Amanda Eyre Ward's Holiday Gift Suggestion

Amanda Eyre Ward is the author of Sleep Toward Heaven and How to be Lost, both published by MacAdam/Cage. (A few folks have compared the new novel quite favorably to Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, too.) The New York native went to school at Williams and the University of Montana and now lives in Cautamet, Massachusetts, with her husband and son.

I have the best idea for a present, and here it is: Steve Almond's Candyfreak... and candy. You'll have to pick just the right person for this gift, and it will have to be someone who loves strange literature and chocolate. (Someone like me.) Candyfreak is a weird book. You think it's going to be all about Kit Kats and Clark bars, but once you've joined Steve on his journey through the chocolate underbelly of America, he takes you places you never imagined. Parts of the book are fascinating and parts are damn sad. Every sentence is gorgeous.

If this gift is for someone extra-special, you’ll want to include some of the delicacies Steve mentions: the Valomilk, Idaho Spud, Abba Zaba, or Twin Bing. And if you're really lucky, you can get Steve to sign your book the way he did mine: "Sex, Chocolate, Rinse, Repeat." Whoa ho ho! Happy Holidays!