Books are always the perfect gift—even for non-readers. That may seem a contradiction, but if someone you know loves antique cars or buying jewelry or watching television or attending sports events, or is involved in social activism  there are books for them too. Listed below are a number of small and medium-sized publishers whose books are more than worthy of your consideration. I personally recommend them, and urge you to consider your book-buying directly from them this season. Not only will you find far more books in their online catalogs than in any bookstore—shelf space considerations being what they are—but you will be supporting important small presses that must continue if we, the readers, want a well-rounded selection of books.

Since many of the  publishers listed here offer books in more than one genre, it proved too difficult to try and separate them into genre categories. Therefore, I have listed them by  name in alphabetical order, and provided a small description of what they carry. Please check out their sites for more detailed information and their current catalogs.

Abbeville Press specializes in fine art and illustrated books that cover, among other subjects, alphabets, architecture, art, biography, children, design, fashion and jewelry, food, gardening, inspirational, literature, media and music, pets and animals, photography, sports and travel.

Academy Chicago Publishers has an eclectic and wonderful selection of books in fiction, nonfiction, mystery and suspense, art and architecture, sports,  biography, fantasy, gay and lesbian, food/cooking and a lot more. Check out their subject list of current books. It’s fascinating!

Advantage Publishers Group is the umbrella that combines three specialized houses: Silver Dolphin specializes in children’s books (pre-school to aged 12); Portable Press is the home of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader books that are full of “fun and weird facts”; Thunder Bay publishes nonfiction illustrated books including cooking, sports, history, transportation, and nature as well as reference titles, regional picture books, and their Then & Now series.

Angel City Press is located in my original hometown of Los Angeles, so they tend to focus on books centered in L.A. and southern California. However, they also have a strong presence in various aspects of national pop culture (Barbie, Americana, early media ventriloquists, Hollywood). Their books are as fun as they are intelligent.

Audio Partners is for those times when you want to read, and can’t. They offer abridged, unabridged, and audio originals on cassette, CD, and MP3-CD formats. Their genres include children & young adult, classics, drama, fiction, humor, mystery & suspense, nonfiction, and personal improvement.

Avalon Travel, as its name implies, specializes in books for travelers and about traveling. It came about when three small travel publishers merged (and is now itself a member of the Perseus Books group). There are two guidebooks series—Rick Steves, Moon—and other individual titles on living abroad, traveling with dogs, hiking, fishing, RV camping, countries and cities, and more.

Barricade Books likes to say it tests the “boundaries of the First Amendment, ultimately strengthening it and protecting our personal freedom” and that they are “committed not only to making a profit but also to protecting people’s right to free speech.” Their specialty is nonfiction; recent books include Roosevelt and the Holocaust, Frank Nitti (a biography of the infamous mobster), and When Everybody Ate At Schrafft’s, a look at the famous New York restaurant.

Behler Publications offers both fiction and nonfiction, but they invariably encompass “personal journeys with social relevance.” The nonfiction includes memoirs of well-known and lesser-known (but interesting) characters, stories of parenting bi-polar children, the role of women in police work and the changes they made in it, while their fiction is often about the complexity of relationships and the changes that discoveries often wrought.

Across the country from Angel City Press, literally as well as “literary-ally,” is John F. Blair who publishes books about the southeast. Categories include Appalachian, biography and memoir, Civil War, fiction, folklore, history and more highlight the offerings of this excellent regional publisher.

Broadview Press focuses on English study and philosophical books (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) but within those two general areas they take a variety of approaches and political viewpoints. Important novels also contain critical introductions and appendices that provide social, political and religious contexts.

Bleak House Books focuses on “hardboiled/noir books with real type protagonists.” Not all have an element of crime, but mystery lovers will no doubt love their distinctive stories.

BüK America is a different kind of publisher. Their “books” are actually pamphlets (5x7 inches and 16-32 pages) arrayed throughout nine general categories—Arts, Buff, Cook, Idea, People, Picture, Spook, Story and Word. Each contains a single essay, short story, portfolio of pictures, collection of poems or other short piece that is perfect for a coffee break or a waiting room delay.

