Last minute

Not much time left, shoppingwise. Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah. Christmas arrives soon. Boxing Day. And you've long since missed St. Nicholas Day. Maybe you're putting all the shopping off because you still—still!—don't know what to get for friends and family.

That's okay. The expert booksellers at University Book Store can help. I asked a few of them to come up with lists of great books to give as gifts. I'll be posting the lists throughout the day.

First up, Jay, our lead book buyer.

• Destination Art by Amy Dempsey. This beautiful book collects the 200 greatest public and environmental art sites from around the world. It even briefly mentions The Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas, a place I've been many times.

• The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers by Delia Falconer, a brief but beautiful Civil War novel.

• Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides.

• The Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest by Gerard J. DeGroot. Contrary to popular belief, when you read this book and The Wizard of Oz at the same time, they don't sync up.

• Swithering by Robin Robertson. Of this book of poetry, John Banville said: "Robertson's genius for exact and gorgeous imagery, his dazzling metaphorical gift, and the knottiness of his thinking ... runs through the syntax of the verse like a bead of Metaphysical quicksilver."

More soon...