Making a (Book) List and Checking it Twice — Books We're Giving this Holiday Season

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: One of my favorite books from childhood is Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. It isn't a Christmas book per se, but the first sentence is " 'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo.'

And I agree with Jo March. Giving people presents —preferably books — as gifts is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. And, even though my life is somewhat head over feet with family and work these days, I'm actually on top of shopping this year! 

Here are some of the books I'm giving this year:

The Hubby — Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Maurice Sendak and Ralph Manheim. Not only are we both huge Sendak fans (both books and artwork), Noel MacNeal's newest show: Mouse King: The Untold Story of the Nutcracker is making its debut this holiday season in Miami. The book will make a great remembrance of this very Nutcracker-y and Mouse-y year.

The Kiddo — The current obsession is Adam Gidwiz's A Tale Dark And Grimm, and the last book in the trilogy, The Grimm Conclusion, will definitely be under the tree. It?s a fantastic series and one we've enjoyed reading together as a family. It's funny and irreverent, even while staying close to the original Grimm brothers' fairy tales. Not for the faint-of-heart, but perfect for kids who want a little humor and gore with their adventures.

The Mother-in-law — Miss Edna, aka Grandmama, reads mysteries and thrillers from the library voraciously on her e-reader, so I?m not going to get her books. But I think the perfect gift for a crime aficionado is Mystery Scene Magazine. 

Established in 1985, Mystery Scene Magazine is the oldest, largest, and most authoritative guide to the crime fiction genre. Our lively, expert coverage ranges from past mystery masters to today's top talents and tomorrow's bright new stars. We report on novels, of course, but also films, TV shows, audio-books, kid's mysteries, short stories, reference works, and much more.

Can't wait to see what great reads it inspires throughout the year!

LUCY BURDETTE: Books are my favorite thing to give and get. I'm not going to give the particulars for fear SOMEONE might be reading, but here are a few I'm giving: Sujata Massey's THE SLEEPING DICTIONARY, Kristan Higgins, THE RIGHT MATCH, AN ASTRONAUT'S GUIDE TO LIFE ON EARTH, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. There are others that I can't remember... and I'm hoping for the new Wally Lamb and Donna Tartt--oh the list could go on and on! Luckily my birthday comes in January so I can make another list:)

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: This is SO HARD. First, you're assuming I'm organized enough to have figured this out by now, which is--wrong.  I did get a signed Ken Follett for my step-son Paul. (He and Jonathan love to read spy books, who doesn't? So now they each have their own copy.)  For my Dad. I think I'll get that book on Beethoven's Ninth--even though my Dad probable knows just as much about it!  I'm drawn to the new Doris Kearns Goodwin book about Teddy Roosevelt..maybe for Jonathan? (Yeah, exactly, then I'll sneak it.) (In my spare time.) And I'm trying to decide just how pushy it is to send THE WRONG GIRL to far-flung relatives.  And I'm tempt to get that One Hundred Things That Changed the World book--is that cool? Or holiday hype?

HALLIE EPHRON: Books are a big part of every season at our house -- in fact, our collection of books is rapidly pushing us OUT of the house. My husband is the book buyer. He came back last weekend with the most gorgeous coffee table book of Steve McCurry's photographs of South and Southeast Asia. Spectacular color pictures fill each page. It's hard to get mad at him when he brings back a book like that. For him, best buys are beautiful illustrated children's books or anything about Brooklyn. And for my son-in-law, anything Star Wars or Hobbity-y. For my daughters, chewy women's fiction. Then I get to borrow them back.

RHYS BOWEN: I am a great re-reader of old favorites--all the Agatha Christies, The Lord of the Rings, Kate Morton... any book that gave me pleasure the first time around I will re-read when life gets stressful. I love giving and receiving books but I have to be quite specific if I ask John to put a book under the tree for me. Or I'll find the military history of WW II or something that HE'd like on the shelf.  Last year as a stocking stuffer I started my son-in-law Tom on Daniel Silva and he's read everything Silva has written, so this year I want to find a new writer to hook him on. Any suggestions?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Rhys, he might like Robert Ludlum/Eric Van Lustbader. Classic spy novels brought up to date for the post-Cold War world. Or, for a different twist, how about Barry Eisler's John Rain series? Lots of action, moral ambiguity and exotic locations.

