A COLUMN ABOUT GIFTS, BEGINNING, JOYOUSLY, WITH . . .

THE GIFT: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World by Lewis Hyde (Vintage). The new paperback edition of this leading contender for the title, Wisest of All Books (that are also enjoyable)—also, the most famous book this column never heard of (it's been in print since 1983, and just look at the blurbs on the cover). It's itself a gift, to all who once in a while stop for a bit and think carefully, willing to welcome new ways of approaching old things. Hyde is a serious literary critic and philosopher (in case you're as oblivious as I've been). Throughout these explorations of the work and the being of artists, literary and other, he circles around an old idea: that most of life must be transactional, each act, including almost every supposed gift, meant to attract something in return. A real gift, not only in its sense as an inborn talent, but similarly as a thing one gives with no expectation of even a subtle or secret return, is something rarer. The search for what exactly that might be can get you to surprising new places. I have only so much space, so . . . a random sample: I'd long since given up hope that I'd ever understand what sort of reasoning could have stranded the brilliant intellect of Ezra Pound so deep not only in evil but in plain, banal muck. Suddenly, thanks to Hyde, I'm a noticeable few steps, of the vast reach there is to cover, nearer to understanding not only Pound but the evil scattered around and among us, as always, today. To be clear (for a moment), this is no how-to book; but (to reclaim mistiness) I can hope that Dr. Hyde wouldn't be offended by my thinking of it as an intellectual fitness guide, a few exhilarating sessions in a great gym with a demanding, rewarding coach.

SO, THEN, TWO OF BALLANTINE BOOKS'S GIFT-Y SMALL FORMAT HARDCOVERS AT JUST $20:

A CHRISTMAS GATHERING by Anne Perry. As always at this time of year, a historical (Victorian) mystery with thriller elements, seriously chilling in stretches. She's a master of that form (this is her 17th). Featuring, from her Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, Victor Narraway, newly married. And, LET IT SNOW by Nancy Thayer. The first in five years of these stocking-stuffers by this proven writer of romances with wit and sometimes a touch of irony. Set, of course (it's a Thayer, after all) on the almost-fairyland but also earthily real island of Nantucket.

AND A FULL-LENGTH, CHRISTMAS-THEMED NEW MYSTERY BY A LONGTIME COLUMN FAVORITE:

DACHSUND THROUGH THE SNOW by David Rosenfelt (Minotaur). His regular readers will accept, and new ones will quickly forgive, the tail-wagging pun in the title. It's a new Andy Carpenter mystery, and—you may rely on it—sharply witty and cleverly plotted throughout, and genuinely suspenseful, too.