Give Books This Holiday Season!

Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book Critic Offers
"Ten Commandments of Book Giving"

"Last week, I began to think seriously about presents. 'Tis the season, after all. When little, I used to lie on the faded blue davenport in my family's living room and daydream about what I'd like to unwrap on Christmas morning. A gleaming silver six-gun in a tooled black leather holster. A gigantic Erector Set, with battery-operated motors. The plastic model kit for a three-masted frigate or a double-fuselaged P-38 Lightning. Cool stuff, in other words. I could never quite fathom why Santa even bothered with socks and underwear and heavy winter clothes, usually in wool.

Of course, now that I'm -- sigh -- older, I still think a lot about presents. These days, though, I speculate on what to give rather than receive. Happily, I know from years of experience that books really do make the best holiday gifts -- plus, they're easy to wrap. Just follow these 10 holiday commandments: . . . "

Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/04/AR2008120402676.html