As for what I'm giving - well, Ross and the Smithie read this site, so I can't give anything away for this year. In years past, I've often given Ross a matched series - for his birthday, I found an almost complete set of Winston Churchill's History of WWII in the original 1951 Book-of-the-Month club edition (yes, collectors, I know it doesn't count for collecting purposes.) For the Smithie, I tend to get a stack of paperbacks for fun reads or that One Special Book she wanted, signed. One year I got her the latest Sookie Stackhouse mystery signed by Charlaine Harris.

For The Boy, who rows for Trinity College (Hartford), a signed copy of FLAT WATER TUESDAY by Ron Irwin, who once rowed for Trinity College. Not a vanity project - the book was blurbed by Nobel Prize-winner J.M. Coetzee. For my sister's little boys, some fun science books from National Geographic (20% off when you buy three or more!) Finally, for my newest nephew, who joined the family by adoption after a long, long wait by his parents, THE SEA CHEST by Maine author Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by Mary GrandPre. It's a beautiful tale of a baby who arrives at a lonely lighthouse station floating in a sea chest and who becomes one of the family.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Julia, I highly recommend Blood Over Water by James Livingston and David Livingston, for The Boy.  The brothers rowed in the Boat Race the same year, one for Oxford and one for Cambridge. Fascinating story.  I later found out that my English agent's husband rowed for Oxford the same year.

And, oh, Susan, I have the Sendak Nutcracker! It's one of my treasures (a bit battered, but well-loved.) That's a nice reminder that it would make a lovely gift. 

Last year (not for Christmas) a friend gave me the 75th Anniversary edition of The Hobbit--Rhys, if you don't own it, put it on your Christmas list.  It's gorgeous, and has the original Tolkien drawings. 

I love to give books--last year everyone who reads got The Twelve Clues of Christmas! This year I haven't made up my mind what I'm giving, but I think the new C.C. Bennison Father Tom Christmas book may go on my want list…

Are books a big part of your holiday season? Which ones do you like to reread? Give as gifts? Buy for yourself?

Charlaine Harris reveals all

And finally, Charlaine, will you answer our Jungle Red questions?

JRW: Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot?

Oh, Miss Marple. I love her.

JRW: Sex or violence?

Now that’s difficult. Violence, I think.

JRW: Pizza or chocolate?

Chocolate.

JRW: Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan? (We won't even include Sean Connery because we know the answer. Don't we?)
Daniel Craig.

JRW: Katherine Hepburn or Audrey Hepburn?
Audrey.

JRW: First person or Third person?
First.

JRW: Prologue or no prologue?
No prologue.

JRW: Your favorite book as a child?
“Jane Eyre.”

JRW: Making dinner or making reservations?
Making dinner. Though if there was anywhere here that took reservations, I’d vote the other way.


And also: the Jungle Red Quiz. Tell us four things about yourself. Only three can be true. We'll try to guess what's false.

1. My office décor includes headstone pictures.

2. I have skeleton flamingos in my front yard.

3. I set up a haunted house at Halloween.

4. I have a customized set of fangs.

Okay, Jungle Red readers...which one is false?

And thanks, Charlaine! And congratulations on a second season of True Blood.

(Tomorrow--come meet Lori Andrews! Her real life is right out of a thriller...and her new book IMMUNITY is--a real thriller.)

ON VAMPIRES

"Sookie Stackhouse, the series’ heroine, is just a hoot to write..."

*** Charlaine Harris in 2003

So. You've see it, right? True Blood on HBO? All of us who were fans of Charlaine Harris (and her Sookie Stackhouse, among all the other terrific characters she's created) are thrilled to see the "uniquely compelling" (as one glowing review put it) series on TV!

With Anna Pacquin as Sookie, and...well, if you haven't watched yet, do. Sunday at 9. You'll never look at a vampire the same way.

Well, you know what I mean.

