Why Choose Books for your gifts this holiday season? Glad you asked. It's because there are few things more fun than giving someone a book they fall in love with; it lasts longer and matters more than, say, necklaces or sweaters, while rarely being more than about fifteen dollars. What's more, your purposeful choice of books, purchased from indie booksellers, supports a vibrant and dynamic literary culture in a time when the book world is struggling and even literacy is horrifically low. Choose Books because you really can make a difference. Choose Books because it is joyful.
In this series, you can look forward an ongoing guide to books as gifts; at the end of the season, it will be collected as an attractive PDF for you to download. More than a mere list of my personal favorites, Choose Books is outward-looking, featuring outstanding books of very different styles for very different tastes (and ages). Learn more about this series here.
The Top Ten Magazine Gift SubscriptionsThis year, consider giving the gift of ideas. When you offer a gift subscription to an outstanding magazine, you aren't just sending a source of delight to the recipient's mailbox throughout the next year. You are also delivering the opportunity to participate in the public conversation, to catalyze the imagination, and to tap into new ways of thinking. At the same time, you get the chance to disseminate favorite periodicals into the world, strengthening support for the brightest lights on the newsstand. It is one of my favorite items to give. There are literally hundreds of excellent opportunities for magazines as gifts; here is what you need to know about ten of them.
1. The Sun
Details: 12 issues/year. Founded in 1974 and remains an independent nonprofit publication. Publishes essays, interviews, fiction, poetry, photography, "The Dog-Eared Page," and its famous "Readers Write" section.
Recent articles: "Who Will Heal the Healers? Pamela Wible on What's Missing from Healthcare Reform"; "Eighteen Attempts at Writing About a Miscarriage"; "Selected Poems: Tony Hoagland"; "Readers Write: Selling Out"; "Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered"; "Spring Comes to New Jersey."
Gift Subscriptions: First one-year subscription is $36; each additional gift is $25 (30% off the regular price). Each recipient gets a card announcing the gift. If you are already a subscriber and renew now, all gift subscriptions are 30% off.
Trademarks: No ads in any issue; the magazine depends on subscription support. Beautifully designed, and features outstanding writing animated by hope. As it describes itself, The Sun uses "words and photographs to invoke the splendor and heartache of being human."
Consider this as a gift for: Idealists. People who are fed up with a culture of soundbites and summary, who long for expansive perspectives. Artists.
See the other nine spotlighted gift subscriptions after the jump.
Tagline: A Political and Literary Forum
Details: 6 issues/year. Founded in 1975 and remains an independent nonprofit publication. Publishes essays, fiction, poetry, and book reviews.
Recent articles: "A Death in Texas: Profit, Poverty & Immigration Coverage"; "The Lost Radical: Edward Carpenter's Democracy of the Soul"; "Desperately Seeking Sam: Remembering Beckett Twenty Years After His Death"; "Poet's Sampler: Farnoosh Fathi"; "Uproars: Authenticity & the South Asian Political Novel" "Edit This Page: Is This the End of Wikipedia?"
Gift Subscriptions: One year subscription is $25 (33% off cover price).
Trademarks: The Boston Review describes itself as "committed to equality and reason, convinced that the imagination eludes political categories." And indeed, this proves true. Also, the publication is wonderfully large-form.
Consider this as a gift for: People who are--or want to be--deeply engaged in the public conversation. People who are hungry for investigative journalism. People who love excellent newspapers.
3. One Story
Tagline: N/A
Details: Publishes one short story about every three weeks for 18 issues/year. Only available via subscription. It is a nonprofit publication founded in 2002.
Recent stories: "Finding Peace," by Sheila Schwartz; "Desiderata," by Jennifer Haigh; "Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre," by Seth Fried; "Children Are the Only Ones Who Blush," by Joe Meno.
Gift Subscriptions: One year subscription is $21, amounting to about one dollar per issue. Use the promo code "CHEERS9" for an $18 subscription.
Trademarks: As I've written before, One Story publishes really good stories in a variety of styles. Top-notch. It is attractively simple and perfectly portable -- you can slip it into your pocket. One Story also publishes a writer one time only, ensuring its commitment to different voices.
Consider this as a gift for: People who are weighed down by the books they carry everywhere. People who love reading, but have trouble finding time for it. People interested in engaging with the best of contemporary literary culture.
Tagline: Feminist Response to Pop Culture
Details: 4 issues/year. Founded as a zine in 1996, it has grown to have a circulation of 50,000. It is a nonprofit independent magazine. Publishes columns, essays, interviews, comics, "Love It/Shove It," and reviews of books, music, and film.
