Celebrate the Haul-idays with Chronicle Books: COMMENT and WIN!

Ok, I'm really late on the take here, but today is the LAST DAY to post a list of Chronicle Books, valued up to $500, to be automatically entered into a drawing to WIN the list of books! And, if I'm chosen, one of my readers who comments on the post will win the list too! COMMENT BELOW BY MIDNIGHT! Here's my list: from world travel to art & photography & literature to work and gardening! Check out this list of other cool blogs and their lists of books too!

Around the World: A Grand Tour in Photo Albums ($55.00)

From Cairo to Burma and back again, authors Barbara Levine and Kirsten Jensen transport readers back to the dawn of world travel when, Brownie cameras in tow, the middle class toured the world for the first time and painstakingly documented their discoveries within scrapbooks, diary entries, and pasted-on souvenir postcards. Around the World traces the development of the travel photo album, from primarily narrative forms—ships' logs and diaries—into rich multimedia objects of sublime beauty. The book features a wealth of turn-of-the- twentieth-century photographs and ephemera such as passports, ship menus, calling cards, and newspaper clippings. Around the World evokes the pleasures of a time when the surroundings were taken in slowly and travel was an art in and of itself.

Little Book of Letterpress ($24) is a treasure trove of remarkable work from some of the hottest and coolest letterpress studios working today, including Egg Press and Hello Lucky. Featuring an enlightening history of the craft, explanations of the different types of presses, sneak peeks into the studios, and details about the process of creation, this volume is the epitome of handcrafted hip.

Art of McSweeney's: $45
A novel with each cover hand-illustrated by the author. Literary journals bound by magnets, or designed to look like junk mail. The sharp wit, gorgeous design, and playful why not invention of independent literary publisher McSweeney's have earned it a large and loyal following and made its journals, books, The Believer magazine, and Wholphin DVDs collectible favorites of readers and graphic designers alike. Created by the McSweeney's staff to commemorate their 11th (or 12th) anniversary, this book showcases their award-winning art and design across all the company's activities. It features hundreds of images, interviews with collaborators such as Chris Ware and Michael Chabon, and dozens of insights into McSweeney's quirky creative process and the visual experience of reading.

  

Creative Inc, The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Freelance Business: $16.95
As the hipster classic Craft, Inc. did for crafters, this book will teach all types of creatives—illustrators, photographers, graphic designers, animators, and more—how to build a successful business doing what they love. Freelancing pros Meg Mateo Ilasco and Joy Deangdeelert Cho explain everything from creating a standout portfolio to navigating the legal issues of starting a business. Accessible, spunky, and packed with practical advice, Creative, Inc. is an essential for anyone ready to strike out on their own.

Humanity: A Celebration of Friendship, Family, Love & Laughter: $24.95
This stunning treasury of color and black-and-white photographs was sourced from a major international photography competition to find extraordinary and geographically diverse photographs that celebrate humanity's moments of intimacy, laughter, and kinship. Featuring 150 images from around the world, and complemented by heartwarming and inspiring quotes, Humanity is a touching tribute to our most treasured relationships.

Weekends for Two in Northern California: $18.95
With over 100,000 copies sold, Weekends for Two in Northern California has been guiding couples to the region's most romantic hideaways for more than ten years. From cozy cottages along the rugged coast of Big Sur to rustic retreats in the state's northernmost reaches, Bill Gleeson and John Swain have discovered the 50 most ideal spots for relaxing getaways a deux. Fully revised and updated with a wealth of you-are-there color photographs, Weekends for Two is the only roadmap needed for anyone planning a great escape. 

This is My Best: Great Writers Share Their Favorite Work ($16.95)
A veritable who's who of contemporary literature and popular culture, including selections by Anne Tyler, Arthur Miller, Gary Trudeau, David Sedaris, Rita Dove, Tom Robbins, Ruth Reichl, T. C. Boyle, Mary Karr, John Updike, and dozens more. Each selection is rewarding in itself; more still for the introductions in which the author explains his or her choice, shedding light on both the work and creative process. Appealing to readers of the annual best short story collections, writers, and fans of the stellar list of contributors, This Is My Best is a landmark literary anthology.

