Crafty? Creative? Curious? Here are some books that will delight anyone with a passion for crochet, knitting, sewing, or anything hands-on.

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KYUUTO! JAPANESE CRAFTS! AMIGURUMI! (Chronicle Books).

Kyuuto! = Cute! Japan crafters know their stuff, especially when it comes to cute crafts like amigurumi (small crocheted creatures so cute you could cry). Chronicle’s Kyuuto books are translations of Japanese craft books, so you won’t have to order the books from overseas—and then try to figure out the patterns based on pictures alone!

Also check out KYUUTO! JAPANESE CRAFTS! LACY CROCHET!

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SOFTIES: Simple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals by Therese Laskey, foreword by Leah Kramer (Chronicle Books).

Softies, plush, stuffed animals… whatever you call them, SOFTIES is an adorable collection of sewn creations from acclaimed artists from around the world—plus instructions and patterns to make your own! SOFTIES was compiled by Therese Laskey, the creator of the blog Softies Central, with a foreword from Leah Kramer, founder of Craftster.org.

* See some photos from the book on Not Martha.

*Download a pattern for one of the softies from Craft magazine’s blog.

* Meet some of the colourful characters in the book in this SOFTIES video! Ha!

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FIELD GUIDE TO KNITTING: How to Identify, Select, and Create Virtually Every Stitch by Jackie Pawlowski (Quirk Books).

FIELD GUIDE TO KNITTING is a great little stocking stuffer ... that will also teach you how to darn those stockings! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) This is a great little comprehensive guide full of tons of stitch patterns plus other essential knitting advice.

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CRAFT INC.:  Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco (Chronicle Books).

If you’re thinking of turning your craft from a hobby into a business, CRAFT INC. will be your guide. It’s full of information on business basics like setting prices, plus inspiring interviews with craft superstars such as Lotta Jansdotter and Jill Bliss, who offer real-world advice.

* Read Print & Pattern‘s review of the book (with some great photos of the lovely interiors).

* Read an interview with the author, Meg Mateo Ilasco, on WhipUp.

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THE GUERILLA ART KIT: Everything You Need to Put Your Message out into the World by Keri Smith (Princeton Architectural Press).

For a good dose of inspiration, check out THE GUERILLA ART KIT. Created by artist Keri Smith, THE GUERILLA ART KIT is full of fun ways to make your mark on the world, though always in a non-harmful and non-intrusive way. Rather than grafitti, Keri Smith’s ideas of guerilla art are things like throwing seed bombs to plant random gardens in the city, or creating fortune-cookie-style fortunes for other people to find. Just the kind of things that brighten up someone’s day.

* You can see a sneak peak inside the book on Book By It’s Cover.

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Still crafting the perfect present? Perhaps our other Gift Guides will help.

Chronicle has posted a great Stationery Gift Guide for 2007 on their blog. If you’re a paper-fiend of just a fan of pretty things have a look!

Chronicle works with some fantastic artists and designers to create their stationery, including Sukie, Hammerpress, Lotta Jansdotter and Rex Ray.

Here are some of the most creative and visually interesting books of the year—perfect the “right brain” thinkers on your list.

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HAND JOB: A Catalog of Type by Michael Perry (Princeton Architectural Press).

Easily one of my personal favourite books of the year, HAND JOB is a collection of hand-drawn type. It’s becoming more and more popular, used in design work, advertising, album covers, clothing design and more. Michael Perry, who is himself a creator of fantastic hand-drawn type, has compiled top hand-drawn typographers from all over the world in one visually stunning package.

Click here for some photos of the book’s interior, and an interview with the Michael Perry on Book By It’s Cover.

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TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY: 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance by Joshua Glenn and Carol Hayes (Princeton Architectural Press).

Everybody has one of these: an seemingly ordinary object that you treat like the crown jewels. TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY features 75 of these items--from a soda bottle to a rubber pig, from a death mask to a shrivelled artichoke--that people have collected and kept. If you’re looking for quirky, original and compelling book, TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY is it.

Many of us invest ordinary objects with other sorts of extraordinary significance, too. My friend Tony crams a U.S. Navy 100-pound practice bomb into his tiny workspace for much the same reason that Greg, a colleague of mine at the Boston Globe, displays a wobbly wooden Santa in his kitchen year-round. These doohickeys are actually fossils, petrified evidence of a vanished epoch (young adulthood). Other writers, thinkers, designers and artists of my acquaintance cherish things—sunglasses found at a yard sale, a colored-sand-filled glass clown, a one-eyed ceramic frog—for equally irrational reasons.

