SGSG-Skyhorse Publishing Books Review!

Books make wonderful gifts. Everyone in our family loves books, and we each have our own book "wish-list" :) I was thrilled when Skyhorse Publishing offered to send me a couple books-either of which would make great gifts!
I received 2 books for review; Christmas In America by Peter Guttman, and Playing The Piano for Pleasure, by Charles Cooke. 

Christmas in America is a beautiful hardbound book (with a dust jacket) that celebrates the beauty of the holiday season in pictures. This takes you from the woods of North Carolina to the streets of New York City and from a Louisiana antebellum plantation to the solitude of North Dakota. I love the beauty of these pictures! Here are a couple so you can see for yourself :)

Playing The Piano For Pleasure is actually a reprint of a book first published in 1941. It is a book written to encourage and teach both new and old piano players. Written in an encouraging style, the author recommends certain techniques and routines to be practiced each day. As they say, practice makes perfect! And it is so true when it comes to music! I appreciated that the writing style was not dry or boring, but kept my attention and gave me ideas on how to improve my (still-in-the-beginning-stages) of piano playing. This would be a perfect gift for anyone interested in piano.

"Skyhorse Publishing was launched in September 2006 by Tony Lyons, former president and publisher of the Lyons Press, and its first titles were published in March 2007. Lyons talked to dozens of potential investors, all of whom asked the same question: "Can a new book publishing company make it in the current environment?" His response remains: "Succeeding as an independent publisher is not going to be easy, but by scouring the country for genre books that large publishers ignore, resurrecting forgotten classics, and by moving both more quickly and with greater attention to detail than other publishers, I believe we can flourish."
Skyhorse—with its four imprints (Arcade Publishing, Allworth Publishing, Sports Publishing, and Sky Pony Press) now boasts a backlist of 1,500 books. Since its founding, Skyhorse has published an eclectic and maverick list that includes books on history, politics, rural living, humor, and more. With its new imprints, the Skyhorse program now includes business, art, fiction, regional books, and children's books.
Skyhorse has had three New York Times bestsellers and was ranked in March 2011 as America's fastest growing small publisher by Publishers Weekly. Skyhorse—distributed by W. W. Norton in the United States and Thomas Allen & Son in Canada—recently signed a deal with Constable & Robinson, one of England's oldest and most respected independent publishers, for distribution of its books into the United Kingdom and European Union."

Be sure to check out the great selection of book at Skyhorse Publishing while doing your holiday shopping!

Disclaimer: I was not monetarily compensated in any way for this post. I did receive product for the purpose of review. All thoughts and opinions are mine. All quotes taken from the Skyhorse Publishing website.