BOTNS Books Podcast #57: Wrap up some good fiction!

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 57 (21:32)

We love this time of year because so many year-end anthologies show up in bookstores. The oldest seems to be Best American Short Stories, which has been published since 1915. Ann's favorite is Best American Non-Required Reading, edited by Dave Eggers and a cast of high school students. Proceeds from the collection support the work of Eggers' 826 Valencia project, a student writing lab. Eggers and his student collaborators also blog their meetings that determine which pieces are included. It's a fascinating project to watch, and is always one of the most interesting anthologies of the year.

Michael's favorite anthology is, of course, Best American Comics. This year Ann discovered Best Food Writing 2009, which Michael put on his Christmas wishlist. Ann is hoping for Best Music Writing 2009 under her Christmas tree.

Do you have any favorite year-end anthologies? Let us know in the comments.

In segment 2, we take a closer look at some of the fiction selections in our holiday gift guide. Often we think of pretty, coffee-table type books as great gifts, but novels are also eagerly received. Michael recommends Jacquelyn Mitchard's No Time to Wave Goodbye, if your gift recipient is a woman. This is the follow-up to Mitchard's first book, The Deep End of the Ocean, which also happened to be the first Oprah book club pick. For the man on your list, Michael recommends No Less Than Victory: A Novel of World War II by Jeff Shaara. This is the third book in a trilogy, picking up just after the Normandy Invasion, takes us through the Battle of the Bulge, the fall of Hitler, to the end of the war in Europe. Wrap this book up with the first two books in the series, The Rising Tide and The Steel Wave, and you have a great gift for the reader of war novels or military history.

 

Ann also recommends a book of historical fiction, New York by Edward Rutherfurd, a sprawling saga that covers the history of New York from the early 17th century through 2009. For those people on your gift list who are not big readers or who don't buy books for themselves during the year, two good choices are The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and Ford County by John Grisham; both can be enjoyed by either men or women. Michael's pick for someone who doesn't read much: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

And finally, a note about our schedule for the next few weeks: we will be taking next week off, and then will return with our year-end episode on Wednesday, December 30th. We'll probably have a few blog posts between now and then, but if you are a diehard podcast listener, we hope you can forgive us for not posting a new episode on 12/23. In January, all will return to normal, including the much-missed segment, "Two books we can't wait for you to read."

(You can listen to the podcast by using the player at the top of this post. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)

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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:

Best American Short Stories 2009, edited by Alice Sebold, Mariner Books paperback
Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009, edited by Dave Eggers, Mariner Books paperback
Best American Comics 2009, edited by Charles Burns, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hardcover
Best Food Writing 2009, edited by Holly Huges, Da Capo Press paperback
Best Music Writing 2009, edited by Griel Marcus, Da Capo Press paperback
No Time to Wave Goodbye by Jacquelyn Mitchard, Random House hardcover
No Less Than Victory by Jeff Shaara, Ballantine hardcover
The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara, Ballantine paperback
The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara, Ballantine paperback
New York by Edward Rutherfurd, Doubleday hardcover
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, Doubleday hardcover
Ford County by John Grisham, Doubleday hardcover
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Maryann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, Dial Press paperback

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

Don't Forget to Vote!

There are only a few days left to nominate your top 3 books of 2009.  (If you're not when a book was published, a good place to check is Indiebound.org.)

We will announce the winners on our final podcast of the year (December 30th). Please remember, we will be closing the poll at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, December 16th. That gives us enough time to tally the votes and then relax for the holidays.

(And remember, please don't leave your votes in the comments here -- we can only count them if you use the poll. Thanks!)

Gift Guide Spotlight: Salty Sweets

Chocolate covered pretzels are probably the most common example of a salty/sweet treat, but they have got nothing on the scrumptious cakes, cookies, ice creams and puddings in Salty Sweets. As author Christie Matheson writes, "Sweet is sweet, but it can be kind of one-dimensional. But when you add a salty element to said sweet - even if the result is not an overtly salty flavor - the treat in question gets seriously amped up."

Some of the recipes that I've tried or want to try include Perfectly Imperfect Pecan Pralines, Toffee Cookies with Dark Chocolate Glaze, Lemon Cake with Lemon-Brown Sugar Glaze, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Nantucket Sea Salt Ice Cream and Salted Caramel Ice Cream. Is your stomach growling yet? The fine folks at Harvard Common Press have allowed us to reprint a recipe here, and I've picked one of my favorites, so get cooking!

