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When I was a kid, my family had an account at the local bookstore, a privilege I donโt remember enjoying anywhere else in town. I felt so cool stopping in, picking up the latest V.C. Andrews novel, then then telling whoever was working behind the counter, Just charge it to โRosenstrach.โ I never felt guilty piling two or three on the counter at once, something that wouldโve been unimaginable with, say, Ton Sur Ton sweatshirts at the trendy clothing store down the street. I like to think thatโs why, to this day, I am like Daddy Warbucks when it comes to buying books, constantly ordering them for friends and family (sometimes even strangers) for just about any occasion, with a recklessness that doesnโt reveal itself in any other part of my budgetary life. I think itโs because handing someone a book with a personal note feels like Iโm making a connection that might otherwise be nonexistent or difficult or elusive. I thought of you the whole time I read thisโฆI know youโre going through a lot, maybe this book will helpโฆThis cookbook is a good resource next time you are having your in-laws for dinnerโฆI read this book to my baby when she was your babyโs ageโฆI like this book, I know you will too. Here are the books Iโve handed out in the past three months (and one that Phoebe has handed out) that I think you might like to know about. Longtime blog readers will definitely recognize a few.
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Book: The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown
Why I Love It: Itโs the lesser known, but equally poetic cousin to Goodnight Moon โย a picture book explaining the essence of, the importanceย of, seemingly everyday objects apples, spoons, wind, grass.
Why I Gave It: Every now and then I will fill in for editors who are on maternity leave and itโs become something of a ritual for me to leave this behind for the mom when she returns to her desk. Iโm always tempted to leave it with the note โIโm so jealous!โ conveniently over-romanticizing life with a newborn.
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Book: Logo Type, Michael Evamy
Why I Love It: Because it tells the story behind the creation of famous logos, from Google to YouTube to Barneys New York to MoMA to FedEx to Crate & Barrel.
Why I Gave It: Because my workshare colleague Christy is a design genius and I knew sheโd pore over it like I did. (As a thank-you, she forwarded me the SNL Papyrus skit. #TypographyNerdsUnite.)
Book: Modern Jewish Cooking, by Leah Koenig
Why I Love It: My affection for this book has been recently and substantially chronicled. (Exhibit A: Last Weekโs Fattoush, Exhibit B: Last Yearโs Roast Chicken with Fennel and Orange.)
Why I Gave It: When my sister calls me to ask for advice on menu planning for Passover, Yom Kippur, Chanukah, Shabbat, what do you think I do first? I reach for Koenigโs book in my library. I thought maybe it was finally time for her to have her own.
***TEEN-AGE EDITION***
Book: Milk & Honey, by Rupi Kaur, given by my 15-year-old to a friend
Why Phoebe Loves It: (This is from Phoebe) โItโs a collection* of poems with a lot of feminine empowerment and a lot of resonating lines, such as โThe person who you love should complement you, not complete you.โ They stay with me.โ [*My edit: โa MEGA-SELLING collectionโ]
Whyย Phoebe Gave It: โI gave it to my friend who seemed like she was heading down a spiral of self-deprecation, and it was over a boy, which wasnโt like her at all.โ
Note from Phoebeโs Mom: Please thumb through this before handing off to a teen-ager. There is sex talk โ not gratuitous or raunchy โ but itโs there.
Book: Dinner: The Playbook, by Yours Truly
Why I Love It: Because, in some ways, it was the easiest and most fun book for me to write of all three in the Dinner: A Love Story trilogy. Minimal storytelling but maximum strategizing for rolling up sleeves and making family dinner happen in the real world.
Why I Gave It: Because I was at a cross-country meet, speaking with another dinner-struggling mom, who said โIโm not like you, Iโm not a professional chef, and I can only cook things if they are easy.โ To which I of course responded, โI am in fact the opposite of a professional chef. I am a home cook and my books are written for people like you, who want to simplify as much as possible and still eat well.โ When I started describing a few of the recipes in Playbook (roast salmon with spicy mayo and chives, spaghetti with roasted cauliflower and breadcrumbs, cornmeal crusted fish with minty peas) it seemed like they were resonating, so I sent her a copy via my favorite messenger method: through the kidsโ backpacks.