San Francisco Stories: Great Writers on the City ($14.95)
This anthology collects the most outstanding writing about the city from some of the most distinguished authors of the last 150 years: from Jack Kerouac on working on the railroad to Anne Lamott on getting kicked out of the cafe scene; and from Jack London on the 1906 earthquake to Tom Wolfe on the "Acid Tests" of the 1960s. Reading this rich collection -- now with a striking new cover -- is like taking a ride across the Golden Gate Bridge into the heart of the city, past and present, with all of its spectacular views, fascinating history, and outrageous inhabitants.

Writer's Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction ($14.95)
Since 1969, the prestigious Squaw Valley Community of Writers has helped develop the art and craft of many who are now household names. Instructors such as Michael Chabon, Mark Childress, Diane Johnson, Anne Lamott, Robert Stone, and Amy Tan have distilled their advice and wisdom from seminars and lectures, and the result is a book that captures the workshop experience of complete submersion in the writing process. With an introduction by novelist and short story master Richard Ford, himself a conference attendee in the 1970s, this volume gives the writer and dedicated reader a jolt of inspiration, sharp insight into matters of technique, and a feeling of camaraderie with a writing community.

Wanderlust: $14.95
A wordless evocation of place, Wanderlust captures the funny, mundane, and unexpectedly beautiful aspects of traveling the world with a sense of discovery and wonder. Litten's photographs -- over 400 of them -- celebrate the too-often-overlooked moments between destinations that are every bit a part of the pleasure of travel. Here are Japanese transit lockers decorated with cherry blossoms, exuberant London postcard racks, hand-painted Indian signs, Bangkok night market displays, cheap hotel decor in Buenos Aires, feather duster salesmen in Rio, and mannequin faces in Istanbul.

Readymades: American Roadside Artifacts ($24.95)
Jeff Brouws has crisscrossed the country for two decades, documenting an America that is at once quintessential and peculiar. Readymades is a quirky, multi-layered catalog of this ascendant photographer's work: partially painted pickup trucks, bowling alley signs, vibrant-hued houses that defy the monotony of the suburbs, abandoned drive-in movie theaters. Brouws treats his subjects as readymade art found in the landscape, brought together to create an idiosyncratic roadside panorama. Provocative essays by leading writers and cultural commentators such as Luc Sante, DJ Waldie, M. Mark, Diana Gaston, Bruce Caron, and Phil Patton are juxtaposed with these images of all that is unique in the uniform, and striking in the mundane.

Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip ($24.95)
The 1935 Travelogue of Two Soviet Writers In 1935, well into the era of Soviet communism, Russian satirical writers Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov came to the U.S as special correspondents for the Russian newspaper Pravda. They drove cross-country and back on a ten-week trip, recording images of American life through humerous texts and the lens of a Leica camera. When they returned home, they published their work in Ogonek, the Soviet equivalent of Time magazine, and later in the book Odnoetazhnaia Amerika (Single-Storied America). This wonderful lost work—filled with wry observations, biting opinions, and telling photographs—is now collected in Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip, the first English translation.

Hello Please: Very Helpful Super Kawaii Characters from Japan (14.95)
A menagerie of mascots and characters inhabit the islands of Japan, cheerfully guiding citizens through all sorts of daily activities and situations. Hello, Please! collects photographs of hundreds of the these cute (or kawaii) creatures in their native habitats, which are virtually everywhere: from public street signs to supermarket shelves, in doctor's offices and instruction manuals—even emblazoned on the sides of Tokyo's emergency vehicles.

Beautiful Spas and Hotsprings of California ($19.95)
Updated and featuring a striking new cover, this lavishly illustrated guide opens the door to more than 20 unforgettable escapes. Whether it’s rustic natural hot springs, an elegant fitness spa, or a glamorous desert hacienda, the Golden State offers rejuvenating retreats for every taste—and it’s all here. Trip planners and daydreamers will be transported to California’s most coveted hideaways, each of which offers an alluring array of services, from mud baths, hot stone massage, and seaweed wraps to European-style facials and hydrotherapy treatments.