--Joshua Glenn on DesignObserver

Here’s a short excerpt from the book on DesignObserver.

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TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios (Chronicle Books).

Every movie I see from Pixar just amazes me. Did you see how REAL the rats’ hair in Ratatouille looked? (Yeah, I know, a little TOO real for rats in the kitchen...) TO INFINITY AND BEYOND is the definitive book on Pixar, chronicling it’s 20 year-history. The book is (of course!) gorgeous to look at, full of concept art, storyboards, and snapshots, plus interviews with the people who made it all happen.

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WHITE RAPIDS by Pascal Blanchet (Drawn & Quarterly).

For another visual treat, open up WHITE RAPIDS. Written and illustrated by award-winning Québécois cartoonist Pascal Blanchet, WHITE RAPIDS is graphic novel that blends fact and fiction to tell the story of a Canadian town is forced to shut down after the local water and power company closes. WHITE RAPIDS is retro artwork at its best.

Click here to read some reviews and here for a sneak peak.

UPDATE: Pascal Blanchet was interviewed by Jian Ghomeshi on CBC Radio One’s ‘Q’ on Monday Dec 5th. Click here to listen to the interview (it’s towards the end of the podcast).

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Still designing the perfect gift? Maybe some of our other Gift Guides will help.

Are you in the holiday spirit yet? Here are some books that will bring that holiday glow into all parts of your home, from your rooftop to your dining table to your bedside table.

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HOLIDAY HERO: A Man’s Manual for Holiday Lighting by Brad Finkle (Chronicle Books).

Want to be the brightest house on the block? HOLIDAY HERO is a humourous and helpful book that shows you, step-by-step, how to out up your Christmas lights, from a simple string to full-on Rudolph and all his reindeer pals prancing in lights across your rooftop.

Watch the Holiday Hero video interview with the author, which shows off some of his bright ideas.

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SERIOUSLY SIMPLE HOLIDAYS: Recipes and Ideas to Celebrate the Season by Diane Rossen Worthington (Chronicle Books).

Diane Rossen Worthington is a James Beard Award-winning broadcaster and the author of 18 cookbooks, including the bestselling SERIOUSLY SIMPLE. Now Diane’s back to tackle holiday cooking… with ease. Full of timesaving tips, wine and cheese pairings and menus for hosting holiday parties, SERIOUSLY SIMPLE HOLIDAYS includes yummy recipes such as Apple Clafouti and delish drinks such as Cranberry Mimosas.

Here are a couple of sample recipes from the book:

- Chicken-Vegetable Soup with Herbed Matzo Balls

- Sour Cream-Vanilla Cupcakes

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THE BIBLE: Genesis, Exodus, The Song of Solomon illustrated by Marc Chagall (Chronicle Books).

Celebrated artist Marc Chagall began illustrating the Bible in 1931, and it became his lifelong passion. This beautiful, bright volume includes more than 130 pages of his works, paired with three books from the Old Testament. Chagall’s illustrations reflect his Jewish heritage and his view of the complex relationship between God and man, presaging many of the subjects and themes in his later work

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WHERE, OH WHERE IS SANTA CLAUS? by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Ivan Bates (Harcourt).

This is beautifully illustrated, heartwarming Christmas picture book set in the North Pole—full of reindeers, snow and Santa… oh wait, where IS Santa? Will he be found in time to make deliveries on Christmas Eve?

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OLIVE, THE OTHER REINDEER: Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition by J.otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh (Chronicle Books).

OLIVE, THE OTHER REINDEER is 10 years old—can you believe it? Olive is now a Christmas classic, and this deluxe 10th anniversary edition celebrates the milestone with sparkles galore, flaps to lift, spots to scratch and sniff ... and even a POP-UP grand finale!

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Still looking the perfect gift to put under the tree? Have a look at our other gift guides.

The next best thing to a plane ticket, here are some books for the travel bugged…

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THE AFRICA BOOK: A Journey through Every Country in the Continent (Lonely Planet).

From Cape Town’s gleaming shopping arcades to the remote tribes living on Lake Turkana’s shores to the dire realities of war and famine, this is the most comprehensive and beautiful coffee-table book on Africa ever published. Packed with amazing photos, THE AFRICA BOOK also includes stimulating essays, plus facts and figures for each country.

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THE ASIA BOOK: A Journey through Every Country in the Continent (Lonely Planet).

THE ASIA BOOK is a comprehensive exploration of this captivating continent of contrasts, from the tropical beaches of Bali to the frozen slopes of Everest. Hugely ambitious and stunningly beautiful, it covers Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas, Central Asia and the Middle East.

