This month- gift ideas galore! Let's start in the kitchen- no cook's library should be without the just released 2 DVD set of Julia Child's 1985 series, The Way To Cook (24.95) or the lovely box set of Julia's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One and Two (89.95). National Geographic has added another tome to their 'Lifetime' series with Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe (40.00). From spice markets to christmas fairs this beautiful book will leave you ready to eat your way across the map. Local author Laurie Sage offers up Sage's Shooters: Another Round (12.95)- a book composed entirely of Jello shooter recipes- there's one to match every mood and any party animal on  your shopping list!

Another beautiful coffee table book is The National Parks: America's Best Idea (50.00), an illustrated companion volume to the twelve hour PBS series of the same name by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. Outer Banks photographer Brooke Mayo has just published Diving Doggies: A Celebration of Play Underwater (29.95) featuring fabulous underwater photos of man's best friend leaping, swimming, diving and playing.

 

Two books perfect for the little ones on your list- Sixteen Sandpipers: An Outer Banks Counting Book (8.99) by Anne Creef and Asia Evans teaches numbers with fishing boats, swans, Jockey's Ridge kites, jellyfish and more. Each page is a beautiful painting of local flora, fauna and attractions. Really the best local children's book we've seen. Adam Gamble's Good Night North Carolina (9.95) is a chunky little board book highlighting the sites of the Tar Heel State including quite a few Outer Banks pages.

 

Duck photographer (and research coastal engineer) Bill Berkemeier has produced a 2010 calendar (14.00) featuring twelve simply gorgeous shots. I can't decide if my favorite month is the heron at sunset, the oyster skimmers or the green heron; other months showcase Berkemeier's seascapes, sunsets and eye for architectural detail.

 

We had a lot of awesome authors here this summer whose books make great gifts, too! Pure Sea Glass (34.95) is always a hit with sea glass collectors and A Beachcomber's Odyssey (39.95) proved popular as well. The Outer Banks Cookbook (19.95) is the most authentic regional cookbook we've found and Kitchen Memories (24.00)is a readable recipe collection that spans the globe. Searching for Virginia Dare (16.00) is an interesting re-investigation of the Lost Colony mystery and When I Married my Mother (25.00) is a humorous, poignant tale of mother-daughter love- perfect for the holidays!

 

And last but certainly not least, just as all the fuss over Sarah Palin's memoir Going Rogue subsides, here comes Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book (12.00). Filled with geography quizzes, word finds and cut-out campaign buttons this book is sure to fill Christmas morning with giggles and snorts.

 

To order any of the above titles, just call

 

 

Jamie's Book Club 

 The November selection for Jamie's Book Club just went out (finally). My latest pick is Ha Jin's most recent novel, A Free Life. Jin is a Chinese émigré who often writes from personal experience. The first book of his which I read was Waiting- a story of love, longing and the reality of divorce in China. Like his main character, Lin Kong, Jin also served in the Chinese army. Lin Kong, however, is stuck in a loveless arranged marriage from which it is impossible to escape. In the wings is Manna Wu, a nurse and Lin's lover, who has waited eighteen years for her wedding.
 
In A Free Life, Jin explores the modern immigrant's story as told by the Wu family- Nan, Pingping and Taotao. Life in America begins as a defined period of scholarship which turns into years of financial struggle and menial jobs played against the daily dilemma of how to retain their Chinese background while reaching for the American dream with both hands. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan on reading it again sometime soon. It is currently available for sale on our website. 
 
A big THANK YOU to the two dozen subscribers who made the inaugural year of Jamie's Book Club a definite success! This year these loyal readers enjoyed the following titles -The Commoner (recent historical fiction), The Leisure Seeker (fiction), Lost on Planet China (travel/memoir), I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti (memoir), Benny & Shrimp (fiction) and A Free Life (fiction).

A gift subscription to Jamie's Book Club is the perfect stocking stuffer or holiday present for the booklover in your life- even if that booklover is yourself! Subscriptions for 2010 are now open and details can be found at... Jamie's Book Club 2010

What to put under the tree