Farm Together Now: Communities Across the U.S. Bringing Food and Ideas to Your Plate ($27.50)
With interest in home gardening at an all-time high and concerns about food production and safety making headlines, Farm Together Now explores the current state of grassroots farming in the U.S. Part oral history and part treatise on food politics, this fascinating project is an introduction to the many individuals who are producing sustainable food, challenging public policy, and developing community organizing efforts. With hundreds of photographs and a foreword from New York Times columnist Mark Bittman, Farm Together Now will educate, inspire, and cultivate a new wave of modern agrarians.

Fanzines ($40.00)
For more than 60 years, fanzines have been one of the most significant forms of self-expression. Often handmade and disseminated through underground networks, the fanzine is credited as being both the original medium for many of today’s mainstream publications and the predecessor to the blogging craze. This highly visual compendium showcases the best, most thought provoking, and downright weirdest fanzines ever produced. With topics ranging from punk to personal politics, Fanzines includes both widely known fanzines as well as rare publications culled from passionate collectors. Spanning the history of the fanzine from the early experimentation with underground presses to contemporary and electronic fanzines, this is a comprehensive and unprecedented look at a fascinating phenomenon.

Street Sketchbook: Journeys ($35.00)
Fans of the hit graffiti title Street Sketchbook will delight in this new volume dedicated to the journeys—both geographical and imaginative—of street artists. Twenty-six of the hottest new artists working worldwide today have opened up their sketchbooks to share their impressions as they travel on road trips, trek halfway across the globe, and explore internal landscapes. From widely diverse backgrounds, these cutting-edge artists share one crucial decision: to bypass conventional routes for the creative road less taken, the urban streets and alleyways. From doodles on a bus in Central America to fully realized murals spanning the Israel-Palestine border, Street Sketchbook: Journeys is an engrossing travelogue of visual free expression.

Let's Bring Back: An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise Commendable Things from Times Gone By (19.95)
The Huffington Post's "Let's Bring Back..." columnist, Lesley M. M. Blume, invites you to consider whatever happened to cuckoo clocks? Or bed curtains? Why do we have so many "friends" but have done away with the much more useful word "acquaintance"? All of these things, plus hot toddies, riddles, proverbs, corsets, calling cards, and many more, are due for a revival. Throughout this whimsical, beautifully illustrated encyclopedia of nostalgia, Blume breathes new life into the elegant, mysterious, and delightful trappings of bygone eras, honoring the timeless tradition of artful living along the way. Inspired by her much loved column of the same name and featuring entries from famous icons of style and culture, Let's Bring Back leads readers to rediscover the things that entertained, awed, beautified, satiated, and fascinated in eras past.

What's Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job ($22.95)
Filled with inspiring stories from real people who have changed careers mid-life, What's Next? is an exciting roadmap for anyone looking to make their next job their dream job. From a former mortgage banker who's back in the classroom to a tough cop turned Nashville music agent, these in-depth testimonials offer encouragement and advice—and prove that it's possible to pursue your passion. Authored by Kerry Hannon, a celebrated journalist and leading authority on careers and personal finance, What's Next? offers those seeking a more fulfilling path the tools to get started and the inspiration to do it now.

With the Kitchen Garden Box: Save and Sow Seeds of Your Favorite Vegetables (18.95), gardeners will learn how to collect, store, use, and replant seeds of their favorite tried-and-true vegetables, from squash and cucumbers to peppers, peas, and heirloom tomatoes. Over the course of 55 conveniently organized cards, gardening guru Mike McGrath provides simple step-by-step instructions, practical tips, and delicious recipes for each veggie. Also included are 10 reusable seed storage envelopes and a coupon redeemable for two free seed packets from Gardens Alive! Gardeners of all ages will enjoy discovering this time-honored, eco-friendly practice and creating something tangible from their labor of love.