Candlewick Press is for children and young adults. That is, their books are. Included in their catalog are picture books, books for easy readers, middle grade and young adult fiction, nonfiction, poetry collections, and novelty and activity books. And they have a surprisingly large number so regardless of the age of your recipient you will be able to find something among these goodies.

Carousel Press is for those who like to travel. What I like about this press is that its books, though limited, cover a good range of subjects: weekend adventures in northern California, car games & activities, castles & palace hotels in Europe, and camping in Europe.

Chelsea Green Publishing offers books on “the politics and practice of sustainable living.” From how-to books on composting and recycling to exposés in environmental health and safety or the dangers of unchecked political power, Chelsea Green offers a strong niche in high quality books that speak to social commitment and awareness.

Children’s Book Press offers—what else?—children’s books but with a special touch: multiculturalism. “Our books help equip children with a love of reading and a sense of possibility,” their mission statement reads. “We connect kids to their rich and varied cultures, their home languages, their emerging identities and to each other. We inspire them, validate them, mirror their worlds and expand their horizons.” Their books include African American, Asian American, Latino/Chicano, Multicultural Anthologies and Native American.

Cleis Press calls itself “a queer press” that focuses on “provocative, intelligent books” about “sexuality, gay and lesbian studies, erotica, fiction, gender studies, and human rights.” Edgy, honest, fine books for the open-minded reader.

Another unusual press, Cloverfield Press, offers small volumes that pair a single short story and a unique illustration. As a “boutique publishing house,” they strive to create physically beautiful books that range from 11 to 45 pages in length and are sized approximately 6x4 inches.

Coffee House Press is a nonprofit literary publisher dedicated to “books that present the dreams and ambitions of people who have been underrepresented in published literature, books that shape our national consciousness while strengthening a larger sense of community.” What you’ll find: memoirs, novels, poetry, short stories, anthologies, essays.

Counterpoint Press is a new house that resulted from the merger of three small independent presses. Counterpoint publishes fiction, literature, and poetry in addition to nonfiction, including history, memoir, biography, and nature. Soft Skull Press publishes contemporary fiction, as well as graphic novels, and nonfiction, including current affairs, counterculture, and politics. Earlier this year, they began a collaboration with Sierra Club Books to publish books on environmental topics.

Cune Press, “where literature and humanity intersect,” specializes in serious nonfiction books of public interest. I like their philosophy: “We specialize in memoir, travelogue, and history for thoughtful readers.” Categories include African-American, American Life, Anti-War, Art & Photography, Essays, Fiction, Poetry, History, Humor, Middle East, Theater and more.

David R. Godine is a proud house that features “deliberately eclectic and features works that many other publishers can’t or won’t support . . . original fiction and non-fiction of the highest rank, rediscovered masterworks, translations of outstanding world literature, poetry, art, photography, and beautifully designed books for children.” I own several of their books and can testify to this truth. The famous publisher, Black Sparrow, is now part of Godine.

Dzanc Books publishes literary fiction including collections of short stories as well as some nonfiction. Their books are highly original works from well-regarded authors. This is worth looking at, especially for fans of short story collections.

Encounter Books—“Serious books for serious readers”—offers well-conceived, well-argued nonfiction in the areas of history, religion, biography, education, public policy, current affairs, social sciences, and politics.

Europa Editions publishes literary fiction, high-end crime and noir, memoir and children’s books. Located in Europe, they specialize in bringing books to the American market that create an exchange facilitated by literature chosen not only for its ability to entertain and fascinate, but also to inform and enlighten.”

Featherproof is a relatively new publisher that focuses on urban fiction “wrapped in the loveliest of designs.” Interestingly, they also offer mini-books—carefully designed short stories and novellas—that are downloaded, printed and constructed by the reader in the ultimate reader-author-publisher partnership; some are even free.

