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I NEED A GIFT
FOR...
MISCELLANEOUS NONFICTION
MY SHY LITTLE BROTHER WHO STUDIES ENGINEERING
AND IS KIND OF A GEEK CHIC TYPE.
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it from
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AMERICAN
NERD: THE STORY OF MY PEOPLE
By BENJAMIN NUGENT
Scribner
Your
brother will definitely identify with the people and
stories presented in Ben Nugent's loving portrait of
the geek in his book American Nerd. Perhaps he
will be inspired to ditch the chic and just embrace
the geek part of himself. (Marie Mundaca)
[See
the HBC article]
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it from
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MORE
INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE
By JOHN HODGMAN
Dutton
People
don't get any more geek chic than John Hodgman, the
author turned Daily Show Resident Expert turned
PC computer portrayer in the "Get a Mac" commercials
with Justin Long. As in his first book, The Areas
of My Expertise, Hodgman's More Information Than
You Require compiles tons of facts into lists, short
articles, and charts—though by "facts," he actually
means assumptions, fabrications, and out-and-out lies.
Expect all of the geeky humor we've all grown to expect
from Hodgman, which makes an entertaining read even
for those who aren't nerdy cool. (Yennie Cheung)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY
YOUNGER BROTHER, WHO STILL COLLECTS SUPERHERO ACTION FIGURES
EVEN THOUGH HE'S AN ADULT.
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it from
Amazon
or
Powell's
Buy
it from
Amazon
or
Powell's
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THE
DC COMICS ACTION FIGURE ARCHIVE
By SCOTT BEATTY
Chronicle Books
THE
DC VAULT: A MUSEUM-IN-A-BOOK WITH RARE COLLECTIBLES
FROM THE DC UNIVERSE
By MARTIN PASKO
Running Press
If
your brother hasn't already, The DC Comics Action
Figure Archive might be fun for him to check out.
The book boasts a bevy of information about all the
various action figures created to coincide with DC Comics
characters. Unfortunately, the book isn't as comprehensive
as it insinuates, but if your brother's not a huge stickler
for this sort of thing, it probably will make for a
suitable (if incomplete) reference guide. In the event
that he'd prefer a bit more history and memorabilia
with his literature, The DC Vault might be a
better choice. Like last year's The Marvel Vault,
this book looks into historic and never-before-published
memorabilia, including early sketches, covers, memos,
and press materials. The heavyweights such as Superman
and Batman are a given here, but fans of cult
classics such as Sandman will find some great
material to pore over, too. (Yennie Cheung)
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A SELF-PROFESSED CYNIC WHO SEES NO
HOPE IN HUMANITY.
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ARMAGEDDON
IN RETROSPECT
By KURT VONNEGUT
Putnam
The late, very great Mr. Vonnegut had a beautiful knack
for hitting the heart of the cynic. While he wrote of
war and the rampant idiocy of mankind, he always did
it in such a way as to remind the hardest heart that
the world has beauty to offer, as well. This collection
of previously unpublished essays about war and other
such follies will give your friend fodder for his or
her cynicism as well as an ember of hope for this failing
experiment known as mankind. (Kyle Olson)
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MY BROTHER, WHO LOVES READING THINGS WITH
MAFIA THEMES.
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it from
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COVERT:
MY YEARS INFILTRATING THE MOB
By BOB DELANY
Union Square Press
If
your brother is also a fan of professional basketball,
he's in for an added bonus. Covert: My Years Infiltrating
the Mob is the memoir of NBA referee Bob Delany's
years as a New Jersey state trooper. During that time,
Delany went undercover as Bobby Covert, the president
of a fake trucking business, in order to build cases
against key Mafia families. As an added literary bonus,
Delany even ran into Joe Pistone, the real-life Donnie
Brasco. (Yennie Cheung)
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it from
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or
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MCMAFIA: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE GLOBAL CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD
BY MISHA GLENNY
Alfred A. Knopf
If
your brother's looking for organized crime on a global
scale, this book by former BBC World correspondent Misha
Glenny might be of interest. In McMafia, Glenny
examines the world of organized crime around the world,
trading in everything from sex to cigarettes, narcotics
to nuclear materials. Those looking for more on the
mob as we know it from The Godfather and The
Sopranos probably will be disappointed, but there's
plenty written elsewhere about that part of the underworld.
