It's that holiday time of year again. If you're looking for a gift for your favorite expat, there's no need to stand in long lines. Instead, have a look through our annual list of 10 highly rated books from 2011, each selected with the expat reader in mind. All can easily be purchased on the Internet. While some are more serious, some are just for fun. And to make acquiring and reading these choices more convenient, consider purchasing an e-version and a Kindle or iPad to go with them.

1. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis. "… In his new book (Lewis) actually makes topics like European sovereign debt, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank not only comprehensible but also fascinating … The book could not be more timely given the worries about Europe's deepening debt crisis and the recent warning issued by Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, that ‘the current economic situation is entering a dangerous phase.'" (The New York Times)

2. 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: 2012 Page-a-Day Calendar by Patricia Schultz. "For adventurers and armchair travelers, it's an unforgettable and inspiring year. Visit Krakow's Ryenek Glowny, the most authentic medieval market square in Europe. The lush Siwa Oasis of Egypt—Alexander the Great passed through it in 331 BC. And Istanbul's dazzling Topkapi Palace, once home to 40,000 people. Plus sailing the Grenadines, elephant-watching in Chobe National Park, shopping Hanoi's Old Quarter, Global Intelligence quizzes, Traveler in the Know tips, quotes, and more." (Amazon)

3. Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens. "Here Hitchens' fresh perceptions of such figures as varied as Charles Dickens, Karl Marx, Rebecca West, George Orwell, J.G. Ballard, and Philip Larkin are matched in brilliance by his pungent discussions and intrepid observations, gathered from a lifetime of traveling and reporting from such destinations as Iran, China, and Pakistan." (Amazon)

4. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. "Drawing on decades of research in psychology that resulted in a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, Daniel Kahneman takes readers on an exploration of what influences thought …. Thinking, Fast and Slow gives deep―and sometimes frightening―insight about what goes on inside our heads: the psychological basis for reactions, judgments, recognition, choices, conclusions, and much more." (JoVon SotakIt , Amazon Book Review)

5. To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron. An account of a journey to Mount Kailash, a place that is sacred to one-fifth of humankind. To both Buddhists and Hindus it is the mystic heart of the world and an ancient site of pilgrimage. Even today, under Chinese domination, the people of four religions circle the mountain in devotion to different gods. "Thubron's descriptive writing is as dazzling as the scenery. His scholarship on the area's religious and political history is enthralling." (Financial Times)

6. The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road by Paul Theroux. Theroux celebrates 50 years of wandering the globe by collecting the best writing on travel from the books that shaped him, as a reader and a traveler. "There are classic set-piece literary evocations, including Thoreau on the hush of the Maine woods and Henry James on the miserable pleasures of Venice. A section on storied but disappointing destinations fingers Tahiti as "a mildewed island of surly colonial"; travel epics—shipwrecks, Sahara crossings, Jon Krakauer's duel with Mount Everest—are celebrated; exotic meals are recalled (beetles, monkey eyes, and human flesh, anyone?); and some writers, like Emily Dickinson, just stay home and write about that." (Publisher's Weekly)

7. La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life by Elaine Sciolino. France is a seductive country, seductive in its elegance, its beauty, its sensual pleasures, and its joie de vivre. But Elaine Sciolino, the longtime Paris bureau chief of The New York Times, has discovered that seduction is much more than a game to the French: It is the key to understanding France. "The Pulitzer Prize for premonition must go to Elaine Sciolino, longtime New York Times correspondent in Paris, whose La Seduction mentions Strauss-Kahn throughout and offers a reason for the current unpleasantness: Americans do not understand the French art of seduction." (Financial Times)

8. The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity by Jeffrey D. Sachs. The author has been at the forefront of international economic problem solving for more than three decades. In this book, Sachs turns his attention to the U.S. He offers not only a searing and incisive diagnosis of the U.S.'s economic ills but also an urgent call to restore the virtues of fairness, honesty, and foresight as the foundations of national prosperity. "Best known for advising post-communist and impoverished countries on development strategies, economist Sachs (Common Wealth) takes on the cesspool of debt, backwardness, and corruption that is the United States in this hard-hitting brief for a humane economy ... a must-read for every concerned citizen." (Publishers Weekly)

9. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. The author has written a riveting story of the rollercoaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. "Few in history have transformed their time like Steve Jobs, and one could argue that he stands with the Fords, Edisons, and Gutenbergs of the world. This is a timely and complete portrait that pulls no punches and gives insight into a man whose contradictions were in many ways his greatest strength." (Chris Schluep, Amazon)

10. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at 14 and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. "Enthralling … As fascinating as any novel and more so than most!" (The New York Times)

Creveling & Creveling is a private wealth advisory firm specializing in helping expatriates living in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia build and preserve their wealth. Through a unique, integrated consulting approach, Creveling & Creveling is dedicated to helping clients cut through the financial intricacies of expat life, make better decisions with their money, and take the steps necessary to provide a more secure future. For more information visit http://crevelingandcreveling.com/.

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