 

Perfectly Imperfect Pecan Pralines

makes 25 to 30 good-size pieces

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 teaspoons molasses

1 1/2 tablespoons bourbon (or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)

1 cup lightly toasted pecan halves

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium-size saucepan, combine the sugar, cream, butter, salt, molasses, and bourbon and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. After it starts to boil, boil for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool just until the mixture completely stops bubbling. Add the pecan halves and stir them in well, then quickly pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it out as much as you can. (It will get thick quickly while you're doing this - so this is the time to remember that it doesn't have to be perfect!)
4. Let cool completely, the break the praline into bite-size pieces (you get to decide what "bite-size" means... and snack on the little shards that don't measure up). The pralines will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
   

Excerpted from Salty Sweets, by Christie Matheson. (c) 2009, 

used by permission from The Harvard Common Press.

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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post: 
Salty Sweets by Christie Matheson, Harvard Common Press hardcover
(all information is for the U.S. editions).

The Season of Giving

Ann and I recently spoke about our collections of books. She manages to keep hers in check. Mine is out of control. Seemingly on cue, I read about a new initiative that has been created to honor Dewey, a beloved book blogger who passed away suddenly this time last year.

Lisa Roe at Online Publicist has created The Dewey Tree, something that will honor Dewey and get books into the hands of those who need them. Basically, gather up any books you can live without. Donate them to a group you think is deserving. The American Library Association has compiled a list of sites they think are worthwhile, but your local library or literacy organizations are good places to start. Take a picture of your donation and send it to Lisa (onlinepublicist [AT] gmail [DOT] com). As Lisa says, "It can be a pic of the mailing label on your package, one of your kids giving a box of books to a librarian, or you handing books over to your literacy center. Be creative and have fun!" Be sure to check out Lisa's post about The Dewey Tree to find out how you can enter a giveaway contest she's running.

I urge you all to take a long hard look at your bookshelves and share the wealth of the written word. Here is my (pretentiously arty) photo of the books I'm donating to my local library.

Gift Guide Spotlight: White on White

Tonight finds me snowed in at my favorite Vermont inn, where I will soon curl up by the fireplace with a great book (er, electronic manuscript) and a glass of wine. Just a few miles down the road from me is the gorgeous Old First Church in Old Bennington, Vermont.

Why am I telling you this? Because that church, and many other beautiful churches, are featured in one of my favorite gift books of the season -- White on White: Churches of Rural New England by Steve Rosenthal.

This book is simply stunning. Its oversized format draws you right into the striking black and white photos of some of the prettiest churches in New England. Simple and elegant, the churches represent a simpler time when the church was the center of life in 18th and 19th century. At the same time, the architectural details of these buildings show the evolution of design sensibilities and purpose. In the introduction to this book, Verlyn Klinkenborg tells us that, "Many of the early New England village churches in this book were not originally painted white. The color came into fashion during the Greek revival of the early nineteenth century and was meant to mimic stone." Still, one cannot imagine New England without the classic white buildings dotting the landscape.

This blog post cannot possibly do justice to the beauty of this book, you must see it in person. In the meantime, here are a few more sample images to inspire you. Thank you to our friends at The Monacelli Press, the publisher of this gorgeous volume, for giving us the permission to share these photos with you.

All photos, copyright Steve Rosenthal, 2009, used by permission.

BOTNS Books Podcast #56: Fluffy, Feathery & Fanged

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 56 (14:17)


Don’t forget to download both of the Books on the Nightstand Gift Guides: Our general guide, which features mostly books for adults, and our first-ever Kid’s Books Gift Guide!

Is it possible to buy a book for someone you don’t know well? We think it is. Faced with holiday gift giving events like Secret Santas or Yankee Swaps, or even just that cousin you don’t see that often, how do you pick the perfect book? Of course, books of trivia or fun facts, like You are One-Third Daffodil, which Michael has written about before, would appeal to just about anyone. Ann mentions books that are displayed at the cash register area of the bookstore are often the perfect “one-size-fits-all” gifts. She also mentions Detective Stories, which is part of the Everyman’s Pocket Classics, and features stories from contemporary writers all the way back to Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe. Ann then discusses The Black-Out Book, a compilation of 500 games, puzzle, jokes and pastimes used by British families to pass the time during the dark nights of the Blitz.

