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December 18, 2008

I admit it: I used to get serious consumer trade magazine envy every December because of their holiday gift recommendations. Then it dawned on me that LJ's editors could and should offer the same. After all, we specialize in books and multimedia, two of the most popular present types. Scroll down for our ten picks, ranging from Indiana Jones to Franz Kafka. Also note the second (and final) installment in our Best Books 2008: The Author Interviews series. Happy holidays from Park Avenue South. If you haven't signed up for BookSmack!, you'll miss the fun in 2009.—Heather McCormack, Editor

• 35 Going on 13: Books for the Bleak Midwinter
  For this blustery season, I offer you eight books just right for staying inside with your cozy blanket. They are either seasonally appropriate or feature snow and cold. Included are three fantasy worlds, two frozen adventures, and a contemporary nightmare. No pear trees in sight, although one of the fantasies is set in an orchard. more » » » 

LJ Editors’ Last-Minute Gift Guide

• Margaret Heilbrun Recommends Confessions
  Social Sciences Editor Margaret Heilbrun likes complicated men, so, naturally, she fell for Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his autobiography, a true classic written long before the age of memoirs. more » » » 
• Barbara Hoffert Recommends Red Rover
  Book Review Editor Barbara Hoffert believes that poetry has a place in the 21st century, and she promotes it as an editor, critic, and reader. If you're looking for approachable contemporary verse, check out this collection. more » » » 
• Michael Rogers Recommends The Complete Making of Indiana Jones
  Online Managing Editor Michael Rogers is the office expert on all things Indy, Star Wars, and Tolkien. Here, he shares a gem for his fellow celluloid junkies. more » » » 
• Mirela Roncevic Recommends The Trial
  Arts & Humanities Editor Mirela Roncevic is a lover of serious literature; her very un-Oprah pick makes perfect sense in this economic climate and illuminates the meaning of Kafkaesque. more » » » 
• Bette-Lee Fox Recommends The Shiksa Syndrome
  Managing Editor Bette-Lee Fox edits our Romance column, and you can bet your bodice-rippers that she wouldn't lead you astray, especially during the holiday season. Her pick is mom-, sister-, friend-, and aunt-safe. more » » » 

• Anna Katterjohn Recommends In Heaven Everything Is Fine
  Assistant Editor Anna Katterjohn knows a good mashup of a pop culture study when she sees one. Calling all fans of punk rock, new wave theater, and sketch comedy. more » » » 
• Heather McCormack Recommends That Extra Half an Inch
  Managing Editor Heather McCormack likes to air her guilty book pleasures. This is one of them, a doozy by the one and only Victoria Beckham, friend of TomKat and formerly Posh Spice to those of us in the Spice Girls generation. more » » » 
• Raya Kuzyk Recommends The Body Fat Solution
  Media Editor Raya Kuzyk follows the fitness book market with an eagle eye. Her book selection can be used to prevent that most ghastly holiday tradition—overeating. more » » » 
• Ann Burns Recommends Baby Brother's Blues
  Associate Editor Ann Burns can be counted on for pointing out quality pop fiction. Her pick doesn't stray from her speciality and will likely delight many recipients. more » » » 
• Josh Becker Recommends Reading the OED
  LJ reviewer Josh Becker is a junior English major at New York University. A fan of songwriting, sample sales, and creative writing, he likes to do his homework in coffee shops, where he has undoubtedly flashed his holiday pick. more » » » 

Best Books 2008: The Author Interviews

• Best Books Q&A: Sheila Weller, author of Girls Like Us
  The bibliography of the 1960s counterculture largely revolves around male rock 'n' roll icons—the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan. Women, however, carved out a place for themselves, too, and in Girls Like Us, Sheila Weller tells their stories through the singular lives and careers of Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and Carole King. Here, she illuminates "the celebrity divide," plus the pros and cons of subject involvement. more » » » 
• Best Books Q&A: Rabih Alameddine, author of The Hakawati
  In the Middle East, a hakawati is a storyteller; and in his magical and exuberant fourth novel, Lebanese American author Rabih Alameddine displays a Scheherazade-like genius for enchanting readers by interweaving multiple narratives revolving around several generations of a Lebanese family. Hit the hyperlink to find out about the novel's gradual genesis and "the new hakawatis." more » » » 
• Best Books Q&A: Roxana Robinson, author of Cost
  In this day and age, what adult child hasn’t dreaded a parent’s slide into Alzheimer’s? And what parent hasn’t dreaded a child’s slide into addiction? Julia, the troubled heart beating at the center of Roxana Robinson’s harrowing Cost, must deal with both. Read on for the four-time novelist's eloquent insights on choosing difficult subject matter and arriving at a decidedly anti-Oprah ending.  more » » » 
• Best Books Q&A: Emilia Terragni, editorial director, Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture
  The architecture field has never seen as much prosperity as it has recently. New buildings popping up all over the globe continue to push boundaries. The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture aims to encapsulate in one oversized volume all that makes us appreciate evolving architecture. Emilia Terragni shares how her team selected the standouts and highlights architecture hot spots. more » » » 
• Best Books Q&A: Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic
  Driving is something that so many of us do so automatically that we'd never dream to think it means anything. But as Volvo owner Tom Vanberbilt documents in Traffic, road rage has merit, and there's a connection between how one behaves behind the wheel and a country's level of corruption. Sunday drivers and speed demons alike should break for Vanderbilt's holiday-driving advice and stance on the legal driver's licensing age. more » » » 

 

• The Word on Street Lit No. 9
  For the guy perspective, read Rollie Welch's take on street lit's revenge theme, used to stellar effect in Dana Dane's starred debut, Numbers. Also in this column: Dywane Birch, Donald Welch, and Franklin White. more » » » 

 

• Tag Team Review No. 9: Ted McKeever's Transit
  Graphic novels have become another accoutrement of "nerd chic" absorbed by mainstream culture. Blame Comic-Con regular Kevin Smith or consider that we live in an intensely visual culture, and it just makes sense. As much as I like graphic novels, their hipness begs to be challenged. Click through to read Tatjana Saccio and Dennis Seese's bang-up job on Ted McKeever’s Transit. more » » » 

 

• Top Ten Holds from the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, GA
  Behind every best seller you're likely to find a library hold. At the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries (GA), fiction rules the list. Zane makes her first appearance in our Top Ten Holds series, and, not surprisingly, Nicholas Sparks and Nelson DeMille return. more » » » 
 

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