The Christmas List

For all you procrastinators, Gangrey.com has assembled a few gift ideas for help as Christmas nears. All are sure-fire hits, gifts which will undoubtedly stir toothy smiles and back pats and warm kisses.

Here goes …

* You can't go wrong with J. Wes Yoder's inaugural Carry My Bones. It's a one-night read, full of shotguns and whiskey binges and hip bones.

* If they're good enough for Van Gogh and Hemingway, Moleskine notebooks are good enough for a slouch. "A symbol of contemporary nomadism."

* Even if you read only the comics, The New Yorker, at $52 a year, is the best deal on earth.

* Spike Lee's When The Levees Broke on DVD.

* For the home or the office, New York Times photographs from years past.

* Two how-to newspaper books out this year: Roy Peter Clark's Writing Tools and Jack Hart's A Writer's Coach.

* This American Life's Stories of Hope and Fear: "It's been three years since our last This American Life collection, so it's high time for This American Life: Stories of Hope and Fear. From Jonathan Goldstein and Starlee Kine's standup comedy karaoke aspirations, to David Wilcox's tale of his mother's final gift to his mentally disabled sister, to Sascha Rothchild's alarming teenage diaries, and Julie Snyder's final confrontation with the phone company, this 2-CD set explores our greatest hopes and worst fears. Also contains more stories by David Sedaris, John Hodgman, and others."

* If you don't have it yet, Dan Barry's Pull Me Up.

* Music. Check out Old Crow Medicine Show's Big Iron World. Only on iTunes, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers' Four Unlike Before. And an oldy but goody, for the holiday season, John Prine's Christmas, featuring one that makes me cry every time I hear it, Christmas In Prison:

It was christmas in prison

And the food was real good

We had turkey and pistols

Carved out of wood

And I dream of her always

Even when I dont dream

Her names on my tongue

And her bloods in my stream.

Happy shopping.