Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries. Charmingly presented writing about food, that conjures up plenty of inspiration. There are many recipes, but it's not completely recipe-focused, which I thought was quite refreshing.

(The British hardcover edition is beautifully cloth bound, and unfortunately the USA edition doesn't look like it got the same attention, but I'm sure the insides are just as good.)

Anything from this list!

Anything from this list!

Lots of used books and CDs. More for your money!

I was surfing Amazon the other day when I realized that I don't really buy books or music anymore. I have grown to detest rereading fiction, so the library is my "bookstore", and the non-fiction I read tends to be actual textbooks that I get through interlibrary loan.

As for music, so much is available for free (legally at that) over the net, that I consider even allofmp3.com to be too expensive.

Hey, I know! A desklamp!

Voices of Our Time: Five Decades of Studs Terkel Interviews and Mandalas Stained Glass Coloring Book ( to color while you are listening to Studs )

Thomas Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49 or, perhaps, Stealing the Network: How to Own the Box.