Ah.. i so love the Narnia books also-- but most of not all of the kids have received them from me already. I especially loved the Audio book which I listened to, as an adult, on a long trip a few years ago. Also listened to Life of Pi on the same trip which I enjoyed much more than the book or the movie

Several years ago during a conversation, I asked a couple I was friends with their favorite childrens book. She said hers was The Secret Garden, and his was Moby Dick. I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased those favorite books, each being more beautifully bound than you would normally find in childrens books, possibly because it was the Christmas season. They both loved the books.

How special, Patty-- I am sure they enjoyed them!
I should be clear-- all the teenagers and young adults are reading adult books (though I'll be careful with the subject matter). I have one learning disabled nephew (adult) but he won't ever sit and read-- I'll get him a book he will enjoy without reading each and every bit.

I am less looking for the Gift with capital G books as a gift of a book I think they'll love. If that makes sense!

My 12 year old is getting Great Maps book form Amazon this year. He loves maps and geography and travel. I figure even if some of the text is above his reading level, he will enjoy the maps themselves.

He previously got and really enjoyed The Sports Illustrated Top Ten Baseball book. That's not the full title. It's got top ten lists of all kinds of things in baseball--best mascots, worst uniforms, etc, etc.

One of my personal favorite books is Cry the Beloved Country.

The hardest thing about giving books to anyone in my family, except for my kids, is that they have always already read everything!

I'm planning on gifting the new illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. So amazing.

Oh good one! I had forgotten that was going to be released!

Crl.. love the Great Maps book! I also love maps.. I'd love to receive it!

Cry the Beloved Country is also a favorite of mine. I think I've mentioned before that I had "afternoon tea" with Alan Paton at his home many years ago when I was an exchange student in South Africa.

Yes, the challenge is to find books they'd enjoy that they haven't read. My sisters are the hardest. I'll likely go with something new for each of them.

I am a not a traditional religion person, so I can't believe I am recommending this, but I have given it over the years to a few loved ones who are bible believers. It is really a stunningly beautiful book - if you have anyone in your life who believes in the bible, this makes a wonderful gift. It was illustrated, painstakingly, by a man for his wife, taking around 26 years to complete. He died the year he finished it and many years later his son decided to publish it. Psalms of David

This is a little over the top but one of my fave gifts to give is the Oxford English Dictionary. Not the full 20+ volumes, but the compact one that comes with its own magnifying glass. I like to give them as housewarming gifts and graduation gifts. To be honest, its not something everyone appreciates. But I have always felt that you should have a very good dictionary and a very good atlas when you establish a household, moreso than a china pattern and pots and pans!

It is about $400, but I think of it as an heirloom.

"The OED is the definitive record of the English language, featuring 600000 words, 3 million quotations, and over 1000 years of English."

I think the OED is a wonderful gift! Not the price range I am looking at.. but a wonderful gift!

What a beautiful book, Oly!

Mtn, ever since I was a kid, my father had a huge, hardback dictionary that rested, open, on this tilted shelf in his den. He still has it. I always loved going in there to look up a word. Just the other day, my 10 y/o asked if we had a dictionary. While I do have a small, paperback one, I was surprised she asked b/c they are so accustomed to looking words up on their school-mandated iPads that mine hasn't been used in a while!

Dh and I have two of the exact same dictionaries (not the oed) that were given to each of us on our high school graduations, which amuses me. Ours are currently stacked and holding some television components up to the right height to work in a piece of furniture. We haven't used them as dictionaries in years. Dd does have a picture dictionary which was previosuly ds'. I wonder if my 12 year old even knows what a thesaurus is?

For tweens and teens, my favorite is The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon. These are the illustrated diaries of a young artist/photojournalist who traveled and lived an extremely interesting life before his tragic death.

For younger children, The Jolly Postman. A trip through familiar fairy stories and the illicit thrill of reading other people's mail.

If you have a child with poor writing skills or one heading off to college soon, I recommend Strunk & White's The Elements of Style.

