The Vine: December 4, 2009
Keep those holiday-themed Ask The Reader requests coming, folks — ’tis the season to suffer giver’s block, so let your fellow TNeers help out.
*****
Dear Sars,
I have a dilemma and I’m hoping Vine readers might be able to help. My in-laws are IMPOSSIBLE to find Christmas gifts for. They are extremely wealthy and my MIL pretty much shops for a living.They have everything they could need.Quaint homemade stuff and gifts to charity don’t really fly with them (without saying so, they’ve pretty much made it clear that those things don’t count).
In the past I have given them gifts of gourmet treats to serve at parties, framed pictures of us (as well as the handmade and charity gifts too). After nine years I’m desperate for something. I do know that my MIL loves all the CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds type of shows. She also likes True Blood, and the Twilight books. And Desperate Housewives and House. As far as I know she’s seen/read all the standard mainstream stuff in these categories.
I don’t like either genre so I don’t know anything besides the mainstream either. I was wondering if anyone can recommend some more books or series in these veins that perhaps my MIL hasn’t heard of.Dexter came up in the conversation at Thanksgiving and my MIL hadn’t seen that, but I think my SIL is beating me to it. A little gore and sex would be okay…but nothing too weird and twisted.She read Twilight, but I don’t think Harry Potter would work.Any help?Any other gift ideas for rich in-laws would also be appreciated!
Reality TV watcher
Dear Reality,
If she can tolerate subtitles, you might try Epitafios, the Spanish-language serial-killer miniseries from HBO.It’s somewhat gory/twisted, but nothing she wouldn’t have seen on CSI.
If you want something in the true crime/criminalism genre in book form, you might try something by John Douglas, who launched the FBI’s profiling program; he tends towards the self-congratulatory, but The Cases That Haunt Us keeps that to a minimum, and covers a lot of famous cases in depth.
And if she’s into videogames at all, I believe that CSI and the Law & Order franchise both have branded scenario-type games for the Mac and PC.
For fictional crime, I’d recommend Richard Price’s Lush Life; I read it over the summer and it’s fantastic.
And if the rich in-laws drink: wine.com, baby. A Veuve gift package (the one with the quaint carrying case) and you’re all good in the hood.
Anyone else?
Sarah,
Here’s a holiday-appropriate “ask the readers” question.I have a beloved advent calendar from my childhood I’m trying to locate, but have had no Google success.It was a one-time-use type calendar with perforated tabs over the days, and a sort of cartoony-looking picture on it of a nighttime scene.
The calendar told the story of a little star that turned out to be the star that led the wise men to the manger.The calendar did not have chocolate or other goodies in it, just text behind the tabs telling this story.
If there are other recommendations for good advent calendars, I’d love to hear them, too.
Thanks, and happy holidays.
Mary
Dear Mary,
Well, it’s not the one on my wall.(Our mom still gets us each one every year.This year’s is coated in glitter, which is awesome.)
Readers?Anyone seen this calendar, or have a likely Google string?
Tags: Ask The Readers John Douglas rando retail Richard Price shut up Twilight Veuve Clicquot winter-holiday agita
You might try Acorn Media, which sells all manner of BBC and Canadian box sets.
http://acornonline.com/videos/c/295/
You’d be taking a flyer in the sense that you wouldn’t know for sure, but if you picked a really acclaimed BBC series or Canadian series that seemed up her alley, you might score unexpectedly, and at least you’d probably hit something she hasn’t seen. (This is not a personal recommendation; I haven’t watched much of this stuff myself, but I know they are the purveyor of, among other things, a show I can’t remember the name of that’s supposedly a kind of old-timey CSI show and some other things, and the UK “Life On Mars.”)
For the crime-watching MIL: the DVDs are a little on the pricey side but there’s a BBC mystery series called Wire in the Blood (at amazon: http://tinyurl.com/yz5o42c) that’s fantastic. Def on the gory side; darker by far than your standard NCIS fare, but pretty compelling. If you’ve got netflix they’re available for insta-watch if you want to check them out before you buy.
(The characters, if not all the plots, are based on a series of mysteries by Val MacDermid–again, they skew grittier/more graphic, but if you don’t want to shell out for the DVDs they could be an option.)