Go to Felony & Mayhem Press if you have a mystery lover on your gift list. “Bringing the best in bygone mysteries back to life” is the motto. Their books are in categories, which often overlap but since mystery readers tend to feel a strong loyalty to their favorite type, this categorization helps the shopper: British (“set in or around the UK”); Traditional (“classy cozies”); Historical (“from the ancient world to the 1940s and everything in between”); Hard Boiled (“mean streets and meaner bad buys”); Espionage (“spies and conspiracies, from WWI to the present”); and Vintage (“published prior to 1965 . . . twisty, ingenious puzzles”).   

Gemma’s description of itself is as a publisher that “explores people and places and the spaces in between” to “bring you a host of new stories, new insights on culture and [introducing] new lives from Manhattan to Mumbai, Seattle to Serbia, Baghdad to Ballyvaughan.” This is their first season, and they start it off well: Lola’s Luck is the memoir of a young anthropologist who set out to study the Machvaia Gypsies and finds herself pulled deeply into the culture. Oliver’s Surprise is the story of a young boy who skips school one afternoon to  hid out on an old schooner; he wakes to find himself transported back to 1938 and his grandfather’s boatyard the day before the infamous hurricane he has been studying in school hits.  

Gibbs-Smith (“Enriching and inspiring humankind”) is one of the premier publishers of smart, stylish, sophisticated books in the areas of design & architecture, art & photography, business, children’s, cooking & entertaining, humor, gardening & green living, literature, sports and more. I own a number of their books, which are lovely, well-designed and  informative.

Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company has quite a variety of books including many on places and travel. But you’ll also find memoirs, fine art photography, children’s, cookbooks, books on various states, cities and parks, humor, gardening and many other unique volumes including one I want on Croatia and the effects of war on its people, Do Angels Cry?

Graywolf Press is a mid-size publisher with a large reputation for quality. Its book, Out Stealing Horses, was named, in 2007, by the New York Times as one of its ten best books that year. But that was just icing on the cake of their list which has outstanding books in the fields of creative writing, cultural criticism, essays, gay and lesbian literature, literary criticism, memoir, novels, poetry, short stories, and translations.
 
I love Green Integer’s mission statement which reads: Essays, Manifestos, Statements, Speeches, Maxims, Epistles, Diaristic Jottings, Narratives, Natural histories, Poems, Plays, Performances, Ramblings, Revelations, and all such ephemera as may appear necessary to bring society into a slight tremolo of confusion and fright at least. They bring to print not only works by contemporary artists, critics and historians, but works by authors long since passed on, and significant international works never before published in English.

Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts publishes American literary fiction and narrative nonfiction in gorgeous editions (acid-free paper, sewn bindings, French flaps and built-in bookmarks). “We promote emerging writers, cultivate notable literary figures, and strive to present international voices to our readers,” they say. And their catalog of interesting descriptions backs this up. 

Heyday Books is one of California’s most honored literary publishers. Their books focus on the state’s  diverse literary legacy through anthologies of poetry, literature and nonfiction; Art, Architecture and Photography; California Indian; Heyday Kids; History of the West; Latino; Natural History. Imprints include Great Valley Books (focusing on the Central Valley) and the California Legacy Series (essential writings by California’s most important authors). I own a number of their books, and recommend them.

An unusual publisher, Hesperus publishes translations of world literature (Spanish, Hungarian, French, English, Italian, American, Russian, German, Czech) as well as biography and nonfiction. Each beautifully printed book is a “short significant work” (around 100 pages) with introductions by important contemporary writers. (Note that the above link is to their blog; their website, at the time of writing, is undergoing some reconstruction but will be up again soon.)

Insight Editions concentrates its efforts on art and photography books that “celebrate iconic personalities, artists and key cultural and historical events.” If you like pop culture you’ll probably recognize a lot of these themes: Star Wars, Brian Froud, Hanna Barbera, MAD, rock ’n roll stars, San Francisco Giants, the art of Iaian McCaig, Jerry Beck and Tracey Miller-Zarneke, Quincy Jones, the X-Files, and Will Eisner.

Kore Press, a feminist-literary-arts-press, was founded in 1993 to publish “excellent works of literary and artistic value by a diversity of women, those traditionally underrepresented in the cultural mainstream . . . and to educate young people about bookmaking, printing, the literary arts as social activism, and publishing.” They have more than 40 lovely books, limited editions and handcovers, audio CDs, chapbooks, essays and broadsides.