We continue our gift guide category spotlight this week by cover books about Nature and Animals. Michael tells us about Homer’s Odyssey, the tale of a blind cat and the woman who loves him, perfect for fans of Dewey or Marley and Me. Slightly more science-based, but still eminently readable is The Bird, a history of all things avian. Ann discusses the beautifully-illustrated Bedside Book of Beasts, which chronicles creatures both real and imagined. Visit the book’s website to see samples of several interior pages.

(You can listen to the podcast by using the player at the top of this post. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)
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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:
You are One-Third Daffodil compiled by Tom Nuttall, Broadway Books trade paperback
Detective Stories edited by Peter Washington, Everyman's Library hardcover
The Black-Out Book by Evelyn August, Osprey hardcover
Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper, Delacorte Press hardcover
The Bird by Colin Tudge, Crown hardcover
The Bedside Book of Beasts by Graeme Gibson, Nan A. Talese hardcover

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

Nominate your favorite books of 2009!

It's that time of year -- every newspaper, magazine and literary website is publishing its list of  Best Books on the Year. And now that we are closing the door on "The Oughts" (still doesn't sound right to me), we are seeing lists of The Best Books of the Decade.

We want to know what books YOU would choose.

Click on the image below to nominate your top 3 books of 2009.  (If you are not sure of the publication date, a very good place to check is Indiebound.org.)

Don't wait to vote! We'll announce the winners on our last podcast episode of the year (December 30th). In order to give us time to tally the votes and still enjoy the holidays with our families, we will be closing the poll at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, December 16th.

(Please don't leave your votes in the comments here -- we can only count them if you use the poll. Thanks!)

image credits:
"NYC - Chesea: VOTE by Clark Clark" courtesy of wallyg via Flickr
"Vote Here" courtesy of  lakelandlocal via Flickr

2009 Kids' Books Gift Guide

Here at Books on the Nightstand, we believe that books make great gifts. And we think that it is especially important that children receive books as gifts -- after all, they are the readers and book buyers of the future. But as Michael and I were putting together the 2009 Books on the Nightstand Holiday Gift Guide, we realized that we had very few children's books on our list of recommendations.

We love kids' books, and as parents we read a lot of them, but children's books are somewhat out of our range of professional expertise. So we decided to turn to the experts. We are fortunate to count among our friends many booksellers and publishers' sales reps who specialize in children's books. We asked a few of them for their holiday picks, combined their choices with some of our favorites, and the first annual Books on the Nightstand Kids' Books Gift Guide was born.

Click the image of the gift guide below to download the free .pdf.

In order to download and read the Gift Guide on your computer, you will need Adobe Reader. If you do not have Adobe Reader, you may download a free copy here:


We've broken it down by age level, but remember that reading ability and interest level both play an important role in choosing a book for a child--so consider them rough guidelines, not rules.

Many thanks to our friends who gave us their personal recommendations:

• Anne DeCourcey is the parent of two elementary-aged children, and is a sales representative in New England for HarperCollins publishers, including HarperCollins Children's Books.
• Katherine Fergason is the Manager and Children's Book Buyer at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore on the lovely island of Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts. Katherine blogs for the bookstore at the Bunch of Grapes blog.
  
• Suzanna Hermans is the Manager and Children's Book Buyer for Oblong Books and Music in Rhinebeck, NY, and is Co-chair of the New England Children's Booksellers Advisory Council. She blogs at The Kids' Book Corner, where you can also find Suzanna's podcasts about children's books.
  
• Katie McGarry is a New England sales representative and children's book specialist for Simon & Schuster.
• Nikki Mutch is the sales representative in New England for Scholastic, and is responsible for Ann Kingman's obsession with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You can follow her on twitter.
  
• Kate Sullivan is the sales representative for Random House Children's Books in New England, and cookie baker extraordinaire.

Ann Kingman also called on her children to help with this guide:

• Nora is in fifth grade and is a somewhat reluctant reader who enjoys mysteries and novels with contemporary settings; 
• Ellie is in second grade and is a very avid reader who loves the Percy Jackson series and everything Harry Potter.

 image credit: mahalie via flickr

Gift Guide Spotlight: The Elements

Before I was in publishing, I worked in bookstores. While I worked in bookstores, I studied graphic design. Before I studied graphic design, I (briefly) studied chemical engineering. However, even if I hadn't had that fleeting time with the beakers and test tubes, I would still be obsessed with The Elements by Theodore Gray.

