Artists also will love getting “Building Taliesin: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home of Love and Loss” by Ron McCrea. It’s part biography, part history, and it’s jam-packed with vintage pictures. How cool is that?
Even though the election is finished, your gift might want more, more more, so why not wrap up “Conspiracies and Secret Societies: The Complete Dossier, Second Edition” by Brad Steiger and Sherry Steiger. Yes, this book is updated, which means it’s filled with all new covert operations and spy-stuff. And for your giftee, that’s good stuff.
Another book your conspiracy fan might like is “Degree Mills” by Allen Ezell and Jon Bear, PhD. It’s a book about an industry that sells fake diplomas, and how you can educate yourself against fraudulent “experts” with faux degrees.
You also might want to look for “Bullspotting: Finding Facts in the Age of Misinformation” by Loren Collins. It’s a book about learning to winnow through the fact to spot a lie and vice versa. Good stuff, in this age of Internet “forwards,” don’t you think?
Sports
If there’s a baseball fan on your list, then you definitely need to wrap up “If You Were Only White: The Life of Leroy “Satchel” Paige” by Donald Spivey. This bio on one of sport’s greatest athletes starts at his birth in 1906 and moves through his talents on and off the field. For your ball fan, it’s a home run.
The duck hunter on your list will quack over “The Wild Duck Chase” by Martin J. Smith. It’s a book about the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, the hunters who love/hate it, and the competitors who vie to get their artwork on a stamp. If you don’t give this book as a gift, in fact, someone you love will cry fowl. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist).
Humor
With all the craziness of getting ready for the holidays, is there someone on your list who needs a good laugh? Then you’ll want to find “I Ate All Your Cookies (and Other Things You Wish You Could Tell Your Kids)” by Quinn Conroy. This is a hilarious book for Moms and Dads who need a few laughs, but beware: this is a book you’ll want to keep away from the kids!
Another book to find is “Sh*tty Mom: The Parenting Guide for The Rest of Us” by Laurie Kilmartin, Karen Moline, Alicia Ybarbo & Mary Ann Zoellner. Can your giftee handle the truth with a sense of humor? Then this book is perfect.
For your son, nephew, grandson or anybody who loves Dad (but rolls their eyes at him a lot), you’ll get a lot of smiles when you give “Are You Turning Into Your Dad?” by Joseph Piercy. This funny book is about all those things your giftee promised himself he’d never do… and he’s doing them anyhow. This is a perfect book, by the way, for a new father or dad of a teenager.
Photography lovers and jokers alike will love “Oddee Presents Photobombed!” by Beverly L. Jenkins. You know who they are: the strangers in the background of a photograph. Do they ruin a picture, or enhance it? Only your picture-taker knows for sure.
So you have a giftee who’s a lawyer — or a legal beagle wanna-be? Then wrap up “Weird U.S. Laws” by Winter Prosapio and Lisa Wojna. This book is all about those odd little laws we love to break or don’t even know we’re breaking. It’s one of those easy-to-browse books that makes it easy to give, too.
Health and medicine
Do you have a giftee who’s perpetually on a diet? Then wrap up “The Science of Skinny” by Dee McCaffrey, CDC. This book helps dieters explain how their body’s chemistry works, how food is turned into nutrition and calories, and how your giftee can start working with her metabolism instead of against it. Wrap it up with a spa gift certificate for a gift that’ll make her smile.
Losing weight and getting fit is serious work, but your giftee needs to lighten up sometime, right? So why not wrap up “Drop Dead Healthy” by A.J. Jacobs. This is the story of Jacobs’ attempt to do everything humanly possible to attain total health. It’s funny, it’s informative and it’s an excellent gift.
If there’s a parent of a special-needs child on your gift list, then “Father’s Day” by Buzz Bissinger is an excellent gift to give. It’s the story of Bissinger’s younger twin son, who is a savant gifted with extraordinary skills but is challenged otherwise. Tip: Wrap it with a box of tissue. It’s that kind of book.