Gifts for the Book Lover

I love books and I could spend days writing about all of my favorite books, but I still have a lot of merry-making to do this holiday season. However, I wanted to share a few favorites of mine and I’m giving away a new children’s book signed by the author.  All you have to do is a leave a comment and tell me one of your favorite books.

I personally enjoy receiving books as a gifts and hope that you discover a new favorite book to give to someone or yourself this holiday season. I’ve covered several different categories and links to some of my past book reviews.

Cookbooks

Even though most recipes can be found on the internet today.  I still have a collection of cookbooks that I like to look through from time to time. There’s something to be said for holding a book in your hand and looking at glossy photos of enticing food.

Delicious Mornings is a new cookbook by a fellow blogger Dina from Buttercream Bakehouse.  The title is appropriate because Dina shares a variety of mouth-watering breakfast ideas from muffins and pancakes to egg dishes. Dina also shared some of her favorite baking products in a past post here.

I have two of  Ina Garten’s Cookbooks and everything I’ve made from them has been delicious.  I shared her pesto pea salad here.

One of my favorite places for lunch is Nordstrom’s Cafe.  I have two of their cookbooks which feature some of their popular dishes such as the Tomato Basil Soup.  I shared the recipe here. The cookbooks can be purchased at Nordstrom or on Amazon through other sellers.

Coffee-Table Books

I just recently purchased Kate Spade New York Things We Love.  This is a beautiful coffee-table book filled with colorful images of things that have inspired the Kate Spade brand over the years.   It’s intriguing to me since I also like to share things I love.

The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World  is a big beautiful book that will expand your horizons about the world we live in.

My family visited Washington, D.C. this past summer.  I intended on sharing some of my favorite things about our trip, but never got around it.  I guess I’ll be adding it to my 2015 list of things to share. We visited the National Portrait Gallery and photographs featured in the book American Cool were on exhibit.  When I got home I immediately ordered the book to remind me of our trip.  I’m not sure why it’s so expensive on Amazon, but I did not pay the price they are currently showing.

My Dad used to subscribe to National Geographic Magazine when I was younger and now my son receives it in the mail.  I have been a huge fan of their photography for many years and own a few of their coffee-table books such as In Focus and Through The Lens.

Children’s Books

Sea Dogs (and a Cat) by Susan W. Lyons is a new chapter book about the adventures of several dogs and a pesky cat named Mittens.  It’s a tale of friendship and adventure and full of little life lessons along the way.  Susan is my good friend’s mother and she graciously donated a signed copy of her book for me to give away.  If you are interested just leave me a comment and I will randomly draw a winner.  I will pick the winner on December 17 and notify you by email. Sea Dogs (and a cat) would make a great stocking stuffer and is written for roughly a third grade reading level.  I read the book and it’s a cute story I think elementary age children would love.

Where The Sidewalk Ends has been around for a long time and is a classic in my opinion.  I’ve never  been a huge fan of poetry, but as a child I loved this book and own almost every book Shel Silverstein has written.  The Giving Tree is another one of my favorites which I shared here.

Despite buying tons of books and reading to my children for years, neither one of them loved reading for pleasure when they were younger.  As teenagers though they enjoy reading a book every now and then.  The first chapter book series that my daughter really enjoyed reading was The Sisters Grimm Series.  If your child loves the television show Once Upon Time they will most likely love these books by Michael Buckley.  The age range is 8-12 years of age.

One of my sons’ favorite book series was a book series by Margaret Peterson Haddix.  The first in the series is Among The Hidden and the complete set can be found here.  The age range for this series is 8-12 year olds. 

Decorating Books

The Nesting Place is by McQuillyn Smith from the blog Nesting Place.  I recently started following (the Nester) and love how she encourages women to embrace the homes they are in.  The book shares many of her stories and struggles over the years.  She has moved 14 times in 18 years and many of them were rental properties.  Her beautiful and inspiring photos are proof that you can make a space beautiful even with limited funds.

Holly Becker is another blogger who has published books on decorating.  I own Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home.  It’s full of inspiring spaces and design advice.  Holly blogs at Decor8 and also teaches several blogging courses which are excellent.  I’ve shared information on them here.

The Handmade Home is yet another blog who has published books.  The Handmade Home Book Series of Art is filled with original art that you can use in your home.  You simply tear out the 8 x 10 sheet from the book and frame it.  I own the Art for the Eclectic Home and there is also Art for the Traditional and Contemporary Home.  I have one of the prints on my gallery wall which I will share in a post next month.  I also shared this book in this post. 

Last but not least is the Pottery Barn Design Collection of books.  I own five of them.  I am always inspired looking through these decorating books and the Pottery Barn catalog. Pottery Barn Home is a good one to start with.

The following are links to some of my other favorite books which I’ve featured.

Self-Help/Inspirational Books-  Steal Like An Artist,  Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff Series,  The Five Love Languages,  The Four Agreements

My favorite books of 2014

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.  If you decide to purchase a book from Amazon I receive a very small commission with no additional cost to you.

Don’t forget to leave a comment if you are interested in the drawing for Sea Dogs (and a cat).