Curl up with a classic or cut loose with the latest best seller.
It’s hard to imagine anyone on a holiday gift list who wouldn’t enjoy some kind of book, whether it be a quiet, inspirational read or a rip-roaring comedy. In fact, with the addition of calendars, journals, mugs and other non-book paraphernalia available at most bookstores these days, you could probably hang at your local bookstore awhile and pick up gifts for almost everyone on your list.
Most books listed below are available at bookstore chains, such Borders Books, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks or Crown Books, or they can be ordered for you.
For a wide variety of special-interest books, try specialty bookstores, like Afrocentric Bookstore (333 S. State St., 312-939-1956), Women & Children First (5233 N. Clark St., 773-769-9299), Something Wicked mystery bookstore (816 Church St., Evanston, 847-328-1300) or Inner Eye Metaphysical Bookstore (415 Crescent Blvd., Lombard, 630-691-8685).
Poetry: For the best of the classics, check out “The Top 500 Poems” (Columbia University Press, $29.95), which chronologically arranges the most popular poems of all time, based on how often they appear in anthologies. An appendix lists them in order of popularity (No. 1 is William Blake’s “The Tiger”) and there is an index of poets’ names, and an index of titles and first lines. If someone could have only one poetry book, this would be the one.
A contemporary anthology? It doesn’t get any trendier than “The Magnetic Poetry Book of Poetry” (Workman Publishing, $13.95), which compiles quirky, offbeat poetry created by common folks using Magnetic Poetry Kits. This spiral-bound book includes 100 word tiles with a magnetized back cover so you can create your own poems and dream of being in the next anthology.
Romance: For classic romance, it doesn’t get any better than Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights.” Heathcliff, Catherine, the moors . . . sigh. Other good bets are Daphne duMaurier’s mysterious “Rebecca” or Jane Austen’s light-hearted “Emma,” about a meddling, self-assured young English lady.
The modern version of “Emma” is “Clueless” (Archway Paperback, $4.99), a young adult novel by H.B. Gilmour, based on the film. A best-selling adult romance is Charles Frazier’s “Cold Mountain” (Atlantic Monthly Press, $24), an updated Odyssey about a Civil War soldier’s search for his beloved.
Horror: For classics in horror, turn to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” or Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” or go back to the current master’s first best seller from 1974, Stephen King’s “Carrie” (Penguin, $6.99). For a ’90s kind of scary story, try Patricia Cornwell’s best-selling “Unnatural Exposure” (Putnam, $25.95), about a serial killer who makes contact through the Internet.
Murder: Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” (Random House, $12) still stands up as a chilling portrait of random murder and psychopathic personalities. A modern book about real murder is the best-selling non-fiction book “Murder in the Garden of Good and Evil” (Random House, $25), by John Berendt.
Maps: For a unique map book of old, try the just-released “The Mercator Atlas of Europe,” which reproduces a 16th Century atlas that was compiled by Gerard Mercator as a touring map for a young crown prince. It includes 17 maps, suitable for framing, and essays by map scholars. It is available for $245 from the publisher, Walking Tree Press, at 888-373-1570. “Reader’s Digest Illustrated Great World Atlas” (Putnam, $40) offers updated maps that show political changes of the last decade throughout the world, with more than 400 illustrations and photographs.
Science fiction: Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land” (Berkley Books, $6.99) has become a well-loved classic tale of what society looks like when an alien tries to “grok” (understand) it. For contemporary aliens, go for one of the X-Files books, like Jane Goldman’s “The X-Files Book of the Unexplained.” Vol. 1 is a paperback (Harper Prism, $18.98).
