(Part 2) Top products from r/santashelpers

I take it from Harry Potter and Divergent he likes strong, morally-white protagonists on journeys to save the world. I don't know his exact reading level or interests, so I will make the following suggestions by category. I ranked books in each category by difficulty.

 

Teen Fantasy:

 

Dealing with Dragons: Funny, easy to read, dragons, magic, and sarcasm.

The Lioness Series, Immortal Series, or The Magic Circle Series: Strong female leads and interesting to read with great stories (Think Mulan). My brother loved them.

Artemis Fowl: Strong, morally ambiguous but ultimately altruistic, sarcastic, and smart protagonist against the world.

User Unfriendly: Dudes get sucked into a video/rpg and try to get out without dying. Like Tron, but less sci-fi and more fantasy.

Halo: One of my brothers who HATES reading -- or at least is incredibly picky actually stayed up all night to finish four of Halo books. He also really likes the games. I don't know which one is the first or the best but this one had the best reviews. I dunno if it is dark either -- I haven't read it :'(.

The Dark Elf Trilogy: Darker than anything else I have on here (or can be) hero vs world type fantasy. Drizzit = my brothers' hero growing up. Kinda WOW-esque? Having played both, I understand how much of WOW is inspired by DnD. I personally didn't like this.

Redwall: Harder to read, talking animals save the world from other talking animals. I personally hated this series, but my brothers read every single book in the series at the time.

 


Adult Fantasy:

 

Magician: Magic, totally badass protagonist, BORING first couple chapters, but ultimately the most OP hero I have ever read. Amazing, truly amazing. I think it is two-three books in the first series.

Harper Hall: Dragons, music, strong, but lost protagonist. Deals with sexism and gender biased. The other books in the cycle range from sci-fi to political fantasy.

Dragonbone Chair: Strong, badass hero vs a dragon. What happens? He becomes more badass. It is a lighter verison of LOTR/Sword of Shanara (which is probably too much politics/genetics/enviromental commentary -- generally boring-- for him right now) --

An even lighter alternative, more teen book is Eragon. That being said, I absolutely DETESTED these books. I don't care if he was 16, he didn't coming up with any of his own material. But -- a lot of people really like it, so your brother might!

 

Sci-fi:

 

Ender's game: Amazing ending, especially if he likes videogames. I haven't seen the movie, but my Dad said it was "loosely inspired" from the book. All I know is the book was world-changing. It has some legitimately dark points (like gouging out a giants eye or drowning puppies).

Johnny Maxwell Trilogy: This dude is cool. I didn't know until I linked it that it is hard to get a copy >.<.

Dune: This, like LOTR, is VERY political and can be very easily boring. It might also be too adult or hard for him. There is mental illness and just crazy people in the later books.

 

Mature Humor:

 

He should be ready for some British humor, which is a little more mature than American humor (sorry) and much more sarcastic. You also have to be in the mood for it, especially if you aren't expecting it.

Sourcery: Really, really funny.

Hitchhiker's Guide: Also funny.

Magic Kingdom for Sale -- Sold: American. Funny take on fantasy books.

 

I kept away from darker books where the protagonist is morally grey (Artemis fowl and Drizzit being exceptions -- though they are both still definitely heros), sex, questionable themes, or general mental derangement.

I also stayed away from more modern books, which I have read a lot of if you would like recommendations for those instead. I read a lot in general, so if you have a questions about a book in particular, I can try to help.

Edit: Links

I may be late to the party, but it seems you haven't received many suggestions.

For her decorating spirit, this book, The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well, seems like a great fit as the book is wonderfully written, not just photos and ideas, but it looks amazing nonetheless. You probably wouldn't go wrong with a cute jewelry box in pink, a quality one - on Amazon I've seen cheap looking ones or pretty expensive ones, although quality stuff.

Since she loves gardening, maybe she'd like a metal bicycle-shaped planter, beautiful to have in the garden. Or a gardening kit with high quality tools.

