Lucas Blogs About Books's Unhelpfully Specific Holiday Gift Guide

To clarify, these are books I gave to other people, which I guess is obvious from the fact that I only used two kinds of wrapping paper.

Is there any gift better than a book?

A book you'll actually read?

Fair point, Hypothetical Reader. Anyway, Christmas is coming up and I thought I might talk about some of the books I'm giving people as gifts and why.

Seems a tad indulgent.

Agreed.

For your sixteen-old-brother who never really seems that enthusiastic about reading:

I went with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. I think this book has a lot to offer, even to people who don't necessarily think of themselves as readers. First of all, it's a sci-fi/detective noir that deals with questions of environmentalism and what it means to be human. Dick isn't the world's greatest prose writer, but his work is often more about the ideas involved anyway. There's plenty of action and intrigue, plus there's a famous movie adaptation you can watch, and it's different enough from the book that you'll instantly be able to tell if your brother only watched the movie.

For your five-year-old goddaughter:

Llama Destroys the World written by Johnathan Stutzman and drawn by Heather Fox. This husband and wife team has created a fun and funny picture book that features everything required of a good book: llamas, black holes, poor decision making, and dancing. If you know someone who's silly, they'll probably like it.

For her three-year-old brother:

Did your parents ever read you Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton? Mine did. It's about a tractor named Katy who can be fitted with a snow plow and helps clear out the streets so that the city of Geopolis can function during a major snow storm. There isn't much of a story, but Burton was a masterful illustrator, as evidenced by the marginalia in the pages describing Katy's operating specs. Definitely a must for any kid who likes vehicles.

For your friend who likes fantasy and sci-fi that's a little more off the beaten path:

For this one, I picked The Golbin Emperor by Katharine Addison. I read it before I had a blog, but I would have filled the review under Books that Fan-fucking-tastic. It's the story of Maia, the half-goblin fifth son of an Elf emperor who suddenly finds himself on the throne after a tragic airship accident kills his father and four older half-brothers. It's relatively plotless, but it's a bildungsroman which is mostly about Maia figuring out his place in the world and learning how to be a good ruler. While I may think that "emperor" is a job that shouldn't exist, I do think that Addison does a good job of exploring what it might be like to suddenly be thrust into a position where you have so much influence over other people's lives and so little control over your own.

For the friend with whom you often trade wacky technical books:

That's right, I went with Ryan North's How to Invent Everything, which I reviewed right here. In this guidebook for the stranded time traveler, North describes how to invent such varied technologies as language, fire, computers, and steam engines. All in a quirky, engaging style that makes reading technical jargon a breeze.

For your cousin's precocious six-year-old:

This one is a bit of an oddity, a picture book with chapters: it's Chapter Two is Missing written by Josh Lieb and drawn by Kevin Cornell. This is something of a parody on classic mystery tropes: Chapter Two has gone missing, and it's up to the reader to figure out what's happened to it. I mean, it's pretty obvious, but that's part of the joke. But the art is striking and playful with lots of clever touches. Plus there's even message about courtesy and consideration that is stealthily tucked into the mystery's solution.

For your cousin's precocious eight-year-old:

I'm not as sure I did as good a job picking this one. But I'm going with the Prince and the Dressmaker written and drawn by Jen Wang. This tells the story of a young seamstress in 19th century Paris who is hired to help a prince pursue his secret interest in cross-dressing and gender fluidity. In addition to dealing with questions of gender expression in a kid friendly way, the book also deals with friendship and even hints that maybe monarchy is going out of style. Anyway, while I wouldn't say there's anything inappropriate about it, I'm not sure if this will end up being a hit or not, I'd say it's maybe aimed more at the precocious ten-year-old or non-precocious pre-teen. We'll see.

Well, that's this year's book-gifting round-up. If you need advice for a last-minute book gift for someone who isn't covered by any of those, you're on your own.

Merry Christmas! Or, you know, whatever other Winter holiday you might observe.