Reality: The BBC is your friend! Check out Wire in the Blood, Cracker, Touching Evil, Second Sight, and whatever’s new. I’m sure they have some that are more straightforward procedurals, but I’ve managed to use these to deal with family members with whom I have absolutely no no way of interacting otherwise.
Try Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren. It played on the BBC. My mom just devoured that Box Set. She was so sad when it was over.
If the MIL’s a reader, try the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. A crime-solving wizard in Chicago runs afoul of the supernatural – vampires, demons, fairies, werewolves – they’re very well-written and well-paced. And they made a SciFi series out of it as well if that’s preferable. Not sure it’s out on DVD yet or not.
I would also endorse Wire in the Blood and other BBC series – there was a Jekyll-and-Hyde 6-episode series, Being Human, etc.
For the crime-watching MIL: Hit all the BBC dramas that she’s probably not seen on mainstream American TV, like Prime Suspect, MI-5, State of Play, Hustle (awesome fun for everyone–a different heist each episode!), Inspector Morse, etc. etc. Since she’s read Twilight, you could also try some of the BBC sci-fi shows, like Primeval and Life on Mars.
Reality: Get your in-laws the FAB-O BBC mini-series “Jekyllâ€. Netflix recommended it to me a couple of weeks ago and it is fantastic! Fun to watch, great story, great actors, action, romance, drama. You can get it from Amazon.
For Reality: following Linda’s comment, my husband and I both enjoyed “Life on Mars” and the followup “Ashes to Ashes” – both from the BBC.
The TV Series Moonlight. I can’t get the Amazon link to work, but its easy to find. Hot vampire detective-combines her crime taste and her vampire taste.
Also, Dark Shadows. The old black and white series is pretty terrible (although enjoyable in its way) but they remade it in 1991 with Ben Cross. That version is really good, though it only lasted half a season. Again, easy to find on Amazon.
Two other old vampire detective series I know are kind of cult classics, though I’ve not seen them myself so can’t speak to their quality: Forever Knight and Blood Ties.
Seconding the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I always tell people the first novel is only ok but once you’ve finished the second one you’ll devour them like crack. Funny, noirish, supernatural private detective stories set in Chicago.
Sunshine by Robin McKinley is a pretty good vampire/regular girl love story.
If she likes True Blood, she might like Moonlight (with Alex O’Loughlin and Sophia Myles, canceled after one season) or Blood Ties (Christina Cox and Kyle Schmid, canceled after two seasons). Both are in the vampire detective genre, and Blood Ties is based on the Blood series of novels by Tanya Huff. And there’s also the Forever Knight series which ran for three seasons in the early/mid 90s.
Dresden Files might be up her alley, too. More magic, only occasional vampires, but the show was pretty good (if short-lived), and it’s based on the Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher.
Reality TV Watcher: I am happy to see your question, because I too have a number of well-off relatives (including my lovely parents) who have everything they could ever want, and I struggle to find something interesting.
One tactic is an “experience” gift: two tickets to the opera/theater, or a gift certificate to a nice, upscale (but not breaking the bank) kind of restaurant they like.
My approach this year has been local products: I don’t live in the same geographic area as my relatives, so I’ve picked up things like “Virginia Chutney” samplers and boiled peanut kits. Though I guess YMMV–my relatives are not inclined to complain about gifts, so most of my stress is self-induced. Good luck!
Oh, and ditto on the Prime Suspect BBC recommendation–awesome series.
An oldie but goodie from the US would be the series Homicide: Life on the Streets – much grittier, but more realistic than CSI, and features John Munch from one of the Law and Orders before he moved from Baltimore to New York.
I see I’ve been beaten to it, but I want to third or fourth the recommendation for Wire in the Blood…we’ve just started watching it and it’s fantastic! If she’s a fan of those shows, I definitely think she’ll like it.
Fancy wine package is a great idea too, or I was also thinking of the other fancy food types of things you can order, if they’re foodies at all. Gift certificates for “experience” type things (a special dinner, a play or season tickets to something, horseback ride, whatever–depending on their interests) are also a good bet.