And it's a true joy to read the books--she's on her eighth Sookie, with more to come next year. (Two are now on the New York Times Best seller list!)

Five Auroras--and more to come. Lily Bard. And some wonderful anthologies, including a new one for Christmas.

Charlaine was gracious enough to chat with us..probably trailing fans in her wake. She's hilarious and generous. And she says she's an overnight success--it just took 25 years. Congratulations.

HANK: You've created an amazing parallel universe in your Sookie Stackhouse world. It's so--consistent. And quite believable. Hilarious. Do hold the whole world in your head? Or are you creating it as you go?

CHARLAINE: My head's not big enough to hold the whole world, after nine books (the ninth will be out next May). I've got a contract employee who's working on the "bible" for the series, to help me keep track of what I've said. I do create as I go, which is the fun part.

HANK: But let me ask. The rules for vampires...and how they behave and what they can do. Did you think of it all at moment one? Or is that evolving? And do you have to keep track of it all, somehow?

CHARLAINE: Yes, it evolves all the time. There are some questions I'm still debating within myself, and if I can't come up with an answer that feels right, I skirt the issue in the books until I can be sure of having the right answer.

HANK: Oh, I wish I could get you to tell us about the questions. But I suppose that would ruin it. You're getting a raft of new attention now, because of the TV series, for Sookie. But many fans have been reading about your telepathic waitress for years. And before (and during) her, Lily Bard, and before (and during ) her, Aurora Teagarden. Your brain must be very crowded. How do you juggle your worlds and characters?

CHARLAINE: I have to get "into character" for each one. It can be jarring to switch from one protagonist to another. When I'm about to start a new book, very often I read the last book in that series again to get myself rolling. Since I most often write in the first person, I have to slip on a particular persona to see the action unfolding as the book progresses.

HANK: So one day, the phone rings. And it's--well, how did you learn HBO wanted to make a TV series about Sookie Stackhouse? (And by the way, how did you come up with her name? Was she ever named anything else?)

CHARLAINE: I'd had an option on the Sookie books before. When it was about to expire, there were three offers for the books. My agent described all three to me and I talked to the interested parties on the telephone before deciding Alan's was the best fit.

Sookie was the name of my grandmother's best friend. It's an old southern nickname. I found the surname "Stackhouse" in a phonebook, and it just seemed to fit.

HANK: The first time you saw the finished product of episode one, say. When was that? Where? What did you think? Can you tell us just one cool secret thing about the shooting writing editing or stars of the show? (And what book is Gran reading in episode 1? I squinted to see the cover, but couldn't make it out.)

CHARLAINE: HBO sent me a copy of the first two episodes when they were still a bit rough. I was riveted. It was so exciting seeing my characters on the screen, and every now and then there was some dialogue straight from the book! But there were enough things I HADN'T written to keep me on my toes, because I wouldn't be sure how Alan played it.

And the sex scene was startling, of course, because although I knew Jason's character, I'd never followed him into the bedroom before, since Sookie never did. Gran is reading "Last Scene Alive," one of my Aurora Teagarden books.

Secret things? I wouldn't tell secrets, but I can tell you that Anna is as lovely in person as she is on the screen, Stephen has wonderful manners, Sam is a true son of the south, Nelsan trained at Juillard, Rutina trained as a dancer and is married, and they are all happy to be working for Alan Ball.

HANK: Your family must be so proud of you--you've been such a mainstay in the mystery world. Now--is your life a lot different? What's next for you?

CHARLAINE: I don't know yet how my life will change as a result of the TV show. I hope it won't change much, because I'm very happy the way I am now. I think my family is proud of me, and I am of them. I am the most incredibly lucky person.What's next for me? Writing more books, I guess. The work is always there, just waiting to be done. I think I'm more nervous now about it than I was before. I never felt like anyone was looking, before!

(Charlaine blogs on Femmes Fatales http://femmesfatales.typepad.com)

Thanks, Charlaine! You're really quite amazing. And inspirational.Tomorrow--Charlaine agrees to take the Jungle Red quiz! And she'll let us decide which of four things about her is false! (And being a vampire is not one of them...)