Lark Books is for those who enjoy crafts. Books abound on basketry, beads & beadwork, books & bookmaking, ceramics, digital photography, flower arranging, food & cooking, gardening and outdoors, glass, handmade cards, home decorating & improvement, jewelry, metalwork, nature crafts, paper crafts, quilting, scrapbooking, yarn & thread crafts, and more.

Live Oak Press specializes in California nonfiction (especially books on the Sierra Nevada area). Mammoth Gold, for example, is an in-depth and fascinating book on the Mammoth Mining Company which rode the boom of the gold years into the dust of the bust ones. The Lost Cement Mine is the 1879 account (edited by Richard Lingenfelter and Genny Smith) of his journey through the Gold Country and the original story of the mine. Doctor Nellie is the story of one of California’s first women physicians and her family’s part of the western movement from the 1870s to the 1920s.

MacAdam Cage publishes a wide range of quality fiction and nonfiction. One of their new releases, Dream City, is about a young boy’s obsession with comic books and his contradictory attempt to both live in and escape from his childhood. Under the Blue Flag concerns an American district attorney who, attempting to leave his predictable life, applies for and is accepted to bcome a UN international prosecutor in Kosovo. A dark tale, Under Control, follows two people whose professional relationship grows ever more personal and dangerous when the worlds of drugs, street life and delusions collide. And these are just their newest releases.

Mackinac Island Press is for young children. Books include a Dinosaur Detective Club series, Buck Wilder’s Adventure Chapter Books, a Crazy Little series, and a number of individual titles.

McPherson & Company publishes literary nonfiction and fiction (translations of Italian, French and Spanish literature as well as contemporary American and British fiction), books in the arts and general culture and a series titled Recovered Classics. In fiction you can find, among other subjects, Adventure, Afro-American, Comic, Dystopian, Fantasy, First Person and First Person Deranged, Historical, Jewish, Labor, Magic Realism, Postmodernism, Satire and Travel. Nonfiction has many of those same subjects but also Aesthetics, Art History, Film, History, Journal/Diary, Music, Photography and Religion.  

McSweeney’s began as a literary journal that published only works rejected by other magazines. However, they attract some of the finest writers now, and it has become an important journal. Its publishing house has four imprints: (1) McSweeney’s Rectangulars, a new fiction series, featuring original works that vary in style and subject matter; (2) Believer Books, collected works from some of the magazine’s most popular contributors as well as books from around the non-English-speaking world that are published in English for the first time; (3) the Collins Library, a series of handsome reprints of forgotten classics; and (4) McSweeney’s Irregulars, a collection of irregular books of irregular content appearing at irregular intervals that aim to be funny.

Melville House Publishing is a high quality publishing house offering “good, solid literature, especially literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry.” (If you live in Brooklyn, New York, you are fortunate for they now have a bookstore too.) Among their books are Bonsai, a Chilean novel of art, love and life; Stuffed and Starved, a look at the inherent contradiction in the facts that there are more starving people in the world than ever before and at the same time there are more overweight people than ever before; You Can’t Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America, a book by John R. MacArthur (of the MacArthur Foundation), in which he explores how the system got to be the way it is; and The Pathseeker by Nobel Prize for Literature winner Imre Kertész, the story of disturbing quest for answers that no one wants to provide.

Milkweed Editions “publishes with the intention of making a humane impact on society, in the belief that literature is a transformative art uniquely able to convey the essential experiences of the human heart and spirit. To that end, Milkweed publishes distinctive voices of literary merit in handsomely designed, visually dynamic books, exploring the ethical, cultural, and esthetic issues that free societies need continually to address.” Their lovely offerings include fiction, nonfiction (essays, writing, gender and sexuality, environment, Literature for a Land Ethic, spirituality and religion, travel, , poetry and young readers (girls, boys, outdoors, young adult).

Nightshade Books is for those who love science fiction and fantasy and related cross-genres. What you will find here is work that, as they put it, “inspires a sense of awe and wonder . . .  explores the fantastic . . . [and] challenges and redefines a reader’s expectations.” I think that pretty much says it all. Buy for your out-of-this-world readers here.

