Reds Holiday Shopping Ideas for Book Lovers!

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Since we've now left Thanksgiving in the dust, it's time to start thinking about holiday gifts. And if you're bookish the way the Reds are (and I'm assuming so, if you're reading this blog!), we have some ideas for you bibliophiles out there!

First off, something free!

Penguin Random House is having a contest for copies their beautiful classics, with new covers illustrated by Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co. Aren't they gorgeous? Today's the last day you can enter, so don't dawdle!



And three runners-up will receive ALICE IN WONDERLAND, celebrating its 150th anniversary!




For the writer in your life, I found these fab pencils.... (Ordered for the Kiddo's stocking...)





If you'd like something festively bookish to carry your new pencils (or, you know your regular stuff), this book-illustrated pouch is gorgeous (and keeps lead and ink and whatnot from getting on things in your bag).



And for the mystery fan who has everything, I recommend the new ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES — a boxed three-volume set with gorgeous illustrations of all of Doyle's stories, as well as annotated goodies to enjoy.





Reds, what books and bookish gifts are you giving (or do you want) for the holidays?





RHYS BOWEN: I know one bookish gift I've already put on my own wish list. I'm a big fan of Kate Morton and she's just come out with a new book called The Lake House. And I already have a signed copy of another book for one of my daughters, but I can't tell you what it is because she reads this page sometimes. I've just realized my whole family reads this page so I can't tell you any other brilliant suggestions. For my birthday my brother gave me a beautiful fountain pen in natural Tasmanian wood. My kind of gift!



SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Rhys is being quite modest, as her Christmas book, AWAY IN A MANGER, just came out — but more on that on Saturday!


HALLIE EPHRON: I lust after lovely pens and pencils, but I know better -- I lose them too fast. One of my favorite gifts for readers and writers is personalized stationery. I know, from another era. But because use email and messaging so much, an actual handwritten letter has more meaning. Love the designs on tinyprints.com. And is there the equivalent of Netflix for audio books?


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, gosh, thank you. You remind me I have to think about this. Yes, I love pens and pencils, too, and paper. And notebooks! I found some wonderful notebooks. They're made by a non-profit called More Than Words, from the covers of old video boxes. You know? The covers are the fronts of the cardboard boxes that held video rentals, and they've been made into spiral bound notebooks. So brilliant. I love them! I have Sabrina, For Your Eyes Only, and Only The Valiant. And Spiderman. And the good part--they are so inexpensive, I'll actually use them. I have a whole stash of gorgeous notebooks that I don't use because (so silly) I think oh, what I'm writing is not important enough. So the secret--use cool but inexpensive notebooks--I'm not afraid to write in them!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: My daughter and I made a stop at Barnes & Noble last week. Coloring books galore! I have asked for one called Hidden Paris--so fun. AND I saw the Robert Galbraith book and the new Jim Butcher (beginning of a new series.) Both big doorstoppers of books, the kind I love to get for Christmas. Oh, those are all for me, aren't they? Well, there are lots of books by fellow REDS to give to other people...

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh grand ideas, which sent me on an ordering spree...no pens or pencils for us, though, we lose them like Hallie! I love the idea of the notebooks, Hank, but I couldn't find them online. And Debs, you reminded me that my daughter was itching for coloring books--found them very soothing when in the hospital by my mother-in-law's bedside. For John, David Lebovitz's THE PERFECT SCOOP and the Ben and Jerry ice cream book. (You can guess what else Debs talked me in to!) I'm also giving signed copies of Kristan Higgan's IF YOU ONLY KNEW (for lovers of women's fiction), Isabel Allende's THE JAPANESE LOVER, and 100 YEARS OF BEST SHORT STORIES, edited by Lorrie Moore. I'm going to have to put the Kate Morton on my list!

Some other ideas: for short story crime fiction lovers, RED DAWN, for mystery and foodie people, THE MWA COOKBOOK, and for Florida and nature lovers, my own sister Susan Cerulean's gorgeous book, COMING TO PASS.




Julia Spencer-Fleming: The top item on my Christmas list is definitely book-related: the DVD of the first season of POLDARK. I forswore watching it so I could get more work done on my own book, (so that didn't work out quite as planned...) in exchange for the promise that someone in the family would get me the televised version of Winston Graham's beloved saga. My interest is strictly literary, and has nothing to do with hot Aidan Turner.



A book-lover's present I may be giving this year: one of Storiarts' book scarves. They're beautiful cotton knit infinity scarves silkscreened with excerpts from Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austin, Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Dickens, among other classics. A new twist (no pun intended): this year, Storiarts is offering custom-order scarves with the text of your choice. So you can give your favorite author a wearable form of her own book!


SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: For more ideas, check out Lucy Burdette's Pinterest board, called Mystery Books as Stocking Stuffers.

Lovely Reds, what books or writing things are you planning on giving (or would like to receive) this year? Tell us in the comments!

Color Me Happy

RHYS BOWEN: Rhys: For my birthday last month my daughter Clare sent me three coloring books. Adult coloring books (no, there were no racy pictures to color, although that may be the next step) but complicated designs that require lots of concentration.

I’ve been trying them when I sit up in bed at night, trying to wind down and fall asleep and you know, they are addicting. So far I’ve tried marker pens (didn’t like so much. Too harsh and hard to work with), colored pencils and watercolor pencils. I haven’t tried crayons because they are probably too fat for the intricate details. I'm not sure how relaxing they are, because there is a lot of concentration involved in staying within the lines, but they stop worrying thoughts from flying around my head!

I gather coloring has become a BIG THING. There are coloring clubs in the same way that there are book clubs and quilting circles. I can see it would work well as an activity that one could do mindlessly while chatting with friends. As long as a little wine and nibbles are involved, I’m all for it.

Given all the craft-centered cozy mysteries there are, I just wish I had a little time to write "Color Me Dead."  I'm sure somebody will soon!

So I’m dying to know who else has taken up coloring as an activity and whether you find it works to relieve tension. And if not coloring, what? I know some people quilt, some knit, embroider.  Do tell all, dear Reds and Readers: what do you do to wind down, relieve tension and indulge in playfulness?

HALLIE EPHRON: Coloring would give me an anxiety attack. I'm no better at staying within the lines than I was when I was 8. I like to play bridge -- does that count? And read the bridge column. And the comics in the newspaper. If it weren't for the bridge column and the comics, I could easy go with e-only news.

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh my coloring, how did this become a thing again? Who thinks up these new trends? Right now my mother-in-law is very sick and several people are coloring in her room--and finding it very stress-reducing. I would rather read, if I can concentrate or have something gripping. But I love COLOR ME DEAD--Maybe it's already in production Rhys?

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Kaye had a great post on the coloring craze recently! I must confess I'm curious. I picture adult coloring like monks making mandalas — very Zen. I guess I should try it! But Lucy, I'm with you — I think I'd rather read or take a walk.... Lately to reduce tension I've been taking a lot of walks. That's not exactly playful, though, is it... Hmmm.... Maybe coloring is worth a try. I think we have some glitter pens somewhere.....

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  I'm afraid..I cannot even face this . It makes me anxious, and I have to say I have no desire to color at all. All those little blank spaces? Not at all. It's anxiety-INDUCING to me . Is there a right way to do it? What do I get when I'm finished? A pretty picture that I did not design? Then what DO I do with it?  ::Shaking head::  I agree about talking walks, that's one of my favorite things. But coloring?   What do I do to relive stress? I will let you know when I come up with something.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I was intrigued by Kaye's coloring book post, too, and bought one, and some markers. Have I colored a single picture? No. When exactly did I think I would do this? Sigh. It's a lovely idea, though, and I loved to color when I was a kid, so the concept is soothing in a nostalgic way.  But if I was sitting somewhere with time to kill, I would be reading, something, anything, always. And if I could manage to do something fairly mindless with my hands, I'd work on my completely neglected quilting project... Too many things, not enough time.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: If I were going to reduce stress via making "artwork," I think I'd do paint-by-numbers. At least then you get a kitschy picture to frame and hang. As a matter of fact, you could do an entire wall of ironic retro "art" projects - those colored-string-around-nails pictures of owls, the crushed-crystal-inside -the-outlines poodle dogs, macrame hangings... if I had a midcentury aesthetic going on in my house, I would definitely do it. But coloring books? I'm afraid they seem pointless, which is probably a sad comment on the adult mind.  Just picturing myself sitting at the table and coloring, I can feel my anxiety level rising - I'm wasting time! I could be doing something I need to do.

Knitting and needlepoint at least lets you pretend you'll have something useful at the end. And I enjoy board games and card games, but the fun part is socializing (and trash talking) with the other players. Maybe that's what would make coloring fun for me - do it with a group of people. With cocktails. Drunk competitive coloring sounds like a lot of fun.

RHYS: Anyone up for drunk-competitive coloring? So who has tried coloring as a relaxing occupation? I am still not sure whether I will ever take to it. They now make small books and I can see doing it on a long plane flight (but would I look stupid sitting on a plane coloring?) I still think that kitting or crochet will be my choice of mindless activity when I want busy-work to do with my hands on long evenings or plane flights. Any other suggestions, Reds?