Category Archives: Gift Guides

What shall we do simple monk?

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Twenty-Four

In this small, luminous memoir, the National Book Award winner Patti Smith revisits the most sacred experiences of her early years, with truths so vivid they border on the surreal. The author entwines her childhood self and its “clear, unspeakable joy” with memories both real and envisioned from her twenties on New York’s MacDougal Street, the street of cafes.

Woolgathering was completed, in Michigan, on Patti Smith’s 45th birthday and originally published in a slim volume from Raymond Foye’s Hanuman Books. Twenty years later, New Directions is proud to present it in an augmented edition, featuring writing that was omitted from the book’s first printing, along with new photographs and illustrations.

This is a book you’ll keep well. One you’ll treasure. One you’ll save so that someone else will be able to treasure it, as well. It is a book you’ll want to share. Because it is a joyful book about joy, and it is so very generous.

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Twenty-Three

Behind the dramatic events in the life of Buddha that have been historically and culturally recorded lies the story of Siddhartha, a man overwhelmed by the tragedy of inevitable and universal human suffering. He set out to find a solution not only for his contemporaries and his civilization, but for all of humanity for eternity. This important two-part volume sheds new light on the life and teachings of this great man. The first section narrates the events in the life of Buddha, lavishly illustrated with spectacular works of art that provide the ideal complement to the meticulously researched text. The second section examines this great man’s sentiments and the nucleus of his doctrine. This portion of the book features a unique photographic recreation of the roads traveled by the Enlightened One, accompanied by quotations from traditional Buddhist writings.

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Twenty-Two

A chicken poncho. A painting of a corn dog. A clock made out of an old “mostly clean” cheese grater. All this and more await you in the pages of Regretsy, a veritable sideshow of handcrafts gone wrong. Based on the eponymous hit blog and arranged in categories such as Décor, Pet Humiliation, and Christmas, Regretsy showcases the best of the worst, ranging from the hilariously absurd to the purely horrifying. Each page of this jaw-dropping volume features the actual seller’s online listing with a light coat of snarky commentary to give it a good shellacking. So join us as we descend into handmade hell and gawk, gasp, and marvel at the disturbingly odd artifacts that Regretsy has collected for your viewing pleasure, proving that you can never have too much of a bad thing.

Uncontrollable laughter, anyone?

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Twenty-One

Endorsed by the Louvre and for the first time ever, every painting from the world’s most popular museum is available in one stunning book. All 2,981 paintings on display in the permanent painting collection of the Louvre are presented in full color in this striking, slipcased book.

Though it won’t be quite the same, you can actually touch these.

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Twenty

From a pop-up master and an acclaimed poet and author comes a glorious celebration of the true spirit of Chanukah.

Open this beautiful gift book and follow the Festival of Lights through place and time — from Herod’s temple to a shtetl in Russia; from a refugee ship bound for the New World to an Israeli kibbutz. Inspired by Michael J. Rosen’s reverent poem, Robert Sabuda’s striking pop-ups depict each night’s menorah in a different scene, using imagery such as desert tents, pushcart lanterns, olive trees, and a final panorama of skyscrapers. Sure to be a treasured family heirloom, this stunning collaboration showcases the spirit and resilience of a people in search of home.

See inside!

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Nineteen

Has there ever been a time more suited to tapping into snark? Dorfman offers commentary, jokes, and quotes on bad presents, worse in-laws, horrible children, and much more glorious excess regarding Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and New Year’s.

Funny. Very, very funny. Perfect for the wise-cracking kid at the table who’s turning into a cynic. Give him more material while simultaneously feeding him the true spirit (kind of like hidden vegetables in mashed potatoes… but funnier).

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Eighteen

Michael Pollan’s definitive compendium, Food Rules, is here brought to colorful life with the addition of Maira Kalman’s beloved illustrations.

This brilliant pairing is rooted in Pollan’s and Kalman’s shared appreciation for eating’s pleasures, and their understanding that eating doesn’t have to be so complicated. Written with the clarity, concision, and wit that is Michael Pollan’s trademark, this indispensable handbook lays out a set of straightforward, memorable rules for eating wisely. Kalman’s paintings remind us that there is delight in learning to eat well.

The hardcover Pollan-Kalman collaboration will be the Food Rules edition that families will pass down for posterity, sharing lessons for eating healthfully-and joyfully-for all their lives.

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Seventeen

As we near the 2012 bi-centenary of Dickens’s birth, this lovingly abridged and lavishly illustrated edition of Forster’s influential three-volume biography is the perfect way for fans to celebrate. Long out of print, it is now finally accessible to a new generation of Dickens enthusiasts, who will delight in the host of supplemental texts and images, including extracts from the author’s own work and from recent criticism. The rich selection of images ranges from original artwork to rare photographs and portraits of Dickens and his circle, along with specially commissioned pictures from the Charles Dickens Museum.

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Sixteen

The highly anticipated complement to the New York Times bestselling Momofuku cookbook, Momofuku Milk Bar reveals the recipes for the innovative, addictive cookies, pies, cakes, ice creams, and more from the wildly popular bakery.

Momofuku Milk Bar finally shares the recipes for these now-legendary riffs on childhood flavors and down-home classics—all essentially derived from ten mother recipes—along with the compelling narrative of the unlikely beginnings of this quirky bakery’s success. It all started one day when Momofuku founder David Chang asked Christina to make a dessert for dinner that night. Just like that, the pastry program at Momofuku began, and Christina’s playful desserts helped the restaurants earn praise from the New York Times and the Michelin Guide and led to the opening of Milk Bar, which now draws fans from around the country and the world.

Who wants to be the best holiday party host ever, whose desserts will be lauded for the next 12 months?! I think you do.

Going Home Books for the Holidays

Day Fifteen

The Book of Symbols combines original and incisive essays about particular symbols with representative images from all parts of the world and all eras of history. The highly readable texts and almost 800 beautiful full-color images come together in a unique way to convey hidden dimensions of meaning. Each of the c. 350 essays examines a given symbol’s psychic background, and how it evokes psychic processes and dynamics. Etymological roots, the play of opposites, paradox and shadow, the ways in which diverse cultures have engaged a symbolic image—all these factors are taken into consideration.

Authored by writers from the fields of psychology, religion, art, literature and comparative myth, the essays flow into each other in ways that mirror the psyche’s unexpected convergences. There are no pat definitions of the kind
that tend to collapse a symbol; a still vital symbol remains partially unknown, compels our attention and unfolds in new meanings and manifestations over time. Rather than merely categorize, The Book of Symbols illuminates how to move from the visual experience of a symbolic image in art, religion, life, or dreams, to directly experiencing its personal and psychological resonance.

Perfect for those on your list who are:

writers, painters, teachers, life coaches, moms, grandmoms, questioners, answerers, thinkers, feelers, doers, believers, non-believers… Perfect.