Recent articles: "Oh Yoko! 20 Ways of Looking at an Art World Icon;" "Wife Support: The New Meaning of the Old Ball and Chain;" "Unraveling Reality TV's Twisted Fairy Tales;" "Mapping Home: Interview with First-Time Author Randa Jarrer;" "On Abstinence: The Twilight Series Has Created a New YA Genre--Abstinence Porn."
Gift Subscriptions: $24.95 per year. You can choose to start the subscription with the current winter Art/See issue, or the upcoming spring Old issue.
Trademarks: Each issue has a creative theme that coheres the issue, such as "Art/See," "Noir," "Lost & Found," "Masculinity," and "Fake." Bitch is whip-smart, funny, and a total original.
Consider this as a gift for: Younger people, especially women in their teens and twenties. People who are overwhelmed by--or buying into--creepy media messages about how they should behave. Smartypants types who spend a lot of time watching television on Hulu and playing Guitar Hero.
Tagline: nature / culture / place
Details: 6 issues/year. Founded as a quarterly
in 1982 and is operated by The Orion Society, which also engages in community activism and environmental teaching. Publishes long-form essays, poetry, photography, book reviews, and the regular "Sacred & Mundane" section.
Recent articles: "Beautiful Ruination;" "Putting Things Back Together: Considering Wallace Stegner on the Centennial of His Birth;" "Walks Around the World;" "Mulholland's View;" "The Defenders (poem by Wendell Berry);" "The Poetry of Power."
Gift Subscriptions: Offers 2-for-1 gift subscriptions; that is, a year-long gift subscription for a total of $35.
Trademarks: Gorgeous format and fascinating writing. "Exists at the intersection where real change can occur, delving into
the connections between nature, science, justice, art, and politics."
Consider this as a gift for: Your hiking partner. People who recycle. Travelers and nomads; those who are struck by wanderlust. Gardeners, especially those who also like poetry. Fans of Wendell Berry and Annie Dillard; Edward Abbey and Aldo Leopold; Henry David Thoreau and Rebecca Solnit; Barry Lopez and Bill McKibben.
Tagline: The Southern Magazine of Good Writing
Details: 4issues/year out of the University of Central Arkansas. Publishes columns, essays, fiction, poetry, and features that fall in regular departments: "Writing on Writing," "Lit Crit," "Reflection," "Travel," "Lifestory," and "Local Fare."
Recent articles: "Amina Claudine Myers: Keeping Music Open;" "Fading From View: Was Thomas Wolfe a Genius? And Should We Care?;" "The Invitation" (fiction by Barb Johnson);" "Leaving Louisiana;" "Why Teach Faulkner?;" "Best Southern Books of All Time;" "Ode to a Living Civil-Rights Memorial;" "Kenni Huskey: Almost a Teen Queen;" "Underrated Southern Books."
Gift Subscriptions: Offers the first gift subscription for $20; the second gift subscription for $15. One of these issues will be the annual Southern music issue, and include a CD.
Trademarks: Celebrates writers and artists with connections to the South, both as subject and as the authors of this magazine's articles. Eclectic, fascinating writing that disarms readers of any region. Impressive art, photography, and design.
Consider this as a gift for: Book-lovers and writers who live in the South (or who wish they did). Armchair travelers and road-trippers. People who are hungry for a livelier version of traditional literary magazines. Fans of the living tradition of Eudora Welty, ZZ Packer, Tim Gautreaux, Allan Gurganus, Roy Blount, Jr., and/or Ernest J. Gaines.
Tagline: A National Journal of Literature & Discussion
Details: 4 book-length issues/year out of
the University of Virginia. Founded in 1925. Features fiction, poetry, long-form essays, investigative journalism, photography galleries, book reviews, comics, the "VQR Portfolio" -- a collection of themed writings -- and "Dispatch," or features from abroad.
Recent articles: "The Death of the American Dream;" "The Vanishing American" (fiction by Leslie Parry); "The Young Mothers of Port-au-Prince;" "Lionel Trilling & Allen Ginsberg: Liberal Father, Radical Son;" "Slipping from Shangri-La;" poetry portfolio of Rita Dove; "The Dice Player: A Symposium on the Life and Work of Mahmoud Darwish."
Gift Subscriptions: Subscriptions are $32 per year, or 40% off the cover price. If you give it as a gift, VQR will send a handwritten note along with your personal message to the recipient, announcing the gift.
Trademarks: Expansive reading; each issue is really a book (about 200 pages). VQR doubles as a beautiful art object; the photography is incredible. Committed to international voices. Each issue focuses on a particular issue; for example, the Fall 2009 issue takes a close look at the drug war.