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LONELY PLANET BLUELIST 2008: The World’s Hottest Trends, Destinations, Journeys and Experiences (Lonely Planet).

Want to know where to find the eeriest places to sleep behind bars, or where to view the most volatile volcanoes? The greatest film festivals around the globe? Leading travel authority Lonely Planet compiles all the world’s hottest trends, destinations, journeys and experiences into BLUELIST 2008.

For more info on BLUELIST 2008, visit lonelyplanet.com/bluelist.

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SIGNSPOTTING 2: More Absurd & Amazing Signs from around the World compiled by Doug Lansky (Lonely Planet).

A great stocking stuffer for travel fiends, SIGNSPOTTING 2 is a hilarious collection of inadvertently entertaining (real!) signs. Click here for a peek inside the book.

Also check out the original SIGNSPOTTING.

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PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY by Will Self, illustrated by Ralph Steadman (Bloomsbury UK).

And for the most quirky travel book on the list, PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY is a collaboration between award-winning writer Will Self and legendary gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman that explores the effects that the physical environment has on the emotions and behaviours of individuals. Will Self went swimming in the Ganges and surfing on a tsunami. On a recent trip to Toronto this Fall, he also walked from the airport to downtown. Yes, walked.

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Still searching the globe for the perfect present? Check out our other Raincoast Gift Guides.

Here are some gift ideas for people who love nature, being outdoors, or even just pottering around in the garden…

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THE HUMAN, THE ORCHID, AND THE OCTOPUS: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World b y Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein (Bloomsbury USA).

Ten years after his death, the words of iconic explorer and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau are brought to life in THE HUMAN, THE ORCHID, AND THE OCTOPUS. An environmentalist ahead of his time, Cousteau remarks on the impact of human activity on the world’s oceans and highlights our responsibility to protect the earth.

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BIRD SONGS FROM AROUND THE WORLD by Les Beletsky, with audio from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Chronicle Books).

Birders, listen up! BIRD SONGS FROM AROUND THE WORLD not only includes information and illustrations of 200 birds, it also houses built-in digital audio that plays 200 individual bird songs (20 seconds each). This book was immediately a favourite in-house here at Raincoast. ("Hey, is there a Kookaburra in the office?")

If you want to hear what the sounds are like, check out The Macaulay Library bird sounds page.

Also check out the original BIRD SONG: 250 North American Birds in Song.

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THE GARDEN AT NIGHT: Private Views of Public Edens by Linda Rutenberg (Chronicle Books).

Easily ones of the most beautiful coffee table books of the year, THE GARDEN AT NIGHT is not your typical photography book about flowers and plants. Montreal photographer Linda Rutenberg visited 20 public and botanical gardens across North America AT NIGHT (!), and captured hauntingly beautiful portraits of flora surrounded by darkness.

To see some images from the book, visit the author’s website.

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JEKKA’S COMPLETE HERB BOOK: Revised Edition by Jekka McVicar (Raincoast Books).

If you’re more hands-on about the garden, take a look at JEKKA’S COMPLETE HERB BOOK. Crowned the “queen of herbs” by Jamie Oliver, Jekka McVicar includes eveything you need to know about herbs—from history and cultivation, to their many uses.

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For more book suggestions, check out our other Raincoast Gift Guides.

If you you’re looking for the perfect gift for a musician, a music lover, or someone who’s just addicted to Guitar Hero… here are some books that will rock their world.

VAN HALEN: A Visual History 1978-1984 by Neil Zlozower (Chronicle Books).

Let’s face it, you miss the high-kicking, guitar blazing, stadium-shaking, good old days of rock and roll. Oh, and let’s not forget the spandex. VAN HALEN is a photo-rich tribute to the legendary band from their friend and photographer, Neil Zlozower. Click here to look inside the book.

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RUNNIN’ DOWN A DREAM: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers by Tom Petty (Chronicle Books).

This is Tom Petty by Tom Petty. RUNNIN’ DOWN A DREAM is a personal volume that includes hundreds of photographs, many never before published, plus a selection of souvenirs and keepsakes from Petty’s personal archives, Petty’s own personal recollections, new interviews that have never before been published and personal tributes from artists and rock luminaries close to Petty, including Cameron Crowe, Johnny Depp and Stevie Nicks.

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THE JIM MORRISON SCRAPBOOK by James Henke (Chronicle Books).

My favourite feature of THE JIM MORRISON SCRAPBOOK is that it’s an interactive scrapbook: you can remove and examine mementos and personal documents detail Morrison’s life, from handwritten lyrics and poetry to his last will. The book also includes rare photographs from the Morrison estate, exclusive interviews with surviving family and Doors members, plus a 60-minute CD that includes five minutes of unreleased spoken-word poetry from Jim Morrison.