For serious readers, The New Press offers books well worth reading. They “operate editorially in the public interest,” publishing books  that “provide ideas and viewpoints under-represented in the mass media. Among the subject categories are Arts/Culture/Film, Criminal Justice/Law, Current Affairs, Ecology/Health, Economics/Globalization, Education, Fiction/Literature, Gender Studies, Human Rights, Labor Studies, Latin America, Media/Journalism, Middle East, Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, Sociology, U.S. History and World History.

North Atlantic Books aims to “affect planetary consciousness, nurture spiritual and ecological disciplines, disseminate ancient wisdom, and put forth ways to transmute cultural dissonance and violence into service” through books that focus on “martial arts, bodywork, history of medicine, homeopathy, archaeo-astronomy, transdimensional realms, Eastern religion, diet and natural foods, live food, fine literature, and quirky aspects of pop culture. They also publish environmental titles; graphic novels and comics; urban literature and detective novels; cookbooks; art books; sports books; and new perspectives in dance, film, and theater.”

Oak Knoll Press publishes its own books as well as those in collaboration with the British Library, Library of Congress, Tate Gallery and others. They specialize in books about book collecting, bookselling, bibliography, libraries, publishing, private press printing, fine printing, bookbinding, book design, book illustration, calligraphy, graphic arts, marbling, papermaking, printing, typography & type specimens, and books on the history of these fields. These are books for booklovers fascinated by all aspects of book making.

Other Press is guided by “a passion to discover the limits of knowledge and imagination” through novels, short stories, poetry, and essays from all around the world as well as nonfiction books on history, current events, popular culture and memoir. They are interested in how psychic, cultural, historical, and literary shifts inform our vision of the world and of each other” and to that end offer, among others, Canvey Island, the story of one family’s generational tragedies and lives, and Kafka Comes to America, a powerful story of two men whose lives reflect the post-9/11 world when American civil liberties seemed in danger of disappearing in the smoke and ash that hung in the air and the fearful panic that draped itself over democracy.

Overlook Press publishes a wide range of “distinguished” books including but not limited to fiction, history, biography, drama, and design. They also publish specially designed editions of classics; the Dickens oeuvre, re-issues of the famous Nonesuch Press editions of 1937 (the last editions to be personally approved by the author), are gorgeously bound in leather and linen. But their new books include serious nonfiction that explore school shootings, pollution in Los Angeles, and an autobiography of Scotland; An Outrageous Affair, a novel of two sisters, a murder, a suicide and a journalist and the truth that rips apart their lives; The Year of Dancing Dangerously, a look at the real story behind the lure of competitive ballroom dancing; and Peaches and Daddy, the scandalous romance, marriage and legal battle that gave birth to the tabloid media.  

Paris Press publishes literature by women who have been neglected or misrepresented by the mainstream publishing world. They are small (publishing one to three books per year), but significant in terms of quality. Their tag line is “daring and beautiful books,” and they “place special emphasis on beautiful design as well as essential and ground-breaking content.” Lovely!

Paul Dry Books publishes “lively books ‘to awaken, delight, and educate’—and to spark conversation.” Their works include fiction, both novels and short stories, and nonfiction—biography, memoirs, history, and essays, covering subjects from Homer to Chekhov, bird watching to jazz music, New York City to shogunate Japan.  

Peachtree Press is a wonderful regional publisher of southern books. Though they publish many types of fiction and nonfiction, their primary topics focus on books for children and young adults, self-help, parenting, health, and books about the South. 

Pegasus Books publishes books that “stimulates both the intellect and the imagination, be it history or philosophy, memoir or biography, literary fiction or noir thrillers . . .  to reach readers nationwide who share its conviction that good literature is essential to the health of our cultural life.” And they do. The Last Cavalier by Alexander Dumas, In the Bunker with Hitler by Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life by Sofka Zinovieff, and a delicious Provençal Cooking are just some of their current delights.

