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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2009 > December > 05
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Some novel gift ideas for you…
There are so many fantastic book-related gift ideas, it’s difficult to narrow them down to a few choices. Here are my favorites:
“National Geographic Illustrated Birds of North America-Folio Edition” by John L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderer (National Geographic, 502 pages, $50). This stunning coffee table book is a bird lover’s dream. There are more than 4,000 full-color, original paintings of birds. All 967 species of North American birds are included. There are more than 700 maps indicating the ranges for each species. This is a valuable reference guide and a magnificent work of art.
“The National Parks — America’s Best Idea” by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns (Knopf, 403 pages, $50). Ken Burns has carved out a niche as one of our greatest documentary filmmakers.
This is the companion volume to his recent PBS series “The National Parks.” It contains incredible photos and a wealth of historical information about these pristine treasures of nature.
“The World in Vogue — People, Parties, Places” edited by Alexandra Kotur (Knopf. 386 pages, $75). Vogue Magazine has chronicled the social lives of the rich and famous for decades. Vogue employs gifted photographers. This collection captures amazing moments with beautiful people, and the lavish lives that they lived.
“A New Literary History of America” edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors (Belknap Harvard, 1,095 pages, $49.95) This fascinating collection of more than 200 essays covers 500 years of American culture filtered through our literature.
It begins with the first mention of the word “America” in 1507 and ends with the election of Barack Obama. The editors solicited contributions from a wide range of our leading thinkers.
They cover subjects as diverse as the Salem witchcraft trials, Emily Dickinson, the Daytonian Paul Lawrence Dunbar, the “Wizard of Oz,” “Tarzan,” Alcoholics Anonymous and Dr. Seuss. Readers of this masterpiece can consider themselves well read.
Garner’s Modern American Usage — The Authority on Grammar, Usage and Style” by Bryan A. Garner (Oxford, 942 pages, $45). Do you care about choosing the right words? Are proper grammar, punctuation and pronunciation important to you? If so, buy this for yourself or bestow it on another logophile.
“Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary” (Oxford, 3,984 pages, $395). Have you ever found a gift so fabulous you just had to have it for yourself? This is the one for me.
Fifty years in the making, this first historical thesaurus is an astounding intellectual achievement. Do you know that there are 264 synonyms for the word “immediately”? This two-volume set covers more than 920,000 words while going back to the earliest forms of our language.
“Novel-T Literary Baseball Jerseys.” These whimsical T-shirts offer the wearer the opportunity to “wear your read.” You can sport the jersey of one of your literary heroes. They have designs that feature Walt Whitman, Henry Thoreau, Edgar Alan Poe, “Tom Sawyer,” “ Huck Finn,” “Moby Dick” and more. Check them out at www.novel-t.com.
Vick Mickunas
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