonderful. And I'm giving my son Good Omens which he wrote with Neil Gaiman. I bought myself a copy since I hadn't read that one yet.

My oldest friend is a huge U2 fan, but I still love her dearly. She's getting U2 by U2, a big coffee table book with interviews by and pictures of the band since their inception.

I wouldn't call it giving as a gift, per se, but along with his actual gift (gift card to Walmart), I'm planning on sending up some of my already-read Dan Brown novels to my brother. Digital Fortress, Deception Point, Angels and Demons, and of course Da Vinci Code (though personally, I liked the first two better!). I think he'll dig the suspenseful "page turner" style. I swear, every freaking chapter (some only a page long!) leaves you on a cliffhanger.