Persephone Books is a favorite UK publisher that prints in lovely editions (complete with dove gray jacket, specially chosen endpapers and matching bookmark), “neglected fiction and nonfiction by women, for women and about women.” They are up to 81 books now that include novels, short stories, diaries, cookery and gardening books.

Perceval Press publishes both books and CDs that challenge readers. Whether multimedia, poetry, fiction or nonfiction (including photography), their works document life and thought.  

Persea Books publishes “works that endure by meeting high standards of literary merit and relevance . . . whether of a single work or writer's entire oeuvre.” Among their offerings are poetry, fiction, essays, memoir, biography, literary anthologies, young adult titles including America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories, Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land, A Walk in My World: International Short Stories About Youth, and Starting With “I”: Personal Essays by Teenagers, Jewish and Middle Eastern interest, women's studies, American Indian folklore, and revived classics, as well as a notable selection of works in translation.

Poison Pen Press is a press with a highly specialized and unusual focus: medieval cookery, costuming, and all manner of domestic aspects of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. How about a reproduction of Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens, a tenth-century Baghdadi cookbook with more than 600 recipes from medieval Islam? Sleeping Around explores the history of the bed from antiquity to the modern day—and it’s more interesting than you might think. From the ancient spice route to the housewife, from brewing to yurts, from ancient Scottish weapons to liqueurs, from costume to gospels, Poison Pen Press has it all if you are interested in times past.

Mysteries, mysteries and more mysteries! Poisoned Pen Press focuses on this genre, both originals and reprints of classics. Whether the stories are cozies, noir, classical or hardboiled their books are known for their excellent writing and high quality.

Lively books on politics, culture and science for general audiences can be found at Polipoint Press. The books express mostly progressive ideas and insights through which the publishers hope to “invigorate the national political dialoge and encourage positive social and political action.”

Pushkin Press focuses on literary fiction (old and new) and translations of high quality works. Just reading their books’ descriptions is enough to make me get out my credit card, and I have.

Quantuck Lane Press publishes “beautiful books of photography, art and the eccentric, whether illustrated or not.” And they are as beautiful as they are unusual.

Santa Monica Press is a Los Angeles-based publisher that loves offbeat books. Titles such as Pop Surf Culture, The Party of Your Life, Roadside Baseball and Dinner with a Cannibal show off their preference for the wide and the weird. On the other hand, you can also find Just Doing My Job: Stories of Service From World War II and The Third Tower Up From the Road, a compilation of columns from the erudite McSweeney’s about places you should go. This is the place to search for books for that person who likes life just a bit bent.

Seal Press puts out “Groundbreaking Books. By Women. For Women.” If you remember the story of a pregnant man earlier this year, this is the publisher of the book about that extraordinary event. But their books cover many genres including African American studies, current events, erotica, essays, fiction, food, health, history, humor, nonfiction, parenting, fiancé, pets, pop culture, relationships, sexuality, sports, travel literature, women’s studies, and writing. No matter how different, all their books fulfill Seal Press’ mission to publish titles that “inform, reveal, engage, delight, and support women of all ages and backgrounds.”  

Shelter Publications concentrates its efforts on books about fitness and building/architecture. The two subjects may initially seem an odd combination, but it is easy to see that both involve deliberate and careful construction according to a plan. It is apropos, perhaps, that this publishing house operates out of a studio set in a garden in a small town in northern California, and that each book, created entirely in-house, begins only with an author’s idea that excites them. It’s a plan that wouldn’t work in New York, but with forty years of publishing behind them it’s been a success here. Among their newest books are Builders of the Pacific Coast, The Barefoot Architect, Getting Back in Shape, Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter, Wonderful Houses Around the World, and Ancient Way to Keep Fit.

Small Beer Press is an odd but interesting press that I don’t quite know how to describe. But it is professional, and it has some superb reading if the big names in book reviewing—Michael Dirda of the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and many others—are to be believed. (They are.) One of their new books, Couch Photo Competition, is described as an “exuberant and hilarious debut in which an episode of furniture moving gone awry becomes an impromptu quest of self-discovery, secret histories, and unexpected revelations” and “one very weird corner of the American dream.” Who could resist that? For more serious readers, The King’s Last Stand, an epic novel involving two Cambodian stories that interweave a kidnapping, a stolen manuscript, the brutal remnants of the Pol Pot regime, a translated history and perhaps a hope strong enough to overcome a violent legacy.

