Please help me find a present for my brother!

August 11, 2005 10:45 AM

Help me find my brother a birthday gift!

Here's his info: He's married and has three kids, ages 4 and under! He's REALLY into Star Wars and likes other sci-fi. Loved the Lord of the Rings movies. Growing up, he was always reading Issac Asimov. Things I've given him to read that he's liked: The Art of Motorcycle Maintenence, Running with Scissors, His Dark Materials (liked it OK). Things he's given me that he loved--Diary and Fight Club by Palahniuk. He likes classic rock, old grunge-type music (that was when he was in college, etc.), and some old gangsta rap... he likes going to Tigers games (lives in a suburb of Detroit), and he works a lot. I can't offer to babysit his kids because I have a broken ankle. Please help! I usually do well by giving him books and cds I think he will like, but I'm drawing a blank this year. Also, the last book he read that he really loved was Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart. He will be 32.

posted by fabesfaves to Shopping (10 answers total)

you said he loved the LoTR movies, but has he read the books? if not, you could get him a nice leather bound edition.

And Palahniuk has a new book out called Haunted.
posted by geeky at 10:57 AM on August 11, 2005

What about a gift certificate to Kidrobot? Every man is just a boy with more expensive toys... and these kick-a. Especially if his work takes place in a cubicle... these are great cubicle status symbols.

: )
posted by silusGROK at 10:59 AM on August 11, 2005

When I couldn't think of anything for my brother, I went to the bank and got $50 in Sacagawea dollars (gold coins!) and made a simple drawstring bag out of black velvet for them. I called it the Bag O' Cash. He was thrilled...with the bag. Apparently he still has all his old D&D stuff from junior high and now has the perfect dice bag. Who knew?
posted by cali at 12:32 PM on August 11, 2005

Sounds like he may enjoy the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It ties together nearly all his work, but you don't have to be familiar with any of it to enjoy this series.
posted by curlyelk at 1:03 PM on August 11, 2005

In addition to any books you purchase, give him a Darth Tater. As a Star Wars loving daddy, he should get a giggle out of it.
posted by onhazier at 1:13 PM on August 11, 2005

Tickets to a Tigers game could work if you would like to a take a break from books and CDs this year.
posted by copperbleu at 1:19 PM on August 11, 2005

Stones tickets?
posted by grateful at 1:22 PM on August 11, 2005

The Year's Best Science Fiction (you can get them from Amazon)
posted by PurplePorpoise at 1:55 PM on August 11, 2005

You could always get him a DVD (Platinum Edition, of course) of one the LotR movies, or the whole set (you didn't mention a price range).

Can you ask your sister-in-law to do some surreptitious spying--say, to find out if he has particular books? If he doesn't have any of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books, you could get him a couple of them--I'd suggest Cordelia's Honor and Young Miles. They're some of the best sci-fi around.
posted by cerebus19 at 2:23 PM on August 11, 2005

If he had Lego in his childhood, give him an impressive Star Wars Lego set (seriously) like one of the big x-wings. If he doesn't like it (unlikely if he had Lego in his childhood), his kids will like it. Or he will use the kids as an excuse to play with it :-)
If he didn't have Lego in his childhood, ignore this suggestion.
posted by -harlequin- at 3:20 PM on August 11, 2005