For the MIL, you might want to check out Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series. Rachel is a private detective who also happens to be a witch, in a world which contains vampires and their gangs (think Mafia), pixies, werewolves, and such. The characters are well drawn, and the plots are a wonderful roller coaster ride.
And continuing on the BBC theme, if you think sci-fi’s up her alley, Torchwood or Being Human might work. (Not sure if Being Human is on DVD, but I know Torchwood is.)
For the MIL gift: I really enjoyed both The Alienist and Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr. Fictional turn-of-the century crime!
Some other books the MIL might enjoy are “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer (it is sci-fi/aliens instead of vampires), the Rachel Morgan books by Kim Harrison, and the Outlander series by Diana Gabladon. They are all very good.
Reality: I recommend “Castle,” Nathan Fillion’s buddy crime-drama.
Not a book/DVD rec, but one more oft-overlooked food gift source: Zingerman’s. They are my go-to gift source, and I am never disappointed in their offerings. http://www.zingermans.com Fancy olive oils and mega-aged balsamics? Check. Completely craveable coffeecakes? Check. Totally adorable scone gift boxes? Check. Weird stuff like chocolate-covered clementines? Check. Make-your-own Reuben kit? CHECK.
Seriously, their stuff is amazing. One loaf of the bacon pepper farm bread and your life will change completely.
Quaint homemade stuff and gifts to charity don’t really fly with them (without saying so, they’ve pretty much made it clear that those things don’t count).
And that’s the part where I realized I could be of no help here. (I’m all about the homemade stuff.)
Has your MIL read the Sookie Stackhouse series that True Blood is based on? They are fantastic! I bought the first 8 paperbacks in a box set on sale for about $30. Just as addictive as Twilight, but better writing, plenty of humor and more adult.
I’ll add one more British crime show: Midsomer Murders. It masquerades as a cozy, but people die in weird, weird ways, plus it’s loaded with Hey-It’s-That-British-Guy guest stars. Has she read the Charlaine Harris books that True Blood is based on? If she likes those, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong and Sherrilyn Kenyon are good readalikes. My Twilight lovers also dig Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires series, Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods, P.C. Cast’s House of night series and LJ Smith’s Vampire Diaries, which the new TV show was based on.
Would tickets to events work for the in-laws? Local Symphony or Ballet, national tour of musical, local sports team?
There might be show tie-in merchandise for those shoes if she would be interested in coffee mugs, t-shirts, or whatnot from her favorite shows.
@Reality: Almost everyone recommends “The Wire” DVDs (including me!) but few people take up the adventure. MIL may be willing to go on that ride. On the lighter side, “Bones” is a more fun version of the crime procedural. Sars suggestion of “Lush Life” is good; I listened to the audio version read by Bobby Cannavale and it was great. Maybe portable electronics? Depending on your budget, you could get a digital camera, digital frame, ipod shuffle, travel DVD player, or accessories for these things. Or spa certificates, manicure kits, grooming splurges? Sephora offers a perfume sampler of about 10 fragrances and a certificate for the full-size bottle of your favorite.
If she hasn’t seen Veronica Mars (apparently not enough people were watching it when it was on, boo)…that was an EXCELLENT series. Clever crime solving, and I assume she won’t mind that the main characters are teens if she likes Twilight. The adults are pretty well-developed characters, also.
I heartily second the BBC’s State of Play. Fantastic stuff.
My in-laws are also difficult to shop for, although for different reasons. We have started giving them gifts of tickets to various events in their town – plays, orchestra concerts, etc. for bday & xmas presents. It requires a little sleuthing to figure out a date that will work for them (or sometimes outright asking, spoiling the surprise but ensuring they will be able to attend) but so far they seem to have really enjoyed the events (genuinely enjoyed, not fake enjoyed).
Mary’s advent calendar sounds great, but I have no idea where to find one. In our house, we get the kids Lego advent calendars. Each day, they get to open a little Lego kit–sometimes it’s a Lego guy (which are hard to come by and cost a fortune to buy individually) and sometimes it’s a winter appropriate thing like a snowman, sled, etc. The kids love them and I like that it’s something other than candy (not that I’m candy-averse, but there are SO many sweets this time of year and we need to pace ourselves).