London-based Snow Books calls itself a “feisty, award-winning independent book publisher.” Which is rather appealing. Since 2004, they have been issuing books in a number of categories: general fiction, science fiction & fantasy, horror, thrillers, historical fiction, classics, general nonfiction, cycling, fitness & sport, crafts, and gift. It’s a large list, but their success is undeniable.

Stackpole Books focuses primarily on nonfiction, though fiction is not neglected. Books on outdoor sports, nature, travel, crafts & hobbies, military reference, history and pets fill its catalog pages. If you have a specialized history interest, for example, they might just have it since their sub-categories include among others ancient & medieval, early modern/Napoleonic Europe, early American, 19th century, American Civil War, American West, World Wars, Korea to present, adventure & exploration, maritime, aviation, speculative history, and fiction. In their fiction category, they have nine titles including thrillers, literary fiction, commercial fiction, fly fishing stories, and more.

Steerforth Press and its imprints publish general interest books “intended to engage the full attention of the reader, and has something new or important to say.” Politics, culture, international relations, biography and memoir. U.S. and world history, environment and more can be found as can translations, thrillers, poetry and more.

Storey Publishing offers books for the lover of do-it-yourself projects with plenty of practical advice and inspiration. Categories include Barnyard, Beer/Wine, Building, Cooking, Crafts, Garden, Home Reference, Horses, Nature, Pets, Sports and Well-Being.

Ten Speed Books has several imprints, but its largest and most popular category is Books for Cooks. And they are spectacular. Ranging from general interest to gourmet to quirky (Maui Onion Cookbook), these are gorgeously photographed and s0 beautifully laid out that they will spend as much time on the recipient’s coffee table as they will in the kitchen. 

For the gardening or horticultural fan, Timber Press offers lovely and practical books about those plus books on botany, natural history, and the Pacific Northwest. This is the place to outfit your garden fan.

TOW Books is for the person with an unending sense of humor. All their books are geared to the ridiculous, designed to make you laugh out loud or gasp in amazement, and intended to lighten up on some of the craziness around us. Forgotten Fashion, for example, returns to some of the weirder fashions of times past—a Jazz Age flapper dress made entirely of ice; a mid-century French evening gown inspired by a refrigerator; a pair of Depression-Era satin pajamas popularized by Hollywood with the help of an African elephant named Jinx.

Gifts for the get-up-and-go kind or the armchair variety of traveler will find a wide variety over at Travelers Tales. “Whether we go abroad or roam about our own country,” states TT’s philosophy, “we often enter territory so unfamiliar that our frames of reference become sorely inadequate . . . guidebooks don't really prepare you, the individual, who has feelings and fears, hopes and dreams, goals. This kind of preparation is best achieved through other travelers' tales, for we get our inner landmarks more from anecdote than from information.” Their categories include Travel Guides, Women’s Travel, Spirituality, Humor, Food, Adventure, Travel Advice, Family Travel and more.

Travelman is a unique UK company that prints works of classic and modern fiction on single sheets of paper folded like maps (though they are read like books). Perfect for a short span of time, these lovely pieces include romance, classics, crime, suspense, comedy, first edition, sex, adventure and science fiction. They even offer a special box set.  

Two Dollar Radio (“Because we make more noise than a $2 radio”) is a wonderfully named publisher that is out to “reaffirm the cultural and artistic spirit of the book publishing industry by presenting bold works of literary merit.” Among their books are Erotomania, a satirical debut novel involvling—what else?—sex; I Smile Back, a novel about rehabilitation, redemption and destruction; Beneath the Pines, the story of a family’s generational tragedy; and Life on the Edge: Reflections of a NYC Window Cleaner, a sharp and funny memoir.

For the hiker, kayaker, backpacker, skier, snowshoer, climber, surfer or trail runner on your gift list, Wilderness Press is the place to visit. Their books and maps are the best and most reliable in the industry.


Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately 1,200 books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.