Three times? Charmed.

I have for you the third edition (revised, expanded, updated, all-around awesome!) of Choose Books: A Gift Guide for People Who Care About Stories. Here's what you can look forward to:

• This one goes to eleven: The new edition is bulked up by a full eleven pages, for a total of 69 pages of bookish joy! 
• Hundreds of thoughtful and original book recommendations, including those featured in expansive profiles and those recommended for particular groups of readers -- like, say, sports fans, spiritual seekers, people going through hard times, children, wanderers, knitters, politicos, and wannabe cooks.
• A brand-new section on the best books to pair with their cinematic counterparts; that is, books that should be given along with their film adaptations (which you should totally watch together, of course).
• An updated rendering of the Top Ten Magazine Gift Subscriptions ((including several debuts).
• An expanded section on the best literary organizations to offer your gift donations – a meaningful gift on your own behalf or in someone else’s name when giving donations are for many of us are a luxury. (H/t to Melissa Harris-Perry for the vantage on that.)

As always, this is more than a mere list of personal favorites. Choose Books is outward-looking, featuring outstanding books of different styles for different tastes and ages. These are both contemporary titles and classics, authored by both esteemed and emerging writers, and released by both small and large publishers. While updated for the 2011-2012 winter season, this gift guide can also help you navigate the year’s birthdays, holidays, ceremonies, and thinking of you' surprises.

Why Choose Books for your gifts this holiday season? The gift of a great story is at best transformative and soul-opening; at basic, it is a joy. (And I’d suggest that this is true for both the receiver and the giver of the book.) Books last longer and matter more than, say, necklaces or sweaters, while rarely costing more than about fifteen dollars. As well, your purposeful choice of books, purchased from indie booksellers, supports a vibrant and dynamic literary culture at a time when the book world is struggling, and even literacy is horrifically low.

Your choice of giving books translates into a choice of being an active and engaged participant in a thriving literary culture. Your participation in literary culture matters more than ever. And it's not as if this is something to be done out of charity: there are so many wonderful books out there, dynamic and strange and absorbing books, books suited to so many different personalities and tastes.

Choose Books because you really can make a difference. Choose Books because it is joyful.

This 69-page gift guide is free and accessible, my gift to you. It's also 100% free of ads and sponsorships.