We are here to talk (briefly) about gifts. Yes, it's too late for that. But bear with me.
So my new relaxed strategy? If you see something that looks right for someone, just buy it and be done with it—no "I'll look around and see if I can find something better." No "maybe I can find an even more perfect version of this if I…" Just no: you buy it.
And if you don't find something that looks right? Buy a close approximation. Also? Go to only small nice stores where people won't be mean to you. Go to BookCourt or Community Bookstore if you live in Brooklyn, and you will be soothed by the pleasant book-filled atmosphere, and be able to buy something for every single person you care about. Don't go to more than two stores in one day. Bring a nice, decisive small person with you (thanks, Chestnut!) so they can just tell you: Yes, buy that.
I know all this would have been more helpful more like, hmm, a week ago? But then I wouldn't have been able to tell you this last part. If you know a very particular type of person, a person who has a dark sense of humor, a person who appreciates an evil grin, a person who loves cats, and you want to make that person scream with happiness? And you want that not to be an expression, but an actual out-loud scream of happiness? Buy them this:
Note: I did not buy this book for Diana. Our neighbor did. There was a whole lot of happy screaming. Then just hours of happy raptness interrupted by sporadic reading aloud, or should I say proclaiming? At any rate: I think I can say we recommend it.
marcialerner.com 
oh! my sister used to buy me Emily the Strange stuff. I still use the address book… sniff, makes me so happy to see a novel (!!).
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I was not familiar with the character but got access to the ARC for the first book and was very engaged. My then high school daughter enjoyed it even more, and though in college, still goes back to read the books. (In fact asked me where our copy of the first one was just last week.) The books are kinda weird, but good.
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My 3- , 6-, and 8-year-olds have fallen in love with Franny K Stein (one girl, the youngest, and the other two are boys). This looks like something they will all joyfully grow into in a few years. I wonder whether my 6-year-old, who seems mostl likely to wholeheartedly appreciate this character, will be thrown off by its female main character. But I hope not, because it looks great. (Also: Amazon recommends it for ages 13 and up. What are your thoughts, age-wise? Not so much regarding reading level, as I have one very advanced reader and two others who are quite happy to be read to, but the subject matter and interest level to younger readers/listeners)
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Hmm. Tricky to say about age, it’s definitely a personality type kind of thing. If they’re into the dark side of things, and have dark senses of humor, that’s the key. Mostly that happens (more fully, anyway) in kids over 9 I would think?
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This looks like a perfect book for my daughter. One of my New Year’s goals is to read more with her…will order it now. And we sadly lost our neighborhood bookstore a few years ago. It was wonderful, even for a small town. I can’t bear to take their bumper sticker off my car.
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Thank-you for this recommendation! I ordered the first one from the library and it is an instant hit with my own 11 year old. She is very grateful to Diana for the recommendation, and recalls that we also got the recommendation of Fruits Basket from here – another favourite. So in the spirit of reciprocity, she recommends to Diana the Girl Genius comics. Website is here: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/. You can get them as published collections or read them online. I think there is even a free online collection of them somewhere.
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That is so kind of you, lb! Thank your daughter for us, and we will certainly check it out. And glad you liked Fruits Basket and Emily.
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