Book gift guide: Non-fiction titles

Titles cover a wide variety of topics and interests

Holiday shopping is hard work. So how about some relief? How about one-stop shopping at your local bookstore? Here are some great suggestions to get you going (and to shorten your gift-buying load).

GENERAL NONFICTION
Travelers – particularly those interested in old buildings and beautiful architecture – will love to read “Stories in Stone” by David B. Williams. This book discusses art, geology, old buildings and more. If you’ve ever spied a gargoyle atop a building and wondered why he was there, borrow this book back after you give it.
No doubt there’s a drama queen (or king) on your gift list. For her (or him), there’s no better gift than “How to Be Famous” by Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt. This tongue-in-cheek book gives step-by-step tips on getting your name in the tabs and becoming the one everybody talks about. Hint: not just for grown-ups, your teen may get a kick out of this book.
Trivia fans with a basketball interest will really enjoy reading “The Final Four of Everything,” edited by Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir. This fun book is filled with argument starters and trivia on a variety of topics, including “Lousy Husbands,” “Absurd College Nicknames” and “Richard vs. Dick.” Another trivia-type book for fans of minutiae is “The Handy Geography Answer Book” by Paul A. Tucci and Matthew T. Rosenberg, which is also great for kids as well as grown-ups.
The holidays are a lousy time to be sick, but if you wrap up “Perseverance: True Voices of Cancer Survivors” by Carolyn Rubenstein, you can give the gift of encouragement.
This book features the words and hopes of high school and college cancer survivors and though it sounds like a downer of a book, it’s not. What it is, though, is inspiring.
No doubt, there’s a country music fan on your gift list, and there’s no better gift to give than “The Garth Factor: The Career Behind Country’s Big Boom” by Patsi Bale Cox. Mostly about Garth, but containing other big names in country, this hefty book is a gift that will last awhile.
Sometimes, a book can take you to other places, and if someone on your gift list is always dreaming of a vacation, wrap up “Inventing Montana” by Ted Leeson. For the past 20 years, Leeson and a group of friends have spent their summers in an old ranch house in Montana, fly fishing and enjoying life; this book is about their vacations. Hint: wrap it up with a gas gift card and hopes of a great getaway. Also look for “Climbing Woodall Mountain” by Mississippi authors Stuart Green and Gregg Parker. It’s a book about two friends and the very un-ordinary challenge they tackle, complete with room to journal your own great adventures.
This was the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, and if you’ve got someone who still longs for summers of peace and love, wrap up “By the Time We Got to Woodstock” by Bruce Pollock. Complete with pictures and lots of memories, this book is groovy, man.
Also look for “The Sixties” by Jenny Diski, which is a memoir as seen through the eyes of someone who lived through those psychedelic times, and “The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead” by David Comfort, which is a look at the lives of Hendrix, Elvis, Lennon, Joplin and Morrison, and their impact on our music.
While it may seem like an odd gift to give this holiday season, “Nontoxic Housecleaning” by Amy Kolb Noyes would surely be appreciated by anyone concerned about the environment. There are lots of good suggestions in here, all ideas that your going-green giftee will enjoy knowing. Also look for “Earth Talk” by E – The Environment Magazine and “Now or Never” by Tim Flannery. Both of these inexpensive (and quick-to-read) books will help your green-thinking giftee be even greener.
Looking for an unusual story for an unusual reader? Look for “Soul Survivor” by Bruce and Andrea Leininger with Ken Gross. Could young James Leininger be the reincarnation of a World War II fighter pilot? This true story is for your giftee to read and decide.
The new-ager on your list will no doubt be overjoyed by this trilogy from Brad Steiger: “Beyond Shadow World” is newly re-released and is the third volume in Steiger’s “Shadow World” trilogy in which he discusses spirits and the supernatural. Then there’s “Real Vampires, Night Stalkers, and Creatures from the Darkside,” a book that’s, well, it’s about the things that go bump in the night. And finally (this is my favorite), “Real Miracles, Divine Intervention, and Feats of Incredible Survival,” co-written by Sherry Hansen Steiger. This fun-to-read book is filled with amazing stories that are surprisingly inspirational and would also be a good book for anyone who believes in angels.
If there’s a weather junkie on your gift list, here are two easy-to-give books: “Weather’s Greatest Mysteries Solved! by Randy Cerveny is a book about weather, history and how one affected the other. This is a great book for science aficionados, too. Also look for “The Handy Weather Answer Book: Second Edition” by Kevin Hile. Better for kids or cumulonimbus neophytes, this book will also be welcome for people who love talking about the weather.

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.