Consider this as a gift for: People who feel pulled in the directions of both literature and politics. People who love long conversations about current events. People hungry to better understand the world. Questioners.
8. Gulf Coast
Tagline: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts
Details: 2 issues/year of about 250 pages apiece. Publishes fiction, nonfiction ("lyric essay), poetry, book reviews, art, and interviews. Founded in 1986 out of the University of Houston by Philip Lopate and Donald Barthelme.
Recent features: "The Wilhelm Scream" (nonfiction by Elena Passarello); "The Cartographer's Girl" (fiction by Matt Bell); "Your Headache" (poem by Laura Kasischke); "Chuck Klosterman: Do You Think You'll Be Able To Love Again?" (interview); "Barry Hannah: Crying Like a Fire in the Sun" (interview); "A Heap of Broken Images" (graphic response to 'The Waste Land').
Gift Subscriptions: One-year subscriptions are $16, or 30% off the cover price.
Trademarks: An especially tasteful journal in every way, one that's good for paging through over several weeks.
Consider this as a gift for: Artists. Dreamers. Voracious readers.
9. Bookforum
Tagline: N/A
Details: 5 issues/year, each including extensive reviews of fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels, as well as columns, interviews, and essays. Its sister publication, Artforum, focuses on contemporary art. Founded in 1994.
Recent features: "The Novel and 9/11;" "Trump Cards: John Banville on The Original of Laura;" "Altar Ego: Francine Prose on Ayn Rand and the World She Made;" "Enumeration Sensation" (essay on lists and list-making);" "Guns, Plot & Vonnegut: John Irving Talks With Bookforum;" "God, Living is Enormous: How Might the Novelist Reconcile Fiction and Faith--Make-Believe and Must-Believe?"
Gift Subscriptions: One-year subscriptions are $16.
Trademarks: Luxurious large-form publication.
Consider this as a gift for: People who were peeved to learn of Book World from the Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews closing shop. Booksellers (formal and otherwise). People who are members of book clubs and/or volunteers for the library. People who scribble suggested titles for you on tiny scraps of paper.
Tagline: N/A
Details: 12 issues/year. Founded in 1850 (it is the second-oldest continuously operated publication in the country) and is now operated independently. It publishes essays on literature, politics, culture, and business, as well as fiction, miscellany, and its famous "Harper's Index."
Recent articles: "The Intelligence Factory: How America Makes Its Enemies Disappear;" "Ghosts of Wounded Knee"; "The Necessity of Agriculture;" "The Worst of Times: Revisiting the Great Depression;" "Final Edition: Twilight of the American Newspaper;" "A Man of Extinction: J.G. Ballard's Distinctive Cast of Mind;" fiction by Steven Millhauser, Jonathan Lethem, and Christine Schutt.
Gift Subscriptions: One-year subscriptions are $16.97, which is 84% off the cover price (!). Subscription includes online access to the full Harper's archive; that is, every page of every magazine since 1850.
Trademarks: Enormously influential and a feast of ideas. Pays more attention to the environment than its counterparts. Sedate, clean design. Seymour Hersh broke the story of the My Lai massacre in Harper's. Has published everybody from Winston Churchill to Jack London to Sylvia Plath to George Saunders to Mark Twain to Marilynne Robinson.
Consider this as a gift for: People who crave information. Your parents. Your mentors. Students. Your brainy pals. People who care about egalitarianism, reason, and honesty.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Tricycle
2. Cook's Illustrated
3. Tin House
4. maisonneuve
5. Yoga Journal
6. The Paris Review
7. Ebony
8. Interview Magazine
9. The Kenyon Review
10. World Literature Today
11. Tikkun Magazine
12. Utne Reader
13. Yes! Magazine
14. Ode Magazine
15. make/shift
Image Credit: Creative Commons, by Monica's Dad
Wonderful read.
I've always given books and magazine subscriptions and am pleased that several of my choices were yours.
I'm looking forward to researching the rest.
Thank you so much.
L'chaim!
S
Posted by: Suzan | December 14, 2009 at 12:56 AM
Good list! But here's a few I'd add:
Poetry Magazine: http://www.poetrymagazine.org
Crazyhorse: http://crazyhorse.cofc.edu/
NY Review of Books: http://www.nybooks.com
I used to like The Atlantic, but ever since they moved out of Boston, it seems to have sold its soul. Or at least, it's identity.
Posted by: freeverse21 | December 14, 2009 at 09:01 AM