Nov 7 2017

Holiday Gift Pick #4

Gift Pick #4: Stained Wooden Mountain Bookends by Spilled Milk Designs ($24)

Etsy is awash in beautiful, handmade bookends, but we fell in love with the simple elegance of these mountain-shaped options...

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Nov 7 2017

Holiday Gift Pick #3

Gift Idea #3 The Hogwarts House Throw Blanket of your choice ($69)

This is one of two Harry Potter-themed picks this year...

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Nov 6 2017

Holiday Gift Pick #2

Gift Idea #2: Any of these amazing cookbooks (prices vary)

It feels like a boatload of beautiful, inspiring cookbooks written by the creators of some of the internet's most popular cooking sites have recently been released, but here are our favorites...

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Nov 6 2017

Holiday Gift Pick #1

It is once again that special time of year, dear readers: the week we feature the various book-nerd-specific treasures we're putting on our holiday wish lists. As ever, these gifts may vary widely in style and price point, but they're all pretty neat...

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Feb 2 2017

Pre-Valentine's Day

NYMag's new site The Strategist just posted a list (charmingly) titled "12 Romantic Books That Won't Make You Gag". I'm not, you know, a six-year-old boy, so romance doesn't actually disgust me, but whatever. They have some good picks on there...

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Dec 22 2016

Shopping for Slackers: 2.0

Last year we posted a list called "Shopping for Slackers", aimed squarely at people who do most of their holiday shopping Christmas Eve. We actually stand by most of last year's picks, with a handful of updates, so we thought we would both link to the old list and post a couple of new ideas...

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Dec 19 2016

Holiday Housekeeping

A quick note to our readers: posting will be sporadic over the next two weeks. New material will appear... but when and how often is a mystery (even to us). So if you don't get a chance to stop by, please accept our best wishes for...

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Dec 15 2016

Holiday Book Giveaway: The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

Today's Holiday Book Giveaway is David Levithan and Rachel Cohn's The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, the sequel to 2010's Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, which we reviewed here. It's also the first book we've read all week that isn't about murder or mayhem...

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Dec 14 2016

Holiday Book Giveaway: Santa, Baby, by Jennifer Crusie and others

Today's Holiday Book Giveaway pick is the 2006 romantic short story collection Santa, Baby, which we originally reviewed here. The highlight of this collection was undoubtedly Jennifer Crusie's novella Hot Toy, which I see has recently been...

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Dec 13 2016

Envious Casca, by Georgette Heyer

If you find Georgette Heyer's best-known romance novels, to borrow a phrase from Jane Austen, rather too light and bright and sparkling, her mysteries are considerably nastier. Heyer had a gift for creating caustic, almost misanthropic characters, and nowhere is this displayed to better effect than in the pages of Envious Casca, her 1941 locked-room whodunit...

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Dec 12 2016

Choose Your Own Misery: The Holidays, by Mike MacDonald and Jilly Gagnon

Written by Onion alums Mike MacDonald and Jilly Gagnon, Choose Your Own Misery: The Holidays is an R-rated choose-your-own-adventure story that takes you through countless holiday misadventures, ranging from moderately gloomy to gross as hell. The set-up is simple: your family is out of town, and your relationship is too new for a shared Christmas, so...

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Dec 12 2016

Weekly Book Giveaway: Choose Your Own Misery: The Holidays, by Mike MacDonald and Jilly Gagnon

Last week was devoted to our suggestions for stuff that we want for Christmas; this week we're thinking about others (occasionally, in between cookie breaks). Brace yourselves for five days of holiday-themed book giveaways, dear readers, beginning with Mike MacDonald and Jilly Gagnon's Choose Your Own Misery: The Holidays. A review will follow shortly...

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Dec 9 2016

Holiday Gift Pick #8

Gift Idea #8: Girls Next Door mugs

Okay, this one is both a little hard to explain and aimed squarely at the most hardcore nerds among us (me included; I already requested one of these for Christmas). French artist Rebecca Morse's webcomic Girls Next Door started life...

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Dec 9 2016

Holiday Gift Pick #7

Gift Idea #7: Pop Chart Lab's 100 Essential Novels Scratch-off Chart

I'm not a gambler, so I've never been able to experience the mysterious delights of scratch-off tickets. This gorgeous poster...

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Dec 9 2016

Holiday Gift Pick #6

Gift Idea #6: See America: A Celebration of Our National Parks & Treasured Sites

2016 is the centennial anniversary of the National Parks Service, In celebration, the artists at the Creative Action Network partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association to create this book...

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Dec 8 2016

Holiday Gift Pick #5

Gift Idea #5: Uncle Goose Alphabet Blocks

Okay, this suggestion IS for little kids. Uncle Goose produces absolutely gorgeous, 100% made-in-America wooden blocks. Their classic ABC blocks are lovely, but they make a wide variety of...

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Dec 8 2016

Holiday Gift Pick #4

Gift Idea #4: Jason Porath's Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics

Porath is a former professional animator, and his website Rejected Princesses is a fascinating, informative, and frequently genuinely moving read. This book tie-in features...

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Dec 7 2016

Holiday Gift Pick #3

Gift Idea #3: Mini Lumio Book Lamp

At $125, this is the most expensive item on this year's list, but it's just so cool. Here's the item description...

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Dec 6 2016

Holiday Gift Pick #2

Gift Idea #2: ThinkGeek's Harry Potter-themed 1000-piece puzzle

There are actually two versions of this puzzle. We prefer the vintage-travel-style "Ride the Hogwarts Express" one; but the Marauders' Map one is okay too. Both retail for $15.99...

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Dec 6 2016

Holiday Gift Pick #1

It is time once again, dear readers, for our annual Holiday Gift Guide! We're going to spend the week showcasing some of our favorite book-themed gift ideas, which vary widely in style and price point...

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Oct 19 2016

Two thumbs up

Entertainment Weekly recently put together a useful list of 31 Spooky Books to Read This Halloween. In addition to the fact that I always love dorky holiday-themed reading lists, their picks are actually really good: there are plenty of expected names...

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Feb 10 2016

The price is right

Harlequin Books is running a Valentine's Day special: they're offering a bunch of books recommended by the popular romance blogs Dear Author and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, all...

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Dec 23 2015

Shopping for slackers

It's two days before Christmas, and I have a lot of experience working in bookstores at this time of year, so I thought I'd put together a quickie gift guide for my favorite kind of customer: the kind who shows up at 4:37 PM on Christmas Eve with $300 and no plan, ready to do 100% of their holiday shopping...

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Dec 3 2015