5 awesome gifts for Bay Area book lovers
Looking for the perfect gift for the literati in your life — besides, you know, books? Here are a few suggestions for book-adjacent fun, from Herman Melville cocktail glasses to a Sherlock Holmes puzzle.
Bibliophile notecards
Yes, we’re about to sound like Miss Manners. But these colorful notecards by illustrator Jane Mount are so charming, they’ll turn anyone into a sender of handwritten notes — even if the only thing you scrawl inside is “Hi! Text you later!”
The notecards depict 20 different stacks of books — a dozen or more at a time, all painted by Mount — in genres that range from beloved fiction (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Beloved,” “The Great Gatsby”) to poetry, sci-fi and children’s literature. A colorful stack of cookbooks — perfect for writing a post-dinner party thank you, if we ever have dinner parties again — even includes “The Pizza Bible,” by the Bay Area’s pizza maestro, Tony Gemignani.
Details: Order the cards ($15 for 20 notecards printed on lightweight matte stock or $17 for 50 postcards) via the New York Public Library shop — a fun browse at any time — or Mount’s IdealBookshelf.com, which also offers themed bookshelf prints for every literary niche ($34 and up).
Well Told literary glasses
Sure, your favorite bookworm can read “Ulysses” or “Pride and Prejudice” with a cup of tea. But wouldn’t it be more fun to pair a classic volume with a cocktail glass homage? This glassware quartet includes passages from such literary masterworks as “Don Quixote” and “Moby Dick.”
Readers can toast Ishmael, for example, with a neat whiskey on the rocks or go full seafarer with a Dark ‘n’ Stormy. (Pour 2 ounces Gosling’s Black Seal rum and 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice over ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with 1 giant squid.)
Details: These 11-ounce rocks glasses are available in Herman Melville, James Joyce, H.G. Wells and Miguel de Cervante versions for $16 each, or as a Jane Austen-Charlotte Bronte duo for $30 through www.uncommongoods.com.
Tequila Mockingbird
This tongue-in-cheek best-seller by San Francisco native Tim Federle gives your favorite books a mixology twist. The 65 drink recipes range from The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose to Romeo and Julep and A Rum of One’s Own. Plus cocktail bites, such as Prawn Quixote.
It’s not just a drinking guide for English lit majors, it’s a fun read for anyone who enjoys drinks, snacks or literary puns.
Details: Your favorite indie bookstore can order this book (Running Press, $15) for you, if they don’t already have it in stock.
The World of Sherlock Holmes
Is that Mycroft sulking near the Diogenes Club? The great hound at Baskerville Hall? A speckled band slithering into a room in Surrey?
The game is afoot, and a puzzle — all 1,000 pieces of it — lies just ahead for Sherlock Holmes fans looking to spend a cozy evening or two fitting it all together. (OK, it took us two weeks. We kept taking time out to reread mysteries.) Half the fun of this Holmesian jigsaw is spotting Mrs. Hudson and Inspector Lestrade amid the Victorian London cityscape.
Romeo, Juliet and Macbeth more your style? Or Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy? There are “Worlds of…” puzzles for Shakespeare and Jane Austen-o-philes, too.
Details: The Sherlock Holmes puzzle ($19 plus shipping) is available from several bookstores, including the Bay Area’s Book Inc.net e-store and Brooklyn’s Greenlight Bookstore.
Ultimate Sherlock Holmes Puzzle Book
Six classic Holmes stories inspired this collection of 140 puzzles of all sorts — cryptograms, crosswords, logic puzzles and other brainteasers. Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, poses his signature stumpers, including one involving bicycles, unicycles and tricycles. A diamond thief and would-be assassin meets with fellow villains and assorted henchmen on three occasions, and it’s up to you to sort out which crook goes with which accomplice. It’s nerdy fun for any fan of detective fiction or puzzles.
Details: This paperback volume (Wellfleet, $20), written by Pierre Berloquin with puzzles by Bernard Myers, was published in June. Find it at BooksInc.net or your favorite bookseller.
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