Subtitled "A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe," this gorgeous book goes element by element, giving each a two-page spread filled with photographs of the element in its pure state and of the element as it occurs in the real world. It's amazing to me how beautiful so many of these are in their pure forms. The side of each spread is filled with all of the scientific data that define the element (i.e. all the things I couldn't memorize in college). Here's an example of a spread:

Stunning, isn't it? I'm obviously not the only one who thinks so. The book is selling out everywhere. It's so lavishly designed and printed, that the publisher isn't able to have more ready until the new year. So if you see a copy of this book, grab it now. If you can't find it, tell your favorite bookstore to put your name on the waiting list now. You won't be disappointed.

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I'll end with a couple of links. Definitely check out the author's website, where you can see close-ups of all of the items photographed for the book; many even have rotating video views. There's also an online store that sells many other products including flashcards, posters, placemats and custom posters spelling anything you want in element symbols! And finally, be sure to check out this very cool video featuring images from the book, set to Tom Lehrer's song, The Elements:



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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:
The Elements by Theodore Gray, Black Dog & Leventhal hardcover

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

BOTNS Books Podcast #55: Tasty Gifts

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 55 (27:44)

December has completely snuck up on us, but we were ready. On Monday we uploaded our second annual Books on the Nightstand Holiday Gift Guide, and this coming Friday we will have our first ever Holiday Gift Guide for Children's Books. We hope that between the two (free) downloadable guides, you will be able to find a gift for everyone on your shopping list.

We want to know about your favorite book(s) of 2009, so we've created a poll. Please nominate up to 3 of your favorite books that were published in 2009. The poll will close on December 16th at 11:59pm EST. We'll announce the results on our podcast that airs on December 30th.  Click here to nominate your favorite books.

For the rest of the year, our podcasts will focus on highlighting some books that we think make great gifts, and include some books we'd like to find under our Christmas trees. So we are putting our much loved "two books we can't wait for you to read" segment on hiaitus until the New Year.


Ann has fallen completely in love with what she believes is the gift for the music or photography lover: The Jazz Loft Project by Sam Stephenson. A documentary portrait of a New York City loft building, the book is a collection of W. Eugene Smith's photographs, and transcriptions of his sound recordings that date from 1957 through 1965, including photos and conversations of some of the greatest jazz musicians of the time, and many who remain unkown. The book is part of a larger experience that includes a traveling exhibition and an 10-part radio series that aired recently on WNYC radio. You can listen to all 10 episodes online, or listen to a 4-part series that will air on NPR's Weekend Edition from December 6th through 27th.

Michael was delighted to see the finished copy of The Man Who Lost His Head, a children's book by Claire Huchet Bishop, illustrated by Robert McCloskey (famed illustrator of Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings). This quirky tale of a man who, yes, lost his head, is beautifully packaged and is great fun as a read-aloud.

  

In our "Holiday Gift Spotlight" segment, we look at gifts for the person who loves to cook. Michael makes us hungry be talking about Bubby's Brunch Cookbook, by Ron Silver, chef/owner of Bubby's Pie Co., a famed restaurant in New York City. Baking, by James Peterson, is the perfect gift for the baker, aspiring or accomplished, with it's wonderful step-by-step photographs of techniques. It's truly a baking class in a book.

Ann is in love with La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy, brought to us by Accademia Italiana Della Cucina (The Italian Academy of Cuisine). This compendium of more than 2000 authentic Italian home recipes is the only Italian cookbook that anyone would ever need, and includes dishes that are very familiar (Spaghetti with garlic and oil) and also those that are less known here in the United States (18 recipes for rabbit, and almost as many for goat).

Ann also highly recommends The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones, which is the perfect gift for the person who lives alone, or even for a family of two. Judith provides an elegant way to cook for one person without feeling that you are eating the same food over and over.

We hope you enjoy the gift guide, and don't forget to vote in our poll for your Favorite Book of 2009!

(You can listen to the podcast by using the player at the top of this post. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)
___________________

We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Where possible, titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:

The Jazz Loft Project by Sam Stephenson, Knopf hardcover
The Man Who Lost His Head by Claire Huchet Bishop, New York Review Books hardcover
Bubby's Brunch Cookbook by Ron Silver, Ballantine hardcover
Baking by James Peterson, Ten Speed Press hardcover
La Cucina by Accademia Itlaiana Della Cucina, Rizzoli hardcover
The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones, Knopf hardcover

(all information is for the U.S. editions).