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Book: Pizza Camp, Joe Beddia
Why I Love It: Refresh your memory with this love letter I wrote back in the spring. Itโs no secret that we love pizza in our house, and this book, by the Philadelphia king upped our game in a serious way. (I will never use cooked sauce on a pie again.)
Why I Gave It: A guy in my exercise class at the gym makes pizza dough for a living! In between burpees and squats, we talk about his favorite pizza recipes, my favorite pizza recipes, our favorite Italian American haunts in Westchester, and other joyous topics to take our minds of the pain. I knew heโd love Beddia.
Book: In the Lake of the Woods, by Tim OโBrien
Why I Love It: I read it so long ago, when I was in the grips of a powerful Tim OโBrien obsession, but the basic storyline centers on, of course, a Vietnam War vet, running for office and struggling with the violence of his past.
Why I Gave It: Who else was riveted by PBSโs documentary last week, The Vietnam War? (For those of you who havenโt watched: Itโs a commitment, but it is astonishing.) Tim OโBrien was one of the vets interviewed, and in the very last moments of the 10-part series, he read passages from The Things They Carried, which is pretty solidly cemented in my All Time Favorite Top Ten Books. Since I had already given that one to Phoebe, who properly and dutifully revered it, too, I tracked down this one for her as a follow-up. (And then I promptly re-read The Things for the millionth time.)
Book: Deceptively Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld.
Why I Love It: When this book came out, I actually didnโt love it. Seinfeld made the case for disguising vegetables and other nutritious elements in traditionally kid-friendly foods like brownies and mac and cheese. I was outraged along with a lot of other new moms: Kids should learn to love and recognize broccoli! If we accommodate their dislikes and validate their fears, how will they ever learn to make healthy choices for themselves?!ย Yeah yeah yeah, whatevs. That was 2008, and Iโve been around the block since then. Kids are tricky when it comes to eating โ understatement of the year โ and hereโs the operative concept: They are not all the same. If parents are wracked with anxiety about their childโs diet and hiding kale in the kidโs meatballs is going to bring some measure of peaceโฆwho am I to tell them to do anything different?
Why I Gave it: My friend Christina, who has two pre-school-age kids, told me recently that she discovered a neat trick for getting her kids to eat better: she sneaks greens into their favorite foods without them knowing it. โOh, like the Jessica Seinfeld book!โ I said. โWho?โ She replied. Of course I was forced to respond how I hate to respond: โWell, back in the day, when I had young kidsโฆโ then I one-clicked Deceptively Delicious for her.
Book: Tell Me More: And 11 Other Important Things Iโm Learning to Say, by Kelly Corrigan
Why I Love It: Fans of Corriganโs essays, or any of her bestselling books (likeย The Middle Place), alreadyย know that she has a gift for observation, finding humor and meaning everywhere she looks, ultimately forcing you do the same. But this bookโฆit blew me away. Tell Me More is a collection of essays touches on every issue I stay up at night thinking about: raising teen-agers, dealing with aging parents, confronting regrets and loss and death.
Why I Gave It:ย One of my more favorite rituals is a weekly-ish power walk with my friend, Naria. She is the worldโs fastest walker, so I get a great workout, but mostly I look forward to our conversations. ย When we walk, we talk. About everything. About raising daughters, dealing with aging parents, confronting regrets and loss and death. See? I had no other choice than to drop off Tell Me More on her doorstep yesterday.
****Why Iโll Give it Again, aka A GIVEAWAY:ย Corriganโs book is not published until January but it just so happens that I know an editor at Random House who can score some advanced reader editions for us. (Which might even be better than having an account at the local bookstore.) Comment below for your chance to win two copies, one for your own reading pleasure and one to give to a friend who you think might need it most. Contest ends Friday 10/6 at noon ET. UPDATE: The winner has been notified. Thanks to everyone for playing!
Books are my favorite gift to give as a baby giftโฆ.call always be used plus easy to mail as a military family so have friends in far away places. I like to include Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boyton andโLet Me Hold You a Little Longerโ by Karen Kingsbury (also good for moms of high school boys) โฆ.Iโm going to add the new mom books above to my gift list.