Glenny instead covers organized crime in places such
as Bulgaria, Israel, and Nigeria. Who knew that the
mob was behind those ridiculous e-mail frauds? (Yennie
Cheung)
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MY DAD, WHO DRIVES LIKE A NEW YORK CITY
CABBIE.
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it from
Amazon
or
Powell's
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TRAFFIC:
WHY WE DRIVE THE WAY WE DO (AND WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US)
By TOM VANDERBILT
Knopf
A
lot of people spend a lot of time in cars, but how many
think about what our driving says about us? Tom Vanderbilt
adds a Malcolm Gladwell-esque touch to what could have
been an incredibly boring topic, making traffic as meaningful
a symbol of America as what we eat and what we watch
on TV. Also, Vanderbilt shows that those asswipes that
sneak up the merger lane actually help traffic move
along. (Marie Mundaca)
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MY
BROTHER, WHO IS COMPLETELY INEPT AT EVERYTHING!
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it from
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SHOW
ME HOW: 500 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
By DEREK FAGERSTROM and LAUREN SMITH
Collins Design
Part
how-to guide and part coffee table book, this hardcover
reference manual really does show you how to do 500
things (though, lamely, thing number 1 is "how to use
this book"). The "things" range from the trivial to
the absurd—including spiking a Mohawk, poach eggs,
and wrestle an alligator—but they are, for the
most part, rather useful. Perhaps your brother still
won't know how to sort his laundry, but at least he'll
be able to cook you a decent breakfast or save you from
a hungry reptile. (Yennie Cheung)
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MY FRIEND IN LAW SCHOOL WHO
SHOULDN'T REALLY BE A LAW STUDENT BUT A SOCIAL WORKER.
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it from
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HAVE
YOU FOUND HER
By JANICE ERLBAUM
Villard
Janice
Erlbaum writes a juicy, compelling cautionary tale about
volunteering at a homeless shelter for teens and what
can happen when you overstep the boundaries. Janice
becomes close friends with homeless Samantha, a smart,
charismatic and deeply disturbed young woman who does
whatever she needs to in order to survive. Your friend
may find out that studying law is good training for
a social worker. (Marie Mundaca)
[See
the HBC interview]
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MISCELLANEOUS
FICTION
FOR
MY GRANDFATHER, WHO SHOULDN'T BE BROODING SO MUCH IN HIS GOLDEN
YEARS.
|
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it from
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|
MAN
IN THE DARK
By PAUL AUSTER
Henry Holt
Bedridden
following a car accident, 72-year-old August Brill tries
to combat his insomnia by telling himself stories of
a parallel America embroiled in a twenty-first century
civil war. But real civil wars are being fought around
him: by his daughter, struggling to come to grips with
a messy divorce; by his granddaughter, who has dropped
out of college and cocooned herself away following the
grisly death of her estranged boyfriend in Iraq; and
by Brill himself, who—if his storytelling falters—will
be forced to face his own failings as a husband and
parent. (Chris Mackowski)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY SISTER WHO BELIEVES IN GOD, BUT DOESN'T
GO TO CHURCH.
|
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it from
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HOME
By MARILYNNE ROBINSON
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
This
companion novel to Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning
Gilead tells the same story, but sideways, from
a different point of view. In a lonely house in rural
Iowa, an elderly preacher welcomes a no-good son and
a dutiful daughter back into his life. Slowly, their
various attitudes toward faith and family collide. (Brian
Hurley)
[See
the HBC review]
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A FRIEND WHO ISN'T FAMILIAR WITH ANY
"HIP" OR "COOL" AUTHORS.
|
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it from
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or
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|
WHEN
YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES
By DAVID SEDARIS
Little, Brown and Company
This
is arguably one of the hipster genre's most anticipated
releases of 2008. Sedaris follows his usual uncomfortable
comedic format in this collection of essays that range
in topic from an unfortunately located boil to giving
up smoking in Japan. It should go without saying that
Sedaris's main angle is taking the normal and seeing
the bizarre; Sedaris can never do as much as take a
walk around the block without falling into some sort
of sinkhole of absurdity. (Samantha Storey)
[See
the HBC review]
[WIN THIS BOOK!]
