Novelist Pamela Redmond Satran was wondering what books people gave or received as holiday gifts this year. "I gave my husband, who's working on a novel set in Revolutionary War-era New York, The Historical Atlas of New York City," she shares, "and also The Dead Fish Museum by Charles D'Ambrosio, because our friend is always telling him to read more short stories." Then she gave her daughter Off The Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything In Between. And she got Anne Enright Man Booker-winning The Gathering in return, along with the Shelburne Farms cookbook.

I gave my parents Zen Putting and my aunt two Isabel Allende novels, and another family member gave me The Internet Business Book by James Brausch. (My wife got some knitting books from various sources, so I'm looking forward to a new scarf before the winter's through.) How about you?