It's a small, brief, efficient reference for writing. I've told my math-inclined children that they will not escape writing essays in college. Poor writers will waste hours in college struggling to complete a 1,000-word essay. Good writers will be efficient even if they know little about the subject matter. I saved myself hours and hours of time in college because I knew how to formulate a complete sentence and compose an essay.

I love reference books-- dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases, etc. I asked for them at Christmas and graduation. Even all those years ago, it was unusual for someone to own a wide range of reference books. My favorite across many years was the NYPL Desk Reference. It provided lots of the little answers that google now provides (if you are willing to sift through all the wrong answers too!). Though much less frequent, I still use my Strunk & White and the NYPL Desk Reference.I think these are all great ideas for gifts!

For this particular gift, I am really looking for something that is not so much a GIFT book but a book to be read, perused, flipped through. While it won't be read on Christmas Eve (as the Icelandic tradition), my hope is that there will be some point over the holiday vacations that each person has a quiet time with a great book that sparks them! A book that was specially selected with their interests and tastes in mind.

Just the other day, one of my sisters said she has not yet read All The Light We Cannot See so that is high on the list for her. I will give my brother my own copy of Running to the Mountain by Jon Katz. I think my bf will get the soon-to-be-released Relic Master by Christopher Buckley...

So as you see, these aren't the special leather bound copies.. or the big heavy books beside your desk. These are more gifts of experience.. both sisters are big readers so I am looking at something more current for them. I don't feel a need to stick to current releases as much as books to match each person's interests and personalities.

This being the case, it probably wasn't the best question to throw out into a new thread. The "What are you Reading" threads probably provide the kinds of recommendations I am interested in.. the books that moved you, stuck with you and gave you a little respite from the world.

Funky, I am glad you asked because there are some ideas in here that I can use. My DH would love the Great Maps book.

An adult book that is older is Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. It documents time spent with white tenant farmers in the South during the Great Depression. It includes stories behind some famous photographs from that era. And Their Children After Them is written by journalists who wanted to follow up on the stories of the families from the original book. From a cultural perspective, it is absolutely fascinating but heart breaking as well. It is certainly educational and gave me much to think about.

Technically classified as young adult/juvenile literature, The Chaos Walking Trilogy, was incredibly profound. The writing style was unique and the story stuck with me for quite a while. I will probably be purchasing it for my 17 year old for Christmas.

For the younger set (younger than what you need), I have liked to choose books that I can tie a small gift in with. Last year, my nieces and nephews received Tikki Tikki Tembo and Five Chinese Brothers along with practice chopsticks. This year, I will have Stand Back Said the Elephant, I Am Going to Sneeze and some hand animal tattoos.

Funky,

For young women on your list, maybe Lena Dunham or Tina Fey's bio?

Oh Tish.. what great gifts! I love the book and a gift idea.. and especially the one you plan for this year. The kids will LOVE animal tattoos1

We give our kids books every Christmas eve. It has always been the only gift "from mom and dad" -- everything the next day is "from Santa." And yes, I continue to do this even though they range in age from 14 to 23!

There are a few ideas above that I might steal for my older two. Still pondering what to do for my 14 yo DD, who does not enjoy reading, with the notable exception of all the Hunger Games books.

This year I have bought two books, one for a BIL and one for DH, that seemed interesting.

The Best Place to Be Today: 365 things to do and the perfect day to do them

and

You only live once: A lifetime of experiences for the explorer in all of us

Both available at Amazon.

Good suggestions, Mtn.. especially for my oldest niece. So good that I suspect she may have read them?

I was considering Fanny Flagg for my 17 yo niece. We used to watch a lot of movies when she was younger (and didnt have such a busy social schedule!). Two of her favorites were Secret Life of Bees and Fried Green Tomatoes. She talked about the characters for quite a long time after we watched the movies. She has since read Secret Life of Bees (and loved it) but I doubt that she's read Fanny Flagg. It's not quite "hip" or current but I think every girl should read Fanny Flagg. She has a very generous and empathetic heart and is drawn to those books that really tug at your heartstrings.

