The holiday season is approaching quickly, and if you’re like millions of other Americans, books will be on your to-give list. What books should you be giving? Which books are most likely to be enthusiastically received — regardless of whether you're giving them to an e-reading enthusiast or couch potato?

Patrik Henry Bass, our friend and senior editor at Essence magazine, is here with some tips, and offers (after the jump) his favorite books of 2010 for this gift-giving season.

• Washington Takeout: President Obama isn't getting much of a vacation, reports Julie Mason, White House correspondent for the Washington Examiner, since a Nigerian-born man allegedly tried to detonate a home-made bomb aboard a Detroit-bound flight.
• Gift Takeout: Amazon's e-book reader, the Kindle, was the most-gifted item on Amazon.com this year.  Jane Sasseen, writer for Business Week, joins us to talk about what this portends for paper books.
• Sports Takeout: After a long, undefeated run this season, the Indianapolis Colts finally lost last night, to the New York Jets. Ibrahim Abdul-Matin looks at the Colts' gametime strategy and what's ahead for the playoffs.

• Tech Takeout: New York Times tech reporter Nick Bilton explains the implications of Blackberry manufacturer Research In Motion having had a second major email and internet outage in recent weeks.
• Financial Takeout: New York Times finance reporter Louise Story tells us about a price index that for more than two decades has been charting  just how much all of those items listed in The Twelve Days of Christmas would cost.
  
• Sports Takeout: Sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin discusses gifts for sports lovers and the possibility of redemption for disgraced quarterback Michael Vick.

The holidays are upon us.  If your friends or family love food as much as we do, you might want to consider some really cool gift options that everyone will want to eat up.  Takeaway food contributor Kathy Gunst says there are plenty of reasonably priced kitchen gadgets and ways to spice up your friend's relationship to food, without breaking the bank this holiday season.

Click through to read Kathy's great gift ideas, and check out the recipe for her sister Andrea's Chocolate-Dipped Butter Crunch (which also makes a great homemade holiday gift!)