@ Reality How about the TV show Bones? My mom loves CSI, Murder She Wrote, Numbers, etc, etc. But she also like Bones. There’s also old school: Colombo. Those are all out on DVD.
This is a single book, but its vampire based and good: Sunshine by Robin McKinley
If the MIL is a reader, I suggest the Millenium series by Steig Larsson: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. A little murder, a little sex, a little investigative journalism, a little spy stuff. They’re fantastic, if you can get over the fact that they take place in Sweden and all the street names are 8 syllables long. The last one isn’t available in the US yet (maybe that lends it a little cache?) but you can buy all of them at AmazonUK.
Also, I have grandparents who fall into that “impossible to buy for” category. Every year they go to Hilton Head for a month, so I found a restaurant group in HH that has several restaurants they enjoy, and every year I get them a gift card. They love it, and even copied the idea as gifts for friends.
In-law gifts: I’ll chime in with an emphatic “Yes!” for the BBC offerings mentioned above. I’m particularly fond of MI-5, State of Play, Wire in the Blood, and Life on Mars. I’ll add a rec for “The State Within,” another BBC miniseries in the vein of State of Play.
My aunt and uncle sound a little like your in-laws – they have accumulated enough “stuff” and have requested only consumable gifts. One nice twist on the gourmet treats gift, depending on where you and they live, is to send local favorites from your area. Alternatively, you could find specialties from a favorite vacation spot of theirs.
I’ve also had success with giving classes. Obviously this would depend on your in-laws’ interests (and schedules) – book-making? wine-tasting? film criticism? etc. Most colleges and universities have extensive continuing-education offerings.
You know what I’ve been loving that’s a fun series, has the crime solving element and is in it’s second season is Castle. First season is out on DVD, and they’ve also brought in a book written by the fictional character in the tv series to market. Really fun.
I can second Sue’s recommendation of the BBC Jekyll & Hyde 6 episode series – it was called Jekyll & was truly creepy. Scared the crap out of me.
I’ll second the recs of the Caleb Carr books “The Alienist” and “Angel of Darkness.” Creepy and cool, and one of the few instances where the sequel is as good as the first.
Also, if she’s into True Blood and Twilight, she still can’t consider herself a real fan of the genre unless she’s seen the vampire show to end all vampire shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
To give her a crime-show fix, I’ll second the rec for Veronica Mars. Seasons 2 and 3 were OK, but season 1 contained one of the most well-written mysteries in TV history.
Mary, I’d swear I had that same Advent calendar when I was a kid, but I have NO idea where to find it or what it was called. I hope someone can help; I’d love to find it again!
Haven’t seen it here yet, so here goes!! Try to get the TV Series “Forever Knight” It’s from the 80’s or 90’s, deals with good vampire Gerrant Wynn-Davies and some mystery and a seriously wicked bad vampire adversary/sire. Your MIL may have seen it, but since it hasn’t been on in 10-plus years, she might like the walk down memory lane.
Good luck and Happy Holidays!
Another thought for the hard-to-buy-for MIL: vintage! I do a lot of holiday shopping in antique stores, second-hand bookshops, etc. Often you can find very cool stuff that no one else will have bought them. Given the MIL’s shopaholic tendencies, she may or may not consider this a “legit” gift if she sees it as “used,” but if you can find a cool old edition of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet, Cornell Woolrich, etc., it might be unique enough to pass muster. If they’re foodies, maybe a vintage cookbook? (Old food photography has the added benefit of being accidentally hilarious.)
I also find that funky vintage jewelry is well appreciated, if you have a good eye for her particular style. Or a really cool old martini shaker, with a great bottle of vodka and fancy stuffed olives, if they are cocktail people. An antique ice bucket and vintage wine glasses with a great bottle of wine… you get the idea. Doesn’t have to break the bank, but can take time to find.
I think I’m just a bad person, because when I saw that they don’t appreciate handmade or charity gifts, my first thought was “Then fuck ’em. Get them a box of Frangos and cross them off the list.”
I’ll fifth or whatever the rec for Wire in the Blood, and second that for Being Human. Both great.