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A
RELUCTANT SENUALIST.
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|
THEFT
By N.S. KÖENINGS
Back Bay Books
A lush fulsome landscape populated with unlikely coincidences
and incredible beauty awaits readers in Theft.
Köenings's descriptions of locales are incredibly
vivid, but characters never take a back seat to places.
Köenings makes the familiar seem strange and the
strange seem achingly familiar. (Marie Mundaca)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY BOSS WHO HAS A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP
WITH HIS MIDWESTERN ROOTS.
|
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it from
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DOWNTOWN
OWL
By CHUCK KLOSTERMAN
Scribner
Known
for being a word-slingin' slave to all things pop culture,
Chuck Klosterman branches out into the realm of fiction
in Downtown Owl and falls somewhere between Fargo
and Dazed and Confused in a deep well of semi-rural
midwestern life and death. Klosterman infuses the usual
elements—heavy metal, sports metaphors, television
and film trivia—and transplants them in a world
where people breathe, eat, sleep and die in the only
little hometown they've ever known. (Samantha Storey)
[See
the HBC review]
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THAT
CUTE BUT KIND OF SCARY LOOKING CHICK WITH THE BLACK SWEATERS
AT STARBUCKS, WHOM I WANT TO SAY HI TO EXCEPT THAT SHE INTIMIDATES
ME A BIT.
|
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it from
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SHARP
TEETH
By TOBY BARLOW
Harper
Sharp
Teeth is a novel, an epic poem, a love story, a
crime thriller, and a werewolf story, all rolled into
one and refusing to play by any of the rules. It's evocative,
ferocious, and frequently funny—a pop-culture fusion
drink that's jacked up on its own juices and a dark,
compelling nightmare that reads like a gritty dream.
This extraordinarily ambitious project could've resulted
in a real mutt, but instead, shows a pedigree that remains
hip and smart and brilliant, with sharp teeth all its
own. (Chris Mackowski)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY
FRIEND WHO WISHES GRAPHIC NOVELS CAME IN ALL PROSE.
|
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it from
Amazon
or
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|
THE
GOOD THIEF
By HANNAH TINTI
Dial Press
Crafting a precise, evocative tale is usually the obsession
of short story writers, while novelists prefer the sprawling
imperfection of a weightier tome. But Hannah Tinti,
the co-founder and editor-in-chief of One Story
magazine, has extended her particular talent as a short
story writer over the course of a whole novel. The
Good Thief is a strikingly visual tale about an
orphan who is adopted by a scoundrel and teams up with
a burly assassin to rob graves and take down the ruthless
kingpin of a mousetrap factory. (Brian Hurley)
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MY SISTER, WHO WISHES SHE COULD PICK
SOMETHING FOR OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB.
|
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it from
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|
MONSTERS
OF TEMPLETON
By LAUREN GROFF
Voice
It might be easy to categorize The Monsters of Templeton
as chick lit with literary pretensions, but Lauren Groff's
debut novel is nearly perfect in all ways. Well-situated
in the landscape of magical realism, which gives the
entire story an undercurrent of possibility and wonder,
The Monsters of Templeton isn't about monsters
so much as it's about ghosts and skeletons in closets.
