New York Magazine

(Photo: Brad Paris)

Carol Wald
Three Lives
154 W. 10th St., at Waverly Pl. 212-741-2069

What gifts are you buying from here?
The first is a book by Rosemary Sullivan: Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape and a House in Marseille [$26.95]. It’s history, it’s intrigue. It’s nonfiction. It’s a real page-turner.

Who’s that for?
I am going to buy it for my husband, who is into this kind of thing.

What else? A fun book?
Amy Sedaris’s I Like You [$27.99]. It’s very funny, and it actually has good tips in it.

What’s your favorite tip in there?
She’s got a great recipe for a cheese ball that I’ve actually made. It was delicious.

What’s the big fiction pick?
For just a whopping good read: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her new one is called Half of a Yellow Sun [$24.95]. It’s like Gone With the Wind, except in Nigeria.

Say a 17-year-old guy came in to buy a gift for his girlfriend?
Dave Eggers’s book What Is the What? [$26] just came out, and I’ll tell you, I’ve got my beady little eye on that.

What’s a sexy gift?
One comes instantly to mind.

Oh, really?
It’s called The Ages of Lulu, by Almudena Grandes [$13.95]. I liked the cover, and I thought, What the hell, I could use a saucy read. So I started reading, and I thought, Oh, my God.