For your sister: you could get a Lush gift set with different bath bombs and lotions they have tons of pre- packaged Christmas gifts. Otherwise you could make like a spa kit? Include some lotions, nail polish, and some slippers. She would also probably appreciate a good book, you could get a fun memoir that almost everyone will like. A couple of good ones are (Mindy Kaling's)[http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Hanging-Without-Other-Concerns/dp/0307886271], (Tina Fey's)[http://www.amazon.com/Bossypants-Tina-Fey/dp/0316056898/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DKE9VHSE47JT5861QM7], and (Amy Poehler's)[http://www.amazon.com/Yes-Please-Amy-Poehler/dp/0062268341/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=14XX5H3BTB60TZ13GJST] Another really fun book is Humans of New York which is on sale right now. Pinch Provisions offers some really cute emergency kits [http://www.pinchprovisions.com/] Maybe she'd like a perfume set or a cute mug with a starbucks gift card or some tea. You could also make a college kit for her; include advil, 5-hour energy, some candy, a starbucks/dominos gift card, tide-to-go pen, purell, first-aid kit, some nice pens.
For you parents you could get them tickets to a Comedy Club or Theater, or even just tickets to the movies and a nice dinner. Another possibility with movies is to make a little gift basket; include your favorite movie or one you think they would enjoy and then some popcorn and various candy [http://www.grannastreasures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/movie-night-gift-basket.jpg]. I'm not sure if your parents would enjoy it but a spa day? They could get a couples massage and just relax. Hope some of these ideas help!

For your mom:

• Sounds like she likes dystopian novels with strong female narrators. Cinder and Endgame have movie deals so they'll be out in a few years. She can be ahead of the crowd!
  
  For your boyfriend:
  
  
• Honestly it sounds like you have his gift covered. The only thing you can add to it really are some chocolates or little joke gifts that are inside jokes for you two.
  
  For your boyfriend's dad:
  
  
• I really like the boat Christmas idea. Things you can do with boats... well, an ornament works, but the purpose of it is to be on the tree (right? I'm Jewish) and on Christmas the tree is in its last day. Does he like sushi? You can find a sushi boat place and get him a giftcard.
  
  For your boyfriend's mom:
  
  
• Not weird to get her something from LUSH. Sounds kind of perfect, actually.

Hi!
A few ideas:

• He likes cartography, writing, and you later say “nerdy” in your post. So maybe a book of fictional maps? This book (available here) gets generally good reviews and has essays reflecting on the maps, etc... If you spend elsewhere, I’m sure you could find a map or three online and print it, age it, and make it interesting in a different way.
  
• He likes typewriters and jewelry, so perhaps a typewriter key as a ring? They have the letter “Z” available. It would be more hipster if it could be used for wax seals, but that might be more of 10 years ago interesting than current.
  
• Depending on where you live, maybe the Les Miserables tour will be in your area? Not sure if that fits the budget.
  
  Hope one of these helps you come up with something!

>He doesn't need/want cookbooks - he loves coming up with his own recipes.

If he doesn't already own it, The Flavor Bible is a great gift for people that like to come up with their own recipes. It is essentially a reference of food and spice pairings, some classic (tomato and basil) and some you would never think of (oysters and tapioca?). I use it mainly whenever the seasoning seems just a touch "off" (What else goes with turkey? OK, I'll add some sage).

If she likes classic cooking, you can get a nice hardcover set of both of Julia Childs "The Art of French Cooking" cookbooks for around $60, i believe. That plus a great cast iron pan and maybe some spices that are a bit of a splurge (think saffron and vanilla bean) would be a great cooking themed gift!

Not really gag gifts, but a few ideas...

A cool journal? This one could be fun:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307719774/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Desktop white board for organization/lists.
A healthy eats cookbook.
An inexpensive fountain pen.
Watercolor/brush set.

Get him a railroad spike knife and a book on whittling. It's the wrong kind of knife for whittling but it might get him interested if he likes trains.

I came across this activity book this morning. It'd be an unexpected gift for a drinker. Also, I know there's a ton of Japanese snacks on Amazon, not sure of the shipping costs though,

If she doesn't have it already, the Game of Thrones cookbook is really cool: https://www.amazon.com/Feast-Ice-Fire-Official-Companion/dp/0345534492

Shakespeare's insults book
http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeares-Insults-Educating-Your-Wit/dp/0517885395

If she enjoys reading at all, get her a copy of this book. It's intimidatingly big for non-readers, but every line is poetry. It made me want to visit India- not the rich, luxurious parts, but the slums, the dirty parts with real people.