I can think of more than two people Iโd like to give this to โ and I think youโve inspired me to send more people books.
I love your reason for giving your friend a copy of the book. That is one of the big reasons I enjoy running 2-3 days a week with my village! Thanks for all the great book ideas!
Love Kelly Corrigan!!!
I can think of so many friends I would give this book toโthe one who has been separated from her husband, the one who just broke up with her fiance, the one who just had bariatric surgery. Giving books to friends is like sending them a piece of myself when I canโt be there.
I remember being a teen/young adult and someone telling me, โIf you really want to recommend a book to someone, give them a copy of itโ and that really stuck with me. Two old favorites that I still give when I have the chance are The Archivist by Martha Cooley (a beautiful novel, for reader friends) and Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John (a terrific book about sports fandom by a rabid Crimson Tide football fan). For kids, my favorite book to give lately is Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip Stead.
Thanks to you (and everyone commenting) for sharing these books!
I loved this post, and have added several books to my โto readโ list.
Iโm interested in many of these books and already a lover of The Playbook. So many good recs for mama friends!
Books are always the best gifts.
I also have a weekly-ish walking friend who I share such power conversations with! We are walking together next week for the first time since summer began. She would LOVE this book, as I suspect I will, too. Thank you for the heads-up and great suggestions for other books, too!
When I saw Kelly Corriganโs name/book listed in this post, I was appalled, as in: how did I miss one of her books?!! I am so excited for this new book, as I love all her books because I lost my dad and love her writing).
I am, in fact, adding all these books to my cart (except your cookbook, which I already have). Thank you!
Thank you for the chance to win this book which is on my list of future reads. I also love to give books as gifts and have actually gifted Dinner: A Love Story to several people who mean a great deal to me. My friend Maria could use a copy of this book too. We are also both solidly in the middle of aging parents and raising teens into responsible adults. Life seems a bit heavier on more days than not lately!
Love this post. I love giving books as gifts and I am constantly buying new books for my three kids-I almost never say โnoโ to a new book like your in-house account days. I like the idea of randomly giving books to people based on conversations-that is a fantastic, thoughtful idea I am going to employ. As a side note: I am on the board of Reach Out and Read Kansas City-which helps put books in the hands of children who might not otherwise have them through their medical clinics. That means that the parents also get tips on how important reading is and how to do it with their children from their pediatricians. It is a wonderful organization and I mention it because I think you might be interested in supporting your local Reach Out and Read Organization.
I would love to win that book! And who to give it to?? Iโll have to think on that one! ๐
I also feel that I need to start addressing these questions โ Iโm 42, have three kids, have got to stop pretending that a) theyโll never grow up and b) Iโm never going to die (and that my mother is never going to die, etc.). Maybe I should start with having some of these conversations with myself!
I literally just finished Glitter and Glue and officially declared it the best book I have read all year!
I love every other book on your list so I donโt see how I could not possibly love this, too. Itโs amazing how a little paper and a little ink are still able to transform lives. Over and over and over.
On my first birthday following the birth of my oldest daughter, my husband asked what I wanted. My reply: 3 hours ALONE in the bookstore down the street, without him or the daughter or the in-laws. Just me and the books.
I would love to not only reap the wisdom of the words between the covers, I know of no fewer than 5 other friends to whom Iโd like to gift this book.
And I donโt feel comfortable going into why I might be worthy of this giveawayโฆitโs all privateโฆbut I would be much appreciative.
Great list! Iโm not so good at giving books as gifts, but Tell Me More sounds like a good one to start with.
Oooh oooh oooh! I love to give books to people โjust causeโ Hope to win this โ fan of Corrigan too.
I would love a new book to dive into!
Yes, please! I have tweens and an ailing mother (double lung transplant!)โฆsounds like a great read!
Oh love these suggestions โ thanks!
These are my favorite type of blog posts ever. I also love gifting books and am always looking for perfect gifting books. I just gifted someone your book!
Great list. Books make the best presents.