Holiday Gift Guide: Cakepops Holidays by Bakerella

Bakerella is Angie Dudley, the popular and adventurous blogger whose confections have formed a revolution. It’s possible that she didn’t invent them, but she certainly has done more than her share to not only bring them to the masses, but also to push the very boundaries of cake on a stick.

More than 800,000 copies of her first book about cakepops are in print. High time then to follow up with a

Holiday Gift Guide: Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas written and illustrated by Melanie Watt

The holidays are a veritable hotbed of hazards. As the publisher of Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas (KidsCan) tells us, it’s the season for “worrying, planning, decorating, wrapping, entertaining, caroling and, worst of all, fruitcake!”

Fortunately, in order to help out with all the frightening possibilities, beloved Scaredy Squirrel has compiled a “Safety Guide for Scaredies” in what I

Holiday Gift Guide: A Shtinky Little Christmas by Patrick McDonnell

Those who love Patrick McDonnell’s “Mutts” comic strip featuring Earl the Dog and Mooch the cat will get a kick out of A Shtinky Little Christmas (Andrews McMeel).

Earl and Mooch find a lost kitten in a garbage can, name it Shtinky Pudding and try to give it shelter. Comic-style hijinx ensues, but there’s a happy ending and, on the way there, we are given one of the best take away lines in a

Holiday Gift Guide: The Official NASCAR Trivia Book by John C. Farrell

Clearly, if the person on your list is a big NASCAR fan, there are only so many gift ideas available, especially if you live off the beaten NASCAR track. An easy (and easy to ship!) answer is The Official NASCAR Trivia Book (Fenn & M&S) by NASCAR insider John C. Farrell.

As much of a game as it is a book, as the title suggests, The Official NASCAR Trivia Book rounds up a whole lot of NASCAR

Holiday Gift Guide: Waffles by Dawn Yanagihara

Who needs a whole book about waffles? After all, on the surface of things, how much can be done with the waffle-y form? But in chef and cookbook editor Dawn Yanagihara’s first book, Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple (Chronicle) you see the waffle in what would seem to be all possible forms. And it’s wonderful!



The waffles of my own childhood were delicious but super simple affairs. They came from

Holiday Gift Guide: The Judge and the Lady by Marlyn Horsdal

Author, editor and one-time publisher, Marlyn Horsdal, pulls a page out of British Columbian history for her latest novel, The Judge and the Lady (Touchwood).



It is 1870 and beautiful Eleanor Wentworth arrives in the coastal city of Victoria from London just in time to lower her expectations. How can the fledgling city at the edge of frontier ever find its place in society? Though her first

Holiday Gift Guide: Reel Terror: The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films by David Konow

It should not be surprising that the author of the definitive guide to heavy metal music should come back with another, similar guide, this time devoted to what some would say is the film world’s heavy metal equivalent.

Reel Terror: The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films (St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne) takes a long, loving look behind the scenes at the century

Holiday Gift Guide: Seriously Simple Parties by Diane Rossen Worthington

Whether you choose Seriously Simple Parties (Chronicle Books) as a gift or to complete your personal holiday schedule, Diane Rossen Worthington’s 20th cookbook hits home. The tone here is light, the recipes well laid out and carefully chosen and the food itself reflective of a culture that has gone through a lot of changes since the author’s earliest efforts. Best of all, in spirit, it answers

Holiday Gift Guide: A Year of Writing Dangerously by Barbara Abercrombie

The idea behind A Year of Writing Dangerously (New World Library) is to provide, as the subtitle says, “365 Days of Inspiration & Encouragement.” And it does.

Every day, seasoned author Barbara Abercrombie offers a single page that contains a relevant quote plus an essay, anecdote or even a question or thoughts, all about writing and all intended to get your juices flowing. As Abercrombie writes

Holiday Gift Guide: Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr and Chad Sarno

It wouldn’t be Christmas without the latest fad diet cookbook. This year, the raddest fad diet is -- wait for it -- health. And fad healthful eating is springing up all over in the form of vegan and “plant-based diet” cookbooks.