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ELLIOTT SMITH by Autumn de Wilde, with a foreword by Beck Hansen and Chris Walla (Chronicle Books).

ELLIOTT SMITH is a beautiful tribute to the musician, created by his close friend, photographer Autumn de Wilde, and authorized by Smith’s family. It includes a CD of unreleased live acoustic performances, 200 photos and conversations with Smith’s surviving friends, family and fellow musicians such as members of the bands Death Cab for Cutie and Nada Surf. Click here to look inside the book.

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THE ART OF MODERN ROCK MINI #1: A-Z by Dennis King (Chronicle Books).

Think of this as an alphabet book for adults. Adults who like to rock. Filled with the best poster art, THE ART OF MODERN ROCK MINI #1: A-Z includes all the key artists and studios, from Mark Arminski to Alison Zawacki, as well as poster genres and top bands. All the artwork is conveniently arranged from “Anarchy” to “Zombie”. (D is fotr Devil Girl, O if for Octopus, R is for Roller Girl...)

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For more info on all these books—and to enter our Chronicle Music Contest with Exclaim! Magazine—visit raincoast.com/music/

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If none of these books struck a chord with you, check out our other Raincoast Gift Guides.

THE COUNTRY COOKING OF FRANCE by Anne Willan (Chronicle Books).

This big, beautiful, luscious cookbook will bring a little bit of France into your home. Written by Anne Willan—an award-winning cooking teacher, food writer, and the author of more than 30 cookbooks—this book is winning over the hearts (and stomachs) of everyone who reads it…

* A New York Times Notable Cookbook
* A USA Today Gift Guide pick
* A top cookbook in the December 2007 issue of Bon Appetit

Want to know more?
* Watch a video about the making of this book.
* Try a recipe from the book: Potato cake with cheese and bacon

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CRUST: a book and DVD by Richard Bertinet (Kyle Cathie Ltd).

Richard Bertinet’s last book, DOUGH won the Julia Child Award for First Book, the IACP Best Cookbook of the Year award, a Guild of Food Writers’ award and a James Beard Foundation award.

Now he’s back with CRUST, a guide to making more delicious breads, from sourdough, to croissants, to brioche. CRUST is also packed with stunning photos and a 30-minute DVD that gives additional guidance on techniques as well as showing recipes step-by-step.

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MY LAST SUPPER: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals: Portraits, Interviews, and Recipes by Melanie Dunea (Bloomsbury USA).

If you were to die tomorrow, what would be your last meal? Who would prepare it? Where would it take place? Who would sit with you at the table? This is a game that chefs have been playing amongst themselves for decades. MY LAST SUPPER pairs famous chef’s dream meals with Vanity Fair-style portraits (just wait till you see the photo of Anthony Bourdain...)

* Read the review in The New Yorker.

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NO RESERVATIONS: Around the World on an Empty Stomach by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury USA).

Speaking of Anthony Bourdain… NO RESERVATIONS is Anthony Bourdain’s uncensored journal of his travels for his Travel Channel show, No Reservations. Where can you get good fatty crab in Rangoon? How do you tell a Frenchman his baguette is invading your personal space?

* Listen to Raincoast’s podcasts with Anthony Bourdain (recorded for his previous book, THE NASTY BITS): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

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Still hungry for more books? Click here for more Raincoast Gift Guides.

Still looking for the perfect gift this holiday season? We’re here to help.

And now, to start off in style...

Books for Divas

CARTIER by Hans Nadelhoffer (Chronicle Books).

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But if that best friend is a liiiitle out of budget this holiday season, this book is a great “Plan B”. Packed with beautiful photos, CARTIER is the only authorized history of the famous company.

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EAT, DRINK, AND BE GORGEOUS: A Nutritionist’s Guide to Living Well While Living It Up by Esther Blum (Chronicle Books).

The title says it all: this is a guide that’ll show you how to party like a diva and still look (and feel!) great the next morning. It might come in handy around New Year’s Eve!
Click here to listen to a podcast with the author.

UPDATE: Watch Esther Blum’s appearance on the Today Show! (It’s the second video segment, after the piece on smoking bans.)

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PLAYING WITH GROWN-UPS by Sophie Dahl.

This is the first novel from Sophie Dahl, who is not only the granddaughter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory creator Roald Dahl, but is also an international supermodel in her own right. PLAYING WITH GROWN-UPS is a heartbreaking, scandalous and hilarious coming-of-age novel.

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Stay tuned for more Raincoast Gift Guides...