Groff's smart, sometimes sassy writing defies easy classification
even as it dazzles. (Chris Mackowski)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY
MOM, WHO WANTS TO READ SOMETHING "SUBSTANTIAL."
|
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it from
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|
UNACCUSTOMED
EARTH
By JHUMPA LAHIRI
Alfred A. Knopf
For
Jhumpa Lahiri, it's probably never a bad thing for people
to consider your work "serious." The stories collected
in Unaccustomed Earth explore the layered and
emotionally tangled lives of immigrants as they transition
from a culture rich in tradition and routine into a
culture that seems to celebrate the opposite. As with
Lahiri's previous work, it's as if the characters grow
on their own, without Lahiri directing the rise and
fall of their narrative; truly a gift for avid readers.
(Samantha Storey)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY FRIEND FROM GRAD SCHOOL, AN UNEMPLOYED
PHILOSOPHER AND WOULD-BE NOVELIST WHO DOESN'T BELIEVE IN NOVELS.
|
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it from
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|
GOD
IS AN ATHEIST
By N. NOSIRRAH
Sentient
The
author describes his own work as "a story without plot,
characters, structure, or obvious purpose"—and
he isn't kidding. As he put it, "If a thousand monkeys
typing endlessly would eventually produce all the great
works of literature, then this is their first draft."
With a court jester's demeanor and a whirling dervish's
energy, N. Nosirrah tackles big-picture philosophical
questions like belief and being. Running as an undercurrent
is a sincere appeal to readers to think about what God
means to them. (Chris Mackowski)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY BROTHER, WHO IS NOT VERY EASY TO SHOP
FOR.
|
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it from
Amazon
or
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THE
DUPPY
By ANTHONY C WINKLER
Akashic Books
Few
books come with a money-back guarantee for quality,
but Akashic does it with the first American printing
of The Duppy: If you don't literally laugh out
loud at least once while reading this, you can ask for
a refund. Then again, if your brother doesn't laugh
out loud while reading this, he may very well be an
emotionless automaton. The Duppy follows Baps,
a Jamaican businessman who dies unexpectedly and becomes
a duppy (the Jamaican patois for a soul or spirit).
In the afterlife, Baps must take a minibus to Jamaican
heaven, save God from a bunch of American college students,
and endure the absurdities that comprise American heaven.
Irreverent, bawdy, and intelligent, The Duppy
is a great choice for just about anyone who doesn't
have a stick permanently lodged up his or her ass. (Yennie
Cheung)
[See
the HBC review]
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A SELF-PROFESSED CYNIC WHO SEES NO
HOPE FOR HUMANITY.
|
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it from
Amazon
or
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|
VACATION
By DEB OLIN UNFERTH
McSweeney's
The
great part about cynicism in literature is that it usually
provokes endearing humor along with selfless page-turning.
Unferth's Vacation chronicles one man's vacation
from life, what got him there, and the invariable follies
he experiences in trying to organize his haphazard life.
Funny and oddly-structured, the book never has a dull
moment—well, rarely a dull moment. (Samantha Storey)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY FRIEND WHO WISHES HE WAS STOLEN AT
BIRTH.
|
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it from
Amazon
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|
HIS
ILLEGAL SELF
By PETER CAREY
Alfred A. Knopf
Being abducted a child never sounded so fun. The protagonist
of Peter Carey's novel is a boy who doesn't know his
mother was involved in radical politics a long time
ago. When a routine visit goes wrong, his accidental
captor whisks him from New York to Australia, of all
places, where she tries to raise him secretly in the
backwoods of a strange country. (Brian Hurley)
[See
the HBC review]
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A
FRIEND WHO DOESN'T DO "MAINSTREAM."
|
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it from
the
publisher or Powell's
|
78
STORIES
By BEN SEGAL
No Record Press
If
your friend doesn't do mainstream, perhaps he or she
has a thing for the non-traditional or the experimental.
In that case, 78 Stories might be a great fit.
Not only is it from a small press, it's also—gasp!—not
in book form! Instead, it's published on paper like
a map and folds out to become a large crossword puzzle
grid with snippets of stories written in each square.
By following the grids vertically or horizontally, different
stories with similar motifs are told. It may sound gimmicky,
but it's actually a rather fun read. (Yennie Cheung)
[See
the HBC review]
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