I have three authors whose books I will pre-order unconditionally, and one of those authors is Catherine Newman, and she has a new book out:
(image from Amazon.com)
My sister-in-law pre-ordered me a copy, and I pre-ordered myself another copy (on purpose: I wanted two). I encourage you to buy ANY of the things I mention in these posts from stores other than Amaz0n—but this is a situation where I SPECIFICALLY recommend NOT buying it from Amaz0n, because Catherine Newman put out a special indie-bookstore edition where the copies are not only signed but also contain extra material, which makes it an EVEN BETTER gift. Both of my copies are from independent bookstores.
I bought these little quartz/crystal/rock(??) hearts on impulse during a Bad Time, and I feel a little emotional about them even though they’re not my usual thing, and maybe you will too. They are nice for scattering into stockings. I will mention that the temptation to put one in my mouth and swallow it is…considerable, so perhaps be careful when doling them out.
(image from Amazon.com)
These are nice to give out to friends/colleagues on Valentine’s Day, too.
Similarly, I bought this little set of crystal ornaments last year to put on my little pre-lit birch trees this year, and I am excited to try them out:
(image from Amazon.com)
I do not feel tempted to swallow these like pill capsules, as I do with the little stone hearts.
The extent to which I do not need more notebooks cannot be overstated and yet:
(image from Amazon.com)
Maybe you know someone else who loves mid-century modern AND needs a notebook.
I should have mentioned these Plus Plus building kits when they were on sale for $7, but that was back in January when everything seemed so dark and chilly and like it would never be Christmas again. You can throw economy to the wind and spend the extra $3, or you can wait until they go on sale again and put them aside for next year. There’s a Christmas tree:
(image from Amazon.com)
and a wreath and candy cane:
(image from Amazon.com)
I have been buying these each year for the kids we “adopt” through a local Christmas gift charity—though this year we’re not giving these, because one of the kids is too young. I will put them aside for next year.
I cannot–CANNOT–justify the purchase of $10-each plastic plates. And yet…my parents indulged my craving for these French Bull melamine dinner plates (French Bull link) on my last birthday, and I have used them nearly every day since with great joy:
(image from Amazon.com)
After we moved to a 200-year-old house and I was always cold (unless I was way too hot), Paul bought me this electric seat-warmer for my computer chair and for my rocking chair:
(image from Amazon.com)
It worked very well for my computer chair EXCEPT I kept rolling over the wire accidentally, until eventually I broke it. It works better for my rocking chair, where I can’t rock on the wire (because Paul installed a little hook on the nearby wall for the wire). I use the supplemental warmth CONSTANTLY during the cold months, like a lizard on a hot rock.
… I can see wanting to put those hearts in your mouth. Hm.
Supplemental warmth is such a good thing. It doesn’t help with the office chair (because you’re *also* not supposed to roll over them in an office chair, or at least weren’t when I last looked into them) but there are *heated carpets* and as someone with frequently chilly feet, I strongly considered purchasing one that was sort of bathmat-sized for under my home-office computer at the time. I instead bought an ultra-cheap ceramic space heater to put under the desk and thus oscillated between “this is too hot towards one side of my legs” or “I am cold” for the two years I used it and this was, ultimately, fine, because it fit better in our budget buuuut if I had had a larger budget, the under-desk radiant floor heating pad would have been IT. I have also seen these… heated vertical tubes?… that you put your feet in, up to your knees or so, and this also seems promising. But it is good to have a recommendation for a specifically heated-chair sort of one…
Thank you for doing these gift posts!
If you did swallow them, they would likely just pass right? Like when your child swallows a quarter?
And nothing like magnets or button batteries which are go immediately to the er while chugging honey. (i think that’s only for the battery but don’t think the honey would hurt for the magnets. DO NOT GOVE HONEY TO AN UNDER 1 year old)
I cannot decide, in this household of husband abdicated in October and now it is the three of us, if we need these…I shall mull. And see if I can non-s American river them.
Also: excuse typos. I SWEAR I LOOK FOR THEM. AI is probably putting them in.
Now I am dying to know who are the other preorder authors! Elizabeth Strout maybe? And…?
YES, Elizabeth Strout, and also Suzanne Finnamore.
A friend of mine went to a reading/ book event with Catherine Newman and then sent me A SIGNED COPY OF WRECK. Did I die? Yes. I am dead. This comment comes from beyond the grave.
My sister-in-law’s sister got me a signed Ann Patchett book for my birthday and I perished.
Please let us know who the other two authors are!
I came here to ask that too!
Elizabeth Strout and Suzanne Finnamore!
I just read my second Catherine Newman book and I should pre-order all her books too – I try not to buy books, but I love her writing so much and it’s so hard to make a living as an author, and I should support that. I have given away multiple copies of Sandwich.
I would eat the hearts too, or at least lick them.
“Like a lizard on a hot rock” ha haaaa! I’m not quite to that point of life (also, I live in a Warm Place), but I will stash this idea away. Loving your gift guides. Here’s an idea from the NYT gift guide that I adapted for my husband: a Royal Gold nose hair trimmer. The one they suggested is kind of like scissors, but the same brand makes a smaller, cylindrical one that should be better for him (he travels a lot). A weird idea that won’t work for everyone but there it is.
I preordered several books when the big box bookstore had a sale this summer, and it was so nice to receive them upon release.