Presents!! In opposition to the Scrooges of the world, I love giving presents, finding presents, and getting presents! (Though I do have to lock down my desire to do one for them, one for me.)

I do, however, work at buying from places that benefit others, from small biz, and from museums and library shops. So, with this in mind, an assortment of ideas for gifts for goodness sake

• For a mother who loves to read. Gift her the perfect mother-daughter book club with these books you can read together.

Michelle Hoover is an extraordinary writer who brings the Midwest alive as few have for this Brooklyn-Boston reader, (“There are many compelling things about Michelle Hoover’s potent new novel, “Bottomland,” not least of all her austere style and its visceral punch. Seriously, you might feel a few chills run up your spine while reading as Hoover delivers stark passages about the frigid desolation on an Iowa farm in winter…. — Matthew Gilbert, The Boston Globe).

 In 2021, Michelle brought her 90-year-old mother’s autobiographical novel to the world. When she reached out for a blurb, I said yes, thinking I’d approach reading the novel as one might approach a class assignment, sighing as I read enough each day to make it to the upcoming deadline.

Instead, the moment the book immersed me as few can. I loved Milk Without Honey,” not in any ‘doing a good deed’ way, but in the manner of true love, and then wrote a blurb that I hope captured how deeply I felt even a bit.

In “Milk Without Honey,” author Lorene Hoover’s young storyteller, the ever-vigilant Ruth Ann, opens a secret door to Iowa during the Great Depression and leads us through this world with clarity, heart, razor-sharp observation and with the ‘gotta-know’ infused on every page. Rarely does a novel let us observe a very particular world smack through the eyes of the storyteller, but Hoover performs this miracle. I loved this book and will recommend it with the same proselytizing vigor I previously reserved for my all-time favorite book, one to which Milk Without Honey is a sister—A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

• Since I was raised by a library in Brooklyn, not recommending presents that benefit libraries would be, in the lexicon of my foremothers, a shanda (aka a sin). You can take home a lovely Suffragette ornament from the Boston Public Library to hand on the tree.

• From the New York Public Library, you can delight the littlest ones with a Paperback Library Lion Book + Floppy Lion Set.

• Or maybe someone would like this NYPL nod to the past with New York Public Library Chrome Fisher Space Pen. Developed in the 1960s, the Fisher Space Pens feature a sealed and pressurized cartridge that enables the user to write underwater, over grease, at any angle, upside down, 3-times longer than the average pen, in extreme temperatures ranging from (-30°F to +250°F), and in zero gravity. The NYPL exclusive edition features a sleek chrome design and the iconic lion logo. 

• Receiving this NYPL Magenta Gingham Lambswool Scarf would thrill me, so, if you’re buying for someone like me. ….

• Stuff the stocking of a minimalist with this red card case. Red Leather NYPL Stamp Card Case. Founded in 1895, The New York Public Library was created when the private Astor and Lenox libraries merged with the Tilden Trust to form the nation’s largest public library system. The vintage stamp featured on this case was used in books acquired in the first few decades of the library’s existence.

• Hang the world around a loved one’s neck with this piece designed for the LA Library.
  THE WORLD IS MY BOOK NECKLACE, was custom made by New York-based designer KJK, for the Los Angeles Public Librar. The globe is 3-dimensional, rotates, and bears the inscriptions, “The world is my book” and “L.A. Public Library” on either side.

• The Apple Dumplin Ballerina Doll comes from the  Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library—Founded in 1925 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences, featuring diverse programming and collections spanning over 11 million items that illuminate the richness of global black history, arts, and culture.

1. The bestselling Solstice Hoops from Purpose Jewelry are beautifully curved into contemporary crescent shapes. Shimming brass is hand hammered for texture and finished for shine. Their Mumbai, Cebu, Kampala, and Tijuana programs support women and girls escaping human trafficking and help them find economic freedom.

1. The Human Rights Coalition is one of my favorite nonprofits—and they have some pretty snazzy stuff. Where better to hang all the colors of the rainbow than on your tree? Their Rainbow Snowflake Ornament will bring a definite holiday smile, yes?

• Let’s remember to support all the artists out there! Here’s an idea from one of the most creative people I know (She paints! She writes!) Necee Regis brings wonder and whimsy to all her creations. This holiday season, she’s brought twelve phenom birds on everything from cards to aprons. The above apron makes me want to bake, baste, and then bake some more.