Nowhere is the fad as pretty and shiny than it is in Crazy Sexy Kitchen (Hay House). In some ways, the name says it all.

The book follows up the New York Times

Holiday Gift Guide: Seeing Red: The True Story of Blood by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Many parents of kids with active brains are familiar with Tanya Lloyd Kyi’s work. Kyi’s writing is sharp and her topics are targeted, and betray both the author’s own natural curiosity as well as a way of writing for children that manages to be calm, informative and interesting all at once.

Her most recent book, Seeing Red: The True Story of Blood (Annick Press), is a perfect example.
Blood

Holiday Gift Guide: One Dish at a Time by Valerie Bertinelli

Though the title is an obvious nod to the 1970s sitcom she starred in, Valerie Bertinelli’s One Dish at a Time (Rodale) would stand on its own in a cookbook competition, though it’s true Bertinelli’s celebrity status is what will get the book attention.

Since most of the actress’s earliest fans are now of an age to have children of their own, it seems possible that this book will be a popular

Holiday Gift Guide: Books to Die For edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke

As much as readers may enjoy selecting their own literary diversions, they’re also curious to know what novels authors themselves have enjoyed. Which makes Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the
World’s Greatest Mystery Novels (Atria/Emily Bestler), a 560-page compilation of tributes to more
than 120 memorable works of crime, mystery and thriller fiction, so delightful.

Holiday Gift Guide: American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s edited by Gary K. Wolfe

When I pulled American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s (Library of America) out of the box, I gave a little “whoop” of delight. Beautifully presented in a boxed, two-volume set, the packaging instantly evokes the most tantalizing volumes of my childhood.

This anthology includes nine groundbreaking works from the infant age of novels of science fiction. The works included here

Holiday Gift Guide: Jack Kerouac Collected Poems

Looking over our shoulders, it’s easy to underestimate the poetic art of Jack Kerouac. We remember little beyond On the Road, one of the defining works of the Beat Generation. The book celebrated a life of drugs and jazz on the road in an elegant stream of consciousness screed. Helping the idea that there was little to the writer beyond The Road is the fact that Kerouac himself died too young. He

Holiday Gift Guide: Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin

The title warns you not to expect high art and, in case you were ever in doubt, the cover confirms it. Yes, this is a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey. Of course it is. But there is a surprise or two left in store: in a market that seems clotted with mashups and parodies, Fifty Shames of Earl Grey (Da Capo) actually exceeds all expectations.

This is due entirely to the rapier wit of author, Andrew

Holiday Gift Guide: Florence: Art and Architecture and Venice: The Golden Centuries

If various reports are to be believed, the recession is drawing to a close. Even so, money is tight, gifts are precious and travel is dear. That might mean a lot of the things, but to me it means that gorgeous, elegant and rich books about wonderful places are going to be among the top holiday time gifts this year. How could they not be? Even an expensive book is a tiny fraction of the cost of a

SF/F: The Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois

The 29th publication of The Year’s Best Science Fiction (St. Martin’s Press) edited by Gardner Dozois annual needs little announcement, yet not discussing it at least a bit would seem like an oversight. Every year, Dozois rounds up the very best of SF/F from the previous year, offering readers the chance to see what genre masters are up to plus giving us a glimpse of where things are headed with

Holiday Gift Guide: 100 Grey Cups: This Is Our Game by Stephen Brunt

100 Grey Cups (McClelland & Stewart) strikes me as the very portrait of a gift book. It’s good. Sure it is. But, more than that, it’s embracing. You get that even non-readers would love this book, provided they love the topic. 100 Grey Cups is gorgeous, well-designed, but also comprehensive, a balanced, interesting and maybe even a perfect look at that most esoteric of topics: the 100 times the

Holiday Gift Guide: True Blood: Eats, Drinks, and Bites from Bon Temps by Gianna Sobol and Alan Ball

True Blood: Eats, Drinks, and Bites from Bon Temps (Chronicle Books) represents the ultimate creative full circle. What is now an immensely popular television series began as the Southern Vampire Mystery Series by Charlaine Harris. The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, debuted in 2001. Then came True Blood the television series in 2008. And now, four years later, we have the -- wait for