Bananagrams. Autoharps. A guitar game that teaches you how to play. Globe Arts' critics - books, film, TV, theatre and music - point you to the coolest loot of the season
JOHN BARBER'S PICKS FOR THE BOOK LOVER
Life by Keith Richards
Voted audio book of the year at the awards that honour such productions, this 23-hour narration of guitarist Keith Richard’s best-selling biography includes the voices of actor Johnny Depp, London-born actor Joe Hurley and even a bit by the mumble-mouthed madman himself. $26.38 at chapters.indigo.ca; amazon.ca (Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)
Aquala bathtub caddy
This is what book lovers mean by an “immersive reading experience.” Umbra’s eminently renewable bamboo Aquala bathtub reading caddy combines one bell (a fold-up stand for propping books) with one whistle (carved-out footing for a glass of wine) to fashion the perfect analogue oasis in the electronic desert of modern life. $50 at umbra.com and sears.ca (Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)
Bananagrams!
Yes, you can download any number of interactive word games for play on your smartphone, but it’s hard to achieve the required measure of family fun without the real thing at hand. For the latest variation in the Scrabble/Boggle vein, try Bananagrams, which combines elements of both those classic games in a colourful, portable package. $18.95 at mastermindtoys.com; chapters.indigo.ca (Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)
Hunger Games Boxed Set
Just when you thought Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy of young-adult novels couldn’t get bigger, Hollywood is swinging into action, with the first film scheduled for release this spring. For any young person (or adult) who doesn’t know yet, this handsome set packages the entire phenomenon in a single box. $37.60 at amazon.ca; chapters.indigo.ca
1493
If there’s a reader on your list who’s left cold by the latest novels but loves to feast on facts, Charles C. Mann’s 1493 is an especially rich offering: an accessible and original world history describing the origins of globalization in the massive exchanges of crops, diseases, minerals and people that followed Columbus’s journey to the New World. $34.50 at randomhouse.ca
to get it and come back to see the ad in front of this gallery.
