Holiday Books

By Laura Knoy on Friday, December 15, 2006.

There are a ton of books to curl up with in front of the fire in your favorite easy chair this year. If you like politics, there's "The Audacity of Hope" by Barack Obama. If you like fiction, there's Mitch Albom's "For One More Day". If you like historical novels, there's Nathaniel Philbrick's "Mayflower". Whatever your taste, there's a plethora of good books to put under the Christmas tree this year...for your friends and family...or as a guilty pleasure for yourself. We're looking at what's hot in books this holiday season. Laura's guests are Dan Chartrand, co-owner of the Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, and Michael Herrmann, owner of Gibson's Bookstore in Concord.

List of books mentioned on The Exchange, 12/15/2006

Book of the Year at Water Street Books:
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo, about the adventures of a china rabbit before returning home to his original owner. Age 5 to adult.

Children:
Flotsam by David Wiesner … about a boy who finds a camera on the beach and sees pictures from the deep

Biography:
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, a memoir of Iowa in the 1950’s

Moving the Chains: Tom Brady and the Pursuit of Everything by Charles P. Pierce, sportswriter for the Boston Globe

His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis about George Washington, especially his military history

Justice For All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made by Jim Newton

Heat by Bill Buford … author apprentices himself to a chef in New York; like cooking boot camp!

History:
Halsey’s Typhoon by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin … about Halsey’s fleet in 1944 surviving a typhoon in the Philippines

Too Dead to Die by Steve Raymond & Mike Pride about the Bataan death march of WWII

Six Frigates by Ian W. Toll … about the founding of the American Navy and its history up until 1812

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick … colonial-era history. Includes the founders relations with Native Americans

Note: the guests also recommended anything by David Hackett Fischer for novels about the revolutionary period

Recommended by email to The Exchange:
American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips …an explosive examination of the political coalition led by radical religion that is driving America to the brink of disaster. From ancient Rome to the British Empire, Phillips demonstrates that every world-dominating power has been brought down by a related set of causes: a lethal combination of global overreach, militant religion, resource problems, and ballooning debt.

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky … about the role our leaders played in making a mockery of freedom

Politics:
Crashing the Gate by Jerome Armstrong & Markos Zuniga … the grassroots taking back the Democratic party and driving it forward.

Fiction:
The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford, 3rd in the trilogy that contains The Sportswriter and Independence Day. A chronicle of the 20th century through the life of Frank Bascombe.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy, after the apocalypse: a father and 10 year old son trying to survive. Beautifully written.

The Collectors by David Baldacci … for mystery fans, about a rare book. Recommended by a caller

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier …from the author of Cold Mountain, is the story of one man's remarkable life, spanning a century of relentless change.

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich … stories of relationships within a Native American family

Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos … two women creating family out of broken lives. Paperback

The Inheritance of Loss by Kieran Desai …several people in land around Nepal and New York trying to create a coherent life - Booker Prize winner.

Note: other fiction authors recommended by the guests on The Exchange include James Patterson, Dick Francis

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – recommended by caller who had read this in her book club

Suggestions for a caller’s daughter in her 20’s:
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, a coming-of-age story, full of suspense and mystery

The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud … starts as a comedy of manners about 3 people in their mid to late 20’s

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield … unraveling the family secrets of one of Britain’s fictional novelists

Coffee Table Book suggestions:
New Hampshire Then & Now by Peter Randall … wonderful Photographs

Where The Mountain Stands Alone by Howard Mansfield … stories and photos of the Monadnock region

Miscellaneous Nonfiction:
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan … where our food comes from and what it says about us

Kafka’s Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes by Mark Crick. “Literary ventriloquist Mark Crick presents 14 recipes in the voices of famous writers, from Homer to Virginia Woolf to Irvine Welsh. Guaranteed to delight anyone in love with food and books, these witty pastiches will keep readers so entertained in the kitchen that they'll be sorry when the guests arrive.”

The Myth of Progress by Tom Wessels … how are we faring ecologically?

What Would the Founders Do? By Richard Brookhiser … how the founders would handle modern situations

Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone by Rajiv Chandresekaran … recommended by a listener

This Day in the Life: Diaries from Women across America by Joni Cole, Rebecca Joffrey, B.K. Rakhra … women in various walks of life keep a diary for one day

Red, White, and Drunk All Over by Natalie MacLean about a wine writer who worked in a vineyard

To Look for in 2007:
Heart Shaped Box, a thriller by Joe Hill

*List compiled by The Exchange's Priscilla Malcolm*

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Here's a book suggestion for
Raven Mueller - Fri, 12/15/2006 - 09:42

Here's a book suggestion for any young woman, teenage girl or feminist on your gift list.
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy, now out in paperback, is a terrific exploration of women's willing participation in hypersexualized culture (think Girls Gone Wild, The Man Show and porn star Jenna Jameson's bestselling book). It's not an uptight, anti-man, old-school feminist manifesto at all, although Levy makes some great points about the general trajectory of the feminist movement. It's a hilarious, hip, fun-to-read book about women's power and sexuality. My husband and I each raced through the book and now we're both re-reading it.