Gift ideas for readers, 2008

See what the library staff is recommending in our annual Books Librarians Give list!

Not enough ideas for you?  Check our our lists from 2007, 2006, and 2005.

And here’s more:

Greater Boston (WGBH-TV)’s list of holiday books (and movies), with local authors and Mary Cotton from Newtonville Books–video of the show is here.

The Books of ‘08 from WBUR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

NPR has a whole page of “Best Books” lists, covering booksellers’ picks, fiction, crime & mystery novels, graphic novels, foreign fiction, cookbooks, and more.

And Book Group Buzz has a roundup of a few more lists here.

Interestingly, none of these lists overlap very much, demonstrating that there’s a great book out there for everyone!

Books make great gifts?  Why?  Read more here (with more gift book ideas, too!).

Do you have holiday gift favorites?  Click here to comment and add your own suggestions!

Happy reading!

Baudolino, by Umberto Eco

A window into the history of 12th century Europe.  Frederick Barbarossa is a main character in this novel as well as some of the fantastic creatures that medieval people believed really existed. Baudolino travels from Italy to Paris to the mythical kingdom of Prester John.

RATING: * * * A good read
Reviewed by: KH

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Do you like audiobooks?

If you enjoy listening to audiobooks–whether checked out of the library on tape or CD, or downloaded–you might be interested in the Audiobooker blog.  Written by a “teacher, librarian, and audiobook addict,” the blog has listening suggestions, links to free downloadable audiobooks, information on MP3 players, and more.  Happy listening!

Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstars, by Bill Berlioni and Jim Hanrahan; foreword by Bernadette Peters

What do you get when you present an ex-farm kid trying to earn his Equity Card with the challenge to both find and then train a dog for the Goodspeed Opera House’s new production–the musical Annie.  You get a book full of engaging stories about a theatrical animal trainer whose students include not only dogs, but also cats, pigs, and even a white rat. If you love animals or the theater, you will find this book totally engrossing.  The story of Annie’s Sandy alone is worth the price of admission.

RATING: * * * * Very, very good
Reviewed by: veagenlib

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