I seconf the book Sunshine, which is great for Twilight readers. Also, if she liked the romantic aspect of it, The Black Dagger Brotherhood books are another series very popular with the adult Twilight reading crowd-also Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series.I also second Prime Suspect and Wire in the Blood-which is based on some novels by Val McDermid.
@Kathryn T. – I totally sympathize with that reaction (my first response was similar) but if they’re your in-laws, and you don’t want to sever the bond (i.e. otherwise the relationship is good), you sometimes have to (or want to) avoid the alienation that can ensue from a “fuck ’em” kind of approach. And since the holidays are about giving, it can be fun to find something that they genuinely enjoy, even if they are difficult to please.
I haven’t seen the BBC shows mentioned but I’m sure they’d be a great gift, as well as Castle or the Mentalist (is it out yet?). I definitely like the idea of the old-school Law and Order or Homicide shows as well.
I’ve recently gotten into re-reading Agatha Christie books – oldies but goodies. Maybe a box set?
And the vintage ideas mentioned sound really great, if you can find ’em. Give an old shaker or ice bucket a nice polish, put some effort into nice packaging and maybe some up-to-date products from a posh store (Williams Sonoma?), which would also contrast nicely with the vintage item… Now I wish I were getting a gift like this for Christmas! how fun
The BBC recommendations are great, and I would also add the BBC show “Mistresses” — a Desperate Housewives fan might like that one.
And I got some ridiculously tasty brownies as a thank you gift from a place called Mari’s New York. They have an online shop and I’ll be ordering some for gifts myself this year. I highly recommend the caramel sea salt and “heat” flavors.
Ask and ye shall receive! Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions. I’m hightailing it to Amazon now. BBC watch out. My netflix might be in for some additions too.
Mary: I don’t know how old you are or when your advent calendar would have been from, but back in the day I worked for http://www.creativecommunications.com, and we had something that sounds super similar. I think their website is all Lent 2010 now, but the site has their number and if they have it, one of their lovely order takers (can you tell what I did there) can help you out. And if you just need the one, they’d probably send it for free.
I would also add another British series, Waking the Dead. It is probably the most CSI-like (with a team of investigators) but follows one case per 2 hour episode. Also love Prime Suspect, the original Touching Evil with Robson Green (the American remake on USA was pretty good as well) and Wire in the Blood (also with Robson Green).
For the very thoughtful offspring-in-law, I have some recommendations.
I’d suggest any of the Bones novels by Kathy Reichs. I love the show in all it’s campy glory, but I’d recommend you give the books instead. The show is basely loosely on the premise of the novels — a forensic anthropologist who solves bad-ass crimes with her sexy cop partner — but the books go into more forensic detail and are more realistic.
Second recommendation is Murdoch Mysteries, a show briefly alluded to by Linda way up in the first comment. Think of it like a steampunk CSI set in late 1800s Toronto. The main character is played by the dude from Sue Thomas FBI (c’mon, I can’t be the only one who watched that when I was home sick). Murdoch creates technology before its time to help him solve cases, like night vision goggles and wireless recording devises, and he sometimes hangs out with Tesla and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
If you want to take a slightly safer route, I’m pretty sure there are board games, novels, and graphic novels for CSI (and other shows). It won’t get her into a cool new show or novel series, but it’s more certain to be acceptable, given that it’s just a different format of a show she already likes.
Good luck!
Did anyone recommend the Undead and Unwed series for Reality? They are Awesome paranormal romance books – I like them better than Sookie. (I find her annoying). Anything by MaryJanice Davidson is awesome!
@mctwin, EEEEEEEEEE Forever Knight! My guilty pleasure from back in the day. I miss Stuckey.
Having recently rewatched “Forever Knight”, I would suggest you pass on that, actually. I loved it as a teenager, but it has not held up particularly well and now seems really dated and cheesy. But if she doesn’t hate subtitles, I would wholeheartedly recommend “Let the Right One In” — best vampire movie I’ve seen in a long time, and manages to be both really creepy *and* genuinely sweet and touching. For books, the Dante Valentine series by Lilith Saintcrow is pretty fun – gritty urban fantasy about a necromancer who hunts and kills demons for the Devil.