Are you feeling the holiday spirit? The joy of giving, the warmth of family and friends, and the festive nature of the season? Me neither.

But it's still time to hit the malls and find that perfect present, making sure to keep those handy gift receipts. If your loved ones like to listen to the radio, here are some ideas to consider:

1. "Puppets Are Clogging My Brain: Best of Dave, Shelly & Chainsaw, 2002-2003."

The denizens of San Diego's best morning show, Dave Rickards, Shelly Dunn and Cookie "Chainsaw" Randolph, put out a highlight CD every holiday season and donate the proceeds to charity. This year's compilation is another top-notch effort, featuring everything from fake Gray-Arnold smack-downs to sidekick Ruth 66's mistaken announcement that local weatherman Captain Mike had gone to that great high-pressure area in the sky. ("Watch your back, Joe Lizura!")

The compilation, on sale for $11.99 at Good Guy stores and 101kgb.com, also includes a DVD with three classic DS&C TV commercials and an amusing tour of the Clear Channel studios that turns KPOP septuagenarian disc jockey

"Happy Hare" into an unlikely star.

Beware that this compilation isn't exactly family-friendly. Don't give it to anyone who doesn't like to hear discussions of DS&C's three favorite subjects: sex, sex and, um, let's see ---- sex.

And wear a blindfold when you open the package, especially if you have a functioning gag reflex. The CD cover is a full-color, uncensored back view of a member of the morning show crew in midstreak.

2. "Naked in Baghdad: The Iraq War as Seen by NPR's Correspondent," by Anne Garrels.

Barely 200 pages, Garrels' newly released book would be a gift for anyone who likes to read about journalism, world affairs or hard-nosed women of a certain age.

Garrels, who formerly worked in the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, is no stranger to the tough work of being a foreign correspondent. Locally, KPBS-FM listeners have heard her clipped, matter-of-fact reports for years.

But behind the serious voice is a thin, gritty, funny, cigarette-smoking woman who's equally at home fending off border guards and sweet-talking her away around official "minders" whose jobs are to keep her away from anything interesting.

The book alternates between Garrels' first-person accounts and e-mails about her adventures sent to friends by her artist husband back home in the United States. The e-mails, surprisingly, turn out to be gems of their own, shining light on both Garrels ---- nicknamed "Brenda Starr" ---- and what appears to be a truly remarkable marriage.

Keeping her wits and resolve on hand, Garrels gathers pieces of reality and weaves them together into a comprehensible whole, telling the stories of everyone from ordinary Iraqi citizens to sub-ordinary journalists. Few could tell the story better or with more humanity.

3. "The Cunning Linguist" and "A Man of My Words: Reflections on the English Language," by Richard Lederer.

As anyone who listens to KPBS-FM knows, Lederer is one of San Diego's two most notable lexicographers. Each weekend, he co-hosts "A Way With Words" with fellow word lover Charles Harrington Elster, who calls his buddy "the

world's most ardent promoter of the English language."

This year, the Lederer name has been all over national bookshelves. Just a few months ago, Lederer's 31-year-old daughter, Katy, wrote a well-received memoir about growing up with two siblings (who went on to play poker

professionally), a troubled mother, and a kindly but distracted and eccentric English professor father.

Now, Lederer is adding to his own list of more than 30 books about the English language.

The first, "The Cunning Linguist," is a paperback compilation of groan-worthy jokes, puns and limericks about sex, body parts and bodily functions. Most of the jokes can't be repeated in a family newspaper, but here are two samples: What do you give to a man who has everything? Penicillin. What are the four stages of a couple's life? Triweekly, try weekly, try weakly, and try, try, try.

The book can seem a bit defanged because Lederer takes care to not offend any groups other than men and women (and, in one memorable chapter, their animal friends). But it's still fun in a PG-13 sort of way, and Lederer's short essays on the history of dirty words are a treat.

In his other new book, a gleeful Lederer tackles dozens of topics from the annoyances of "fadspeak" (ohmigaw!) to how he "ex-statically" loves being on the radio.

Like "Naked in Baghdad," "Man of My Words" is slim but expensive. The two books cost $22.95 and $24.95, respectively. If you can afford them, though, the books will make good presents. Just remember to borrow them later so your gifts can keep on giving ---- to you.

Randy Dotinga's holidays have more drama than a Shakespeare festival. E-mail him at NCTimesRadio@aol.com.