Not sure about my 19 yo niece yet. She's quiet and restrained.. but also is very popular and has a great sense of humor. Her still waters run deep.. and I am probably least tapped into her interests.

My nephews will all be easy. The oldest has asked for a "hard to find" biography of Dusko Popov (on whom James Bond was modeled) the last few years. I will get him this or one of the other, many WWII books that are on his list. Another adult nephew is developmentally disabled but has a recent love of boating as he just returned from a trip to winter his dad's boat in FL. I will get him some kind of coffee table/visual book on boats. The youngest is very intelligent but not so much into reading novels unless they are sports related. I don't know titles there but I'll just pick something highly rated for his age group in that genre.. unless someone has a specific recommendation!

Thank you all.. there are some really great suggestions here! Hoping others get some good ideas also!

Good books for teen boys --- The Martian (my son read it in like a day), Friday Night Lights (football), Field of Dreams, and what is the one by Doris Kearns Goodwin ...

I really enjoyed Molokai by Alan Bernnert, which is about the Hawaiian leper colony and specifically about a woman who moved to the leper colony when she was seven and spent much of her life there. It is a story that has stayed with me for many reasons.

http://www.amazon.com/Molokai-Alan-Brennert/dp/0312304358

Oly, thanks for your rec--it will be perfect for my mom.

Sueb, the author of the Hunger Games has another series called Gregor the Overlander which was well done as well. The conclusion to the series is not "and they all lived happily ever after." Your DD may enjoy that one.

FWIW, Breakfast at Tiffany's is "in" with teen girls right now. They seem to miss/ignore/not care about some of the darker elements.

A great book for teens (or anyone, but especially boys) is:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I love everything he's written.

Another book I loved and have recommended many times is Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris and also The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Her Bean Trees is also an amazing book.

The Annotated Alice, Lewis Carroll with annotations by Martin Gardner.

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, Richard Feynman (or his other books)

DH enjoys pretty much anything by David McCullough.

crl_, my kids got Great Maps last Xmas. Though younger than your DS, they enjoyed it and I expect at some point they'll want to read the text too! Along those lines maybe your DS would enjoy the National Geographic GeoBee app? There's some repetition but I think that helps kids retain the answers.

If you have someone who is interested in decor, I can recommend Mario Buatta: Fifty Years of American Interior Decoration. While reviewing the design elements is interesting, it is Mr. Buatta's humorous take on life that provided some laugh-out-loud moments for me. This is not just a picture book; it's meant to be read.

The big book of New Yorker cartoons is always fun

Anything by Elaine Ambroseelaine is a good book for a lady gift.

Aha.. this is fun but it's turned into a little of "one for me, one
for you".. and fast moving towards "two for me, one for you"! I am
loving the recommendations and have added some to my own list!

I hadn't thought of Breakfast at
Tiffany's -- a timeless classic.. and I think it's perfect for the
niece heading to college in New Haven/short train ride to NYC.

Richard Feyman is great for bf.. just trying to remember if he's read it.

Not related but it reminded me of the Freakonomics books which quite delighted him.

The Big New Yorker books are also great gifts! I like the dog cartoon one also.
Sorry
to not call out more of those mentioned but as I said, "2 for me.. " I've
added a lot of the above to my own list!

For the deadheads (like my DH)...there is a new book on Jerry Garcia. Jerry on Jerry: The Unpublished Interviews.

My DS liked the Sports Almanac books when he was younger. For kids who are into sports facts and stats.

Olychick, thank you so much for that recommendation! I can say with great relief and delight that because of this forum I have now found lovely gifts for the absolutely toughest pair on my holiday list-my father and stepmother. I ordered the NYT birthday book for him after reading about it here, and now the Psalms of David for her. I think she will love it on many levels; stepmother is not only a person of faith, but she's gone through a tough couple of years with a chronic health issue. She and my dad will celebrate 20 years of marriage this New Year's Eve, and amazingly enough they have spent almost each day hour and minute together. So the back story of a man's adoration of his wife will be so meaningful to her.