Christmas books

I love giving books, but I rarely GET the books I want (which are often the books I give out -TAKE A HINT people.) Anyway - here is a list of books that I'm giving, BUT I REALLY WANT FOR MYSELF.

"The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror" by Natan Sharansky. Sharansky was a Soviet political prisoner for 9 years, and writes of the struggle for Democracy. It was on the reading list of Bush and Condi, so that's good enough for me.

"Anti-Americanism" by Jean Francois Revel. Basically a book on why the French (and Europeans) hate us. I got my BIL this book last year, and he said it was excellent. Numerous suggestions to him that he loan it to me have gone unanswered. Oh well. I'm getting it for my dad.

"State of Fear", by Micheal Crichton. I find it interesting that Amazon hasn't posted any of the "professional" reviews for this book. Could it be that they don't want to go into it's premise? From what I gather, the book is a tale of shoddy science and evironmentalists, and based on the speech that Crichton gave, I would say that he is VERY un-PC. It's a GREAT speech/essay, by the way, if you haven't read it.

This book is for my mom. It's a book of Bob Dylon's lyrics, and since SonofNixon has lifted his ban, I figured it's ok to list it here. NOTE, I do NOT want this book. I'm just listing it, because it's in with all the other holiday books I bought.

"The Gallery of Regrettable Food", by James Lileks is for my brother-in-law (who is heading to Iraq in January). Funny funny fun-fun. I tried to describe the book, and Lileks ... but words fail me. Visit his website, and you'll get the idea. The book would made a GREAT gift, which is why I've added it to my gift-giving collection.

"His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Golden Compass/The Subtle Knife/The Amber Spyglass" (box set), by Philip Pullman is for my nephew. It was mentioned by someone the other day as just being fabulous, and I want to read it. But, now is NOT the season to order for oneself, so I will get it for my nephew, and then ask to read it when he's done.

Ah, if feels SO much better to give, than to receive. It really does.