Jackson Free Press

If you're a Mississippian, and you love great literature, you love Eudora Welty. So why not spread some Miss Eudora love to those on your holiday list?

The most gorgeous option is "One Writer's Garden: Eudora Welty's Home Place," by Susan Haltom, Jane Roy Brown and photographer Langdon Clay (University Press of Mississippi, 2011, $35). It has beautiful photographs, but is also for readers, offering deep knowledge of the art of gardening and a unique slice of Jackson history.

Gardening, literature, friendship and witty repartee are the centerpieces of "What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell," edited by Suzanne Marrs (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, $35). This is perfect for the Mississippi expatriates (or returnees) on your list. Those who love life in Mississippi, but try to keep friendships "out there" active will appreciate the longtime friendship of Miss Eudora and her New Yorker editor Maxwell. It is also an intimate look at her friendship with Maxwell and his wife—teaching lessons about how to maneuver that potential minefield deftly. And it's a book every would-be writer must read.

Serious students of Welty and literature, will enjoy her "Occasions: Selected Writings," edited by Pearl Amelia McHaney (University Press of Mississippi, 2009, $35). With short writings spanning her career, Welty fans can watch her craft unfold. They will enjoy her humor, cleverness and scenes from Jackson, Miss., as well.

For those who can't get enough of Miss Eudora, wrap up copies of "Eudora Welty: A Biography" by Suzanne Marrs (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005, $28). They will drink up details of her life here in Belhaven and when she lived in exile from Mississippi, meeting many well-known writers along the way.