top ten books (& related items) i'd like to receive for christmas or birthday

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we all get to exercise our OCD tendencies and come up with bookish lists.  If you’d like to play along, check out this post.

I know this is last week's topic, and technically Christmas is past (and my birthday too - that was yesterday!).  BUT.  I am flying to Seattle tonight for a week-long vacation with my family, so all celebrations have been delayed.  It's quite possible that my siblings and parents still need gift ideas.  I also figure that many of you have gift cards and cash from the holiday that you haven't spent yet, so these may work as fun gift-for-yourself ideas.  In any case, I'm not yet ready to share my best reads of 2013.  This is it for today!

Top Ten Books or Book-Related Items I'd Like to Receive for Christmas or Birthday

1. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh – I love Brosh’s blog of the same name, and I actually gave this book as a gift to two friends (but not to myself!).  I’d love to receive a copy.  It seems like the perfect gift book, honestly. *hint*

2. Elementary (All-New Tales of the Elemental Masters) edited by Mercedes Lackey – I love Lackey’s Elemental Masters series.  I reviewed Serpent’s Shadow, and have featured several of the following books in Waiting on Wednesday posts…  This latest collection is set in the Elemental Masters world, but written by other authors and collected/edited by Lackey.  Is it author-approved fan fiction?  I don’t know, but I do love this world and magic enough to read ANYTHING related.

3. 1984 necklace by Out of Print clothing – I remember diligently going down the required and suggested reading lists in high school.  1984 was one of the books that stunned me.  I couldn’t believe how relevant and chilling it was.  This little necklace caught my eye just as those words caught my imagination years ago.

4. Jack of Kinrowan by Charles de Lint – My two favorite de Lint titles are wrapped up in this one package.  I’ve never owned it, though I checked out the title many times from the King County Library System.  I’d love to have my own copy on the bookshelf to reread again and again.

5. Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton – I read this book for the first time this summer, and loved it to pieces.  The copy I bought is an old library paperback, and I already know I’ll want something in better shape to keep forever and ever, amen.

6. Letters to Children by C.S. Lewis, edited by Lyle W. Dorsett and Marjorie Lamp Mead – Because I love C.S. Lewis’ writing (fiction and non-fiction!), and I am weirdly interested in how people write letters.  I’ll put the latter down to the fact that I had pen pals from all around the world as a kid.  I shudder to think of the postage now!

7. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson – Angie at Angieville has been praising Anderson’s prose to the skies, and I figure it’s about time I finally found out what all the fuss is about.  PLUS, a Peter Pan retelling!  I mean, what could go wrong?  I’d love a copy to keep.

8. Bookends (any kind) – I’m asking for IKEA gift cards for my birthday because this is the year I’m sending myself all of the books that currently live under my parents’ stairs.  Once those bookshelves are purchased and assembled and the books are mailed, I’ll need bookends to keep everything tidy!

9. Madeline sweatshirt by Out of Print clothing – This is like the cutest thing ever, plus I love that color blue.  MUST HAVE.

10. The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book: Uncommon Recipes from a Celebrated Brooklyn Pie Shop by Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen – From time to time I wonder if I’m becoming a crazy baker… or if I really just like baking cookbooks.  Can’t tell yet.  In any case, the pies in this book look scrumptious, and it would be awesome to have my own copy on hand so as to recreate them.  Friends, get on it!

What books or gifts do you plan to get with gift cards/holiday cash?