Books you're buying as Christmas gifts? Suggestions welcomed. Let's share ideas here.

[Faygo Kid]

I'm always a late starter, gift-wise, but I already have "Here Comes Trouble" from Michael Moore (autographed, of course - you can get one also autographed at his site), and am ordering "What It Means To Be A Democrat" by George McGovern (we both worked for him before we met and cast our first votes for him). She loves to cook, too, so I will probably get her Mario Batali's latest (both he and Michael Moore live in our favorite area ever, near Traverse City, MI, and I wish I could be there).

Our bookshelves are loaded with classic fiction, but history probably predominates - and science and nostalgia for me. Always looking for ideas. But that's just us. Book suggestions to share?

[Gabi Hayes]

1. frank de caro's dead celebrity cookbook....former Daily Show movie critic

http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Celebrity-Cookbook-Resurrection-Recipes/dp/0757315968

[nolabear]

2. Three, by writers I know.

First, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. Well, I don't really know her but I know her dad Floyd, who's a fine writer himself.

Then there's The Coffee Shop Chronicles of New Orleans (not what it sounds like), a great little book that reads like Tales of the City meets To Kill a Mockingbird, only in New Orleans. David Lummis is the author and he's a joy.

And there's my novel, but you'll have to pm me for that.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. why not me? by al franken, in which he's elected president, dumps his wife, clones himself, and....

really funny, especially when he takes apart bob Woodward's writing style

the audio book is even better, read by franken, and with appearances by Norman Ornstein and others (ornstein, IIRC, ends up in jail, after serving on franken's staff)

[mikeargo]

4. Not buying, but on my list of books I want:

Roger Ebert's autobiography, "Life Itself."

[Demoiselle]

5. I have hinted (quite broadly) to my nearest and dearest, that

I would like to read PD James' new murder mystery, A Death at Pemberley, which starts up where Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice leaves off. She loves Austen, and so do I, so it should be a lovely candy bar treat.
On the more serious and really good historical side, I recommend The Warmth of Other Suns, a recounting of the great African-American escape from Jim Crow between (roughly) 1915 and the early '60's, when they moved to North and West to cities like Chicago, NY, Philadelphia and LA.
It is very thick and very good read that you can pick up and put down and it is punctuated with personal histories, in detail, of 4 people who made the move.