Writers Recommend...

BOOKS: ALWAYS THE PERFECT GIFT.JUST ASK OUR FRIEND SAM. Follow...

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:09:00 -0500

BOOKS: ALWAYS THE PERFECT GIFT.
JUST ASK OUR FRIEND SAM.

Follow these links to online retailers or visit your local independent bookseller:

Spread the word, become a fan on Facebook: Books=Gifts.
Visit BooksEqualGifts.com and BooksAreGreatGifts.com.

(Photo by David Paul Morris) MARY ROACH is the author of Stiff:...

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:40:00 -0500

(Photo by David Paul Morris)

MARY ROACH is the author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Salon, GQ, Vogue, and the New York Times Magazine. She lives in Oakland, California. She recommends:

The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce, and Obsession by Adam Leith Gollner (Scribner)
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (Little Brown)
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs (Simon and Schuster)
More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman (Dutton)

(photo by Deadline Press and Picture Agency on Flickr) IRVINE...

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:15:00 -0500

(photo by Deadline Press and Picture Agency on Flickr)

IRVINE WELSH is the author of Trainspotting; If You Liked School, You’ll Love Work; Glue; Porno; Filth; and other works. He divides his time between Florida, Ireland, and Scotland. Visit Irvine online at IrvineWelsh.net.
He recommends:

Delete This at Your Peril: One Man’s Hilarious Exchanges with Internet Spammers by Bob Servant (Skyhorse)

(Photo by Lilian Kemp) One of this country’s most...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:58:00 -0500

(Photo by Lilian Kemp)

One of this country’s most distinguished poets, ADRIENNE RICH has received numerous awards, most recently the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She lives in California. In Spring 2009, W. W. Norton will publish her newest work, A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society, 1996-2008. She recommends:

Music Quickens Time by Daniel Barenboim (Verso)
Oceania: A Sheaf of Poems by James Scully (Azul Editions)
Winners Have Yet to Be Announced: A Song for Donny Hathaway by Ed Pavlic (University of Georgia Press)

(Photo by Juliet van Otteren) ROBERT PINSKY was the U.S. Poet...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:53:00 -0500

(Photo by Juliet van Otteren)

ROBERT PINSKY was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997 to 2000. The author of numerous collections, he is the poetry editor of Slate and the creator of the Favorite Poem Project. He lives and teaches in Boston. In Spring 2009, Norton will publish Essential Pleasures: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud. He recommends:

Posthumous Keats by Stanley Plumly (Norton)
Chameleon Hours by Elise Partridge (Univ. of Chicago Press)

(Photo by Lisa Wolfe) SARAH LYALL, author of The Anglo Files,...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:20:00 -0500

(Photo by Lisa Wolfe)

SARAH LYALL, author of The Anglo Files, grew up in New York City and writes for the New York Times in London. She lives there with her husband, the writer Robert McCrum, and their two daughters. She recommends:

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins (Knopf)
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Vintage)
Consider the Lobster and Other Essays by David Foster Wallace
(Little Brown)

(Photo by Marion Ettlinger) DIANA ABU-JABER is the author of...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:46:00 -0500

(Photo by Marion Ettlinger)

DIANA ABU-JABER is the author of Arabian Jazz, Crescent, The Language of Baklava, and Origin. She grew up in Syracuse, New York, and now divides her time between Portland, Oregon, and Miami, Florida. Visit her on the Web at DianaAbuJaber.com. She recommends:

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver (Harper Perennial)
Netherland by Joseph O’Neill (Pantheon)
Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje (Vintage)
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (Harvest Books)
Climbing the Mango Trees by Madher Jaffrey (Vintage)

JOHN DUFRESNE has written seven books, including the novel Love...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:45:00 -0500

JOHN DUFRESNE has written seven books, including the novel Love Warps the Mind A Little, a New York Times Notable Book, the fiction writing guide The Lie That Tells A Truth, and, most recently, the novel Requiem, Mass. He lives in Dania Beach, Florida. He recommends:

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (Vintage)
The Unprofessionals by Julie Hecht (Simon and Schuster)
What It Is by Lynda Barry (Drawn and Quarterly)
Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin by Kenny Shopsin (Knopf)
Hubert’s Freaks: The Rare-Book Dealer, The Times Square Talker and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus by Gregory Gibson (Harcourt)

The Millions, a literary blog, has more details from John Dufresne on why he loves these books.

(Photo by Nancy Wiatt) DON LEE teaches in the graduate creative...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:44:00 -0500

(Photo by Nancy Wiatt)

DON LEE teaches in the graduate creative writing program at Western Michigan University and lives in Kalamazoo. Lee won the Sue Kaufman Prize for Yellow and the American Book Award and Edgar Award for Country of Origin. His most recent novel is Wrack and Ruin. Visit him online at Don-Lee.com. He recommends:

So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell (Vintage)

The Millions, a literary blog, has more details from Don Lee on why he loves this book.

(Photo by Barry Goldstein) JOAN SILBER, a finalist for the...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:43:00 -0500

(Photo by Barry Goldstein)

JOAN SILBER, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Story Prize for Ideas of Heaven, teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City. Her most recent novel is The Size of the World. She recommends:

The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey (Harper)
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (Penguin)

The Millions, a literary blog, has more details from Joan Silber on why she loves these books.

(Photo by Jose Villarrubia) MANIL SURI’s first novel, The...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:42:00 -0500

(Photo by Jose Villarrubia)

MANIL SURI’s first novel, The Death of Vishnu, won the 2002 Barnes and Noble Discover Prize and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. His newest novel, The Age of Shiva, will be available in paperback in January. He lives in Maryland, where he is a mathmatics professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Visit him online at ManilSuri.com. He recommends:

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (Norton)

The Millions, a literary blog, has more details from Manil Suri on why he loves this book and another recommendation to look forward to in 2009.

(Photo by Lisa Sakulensky) LAWRENCE HILL is the author of the...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:41:00 -0500

(Photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

LAWRENCE HILL is the author of the novels Any Known Blood and Some Great Thing. For Someone Knows My Name, his most recent novel now available in paperback, he has won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and is a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Hill lives in Ontario, Canada. Visit him online at LawrenceHill.com. He recommends:

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews (Counterpoint)
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (Riverhead)
Cockroach by Rawi Hage (House of Anansi Press)

The Millions, a literary blog, has more details from Lawrence Hill on why he loves these books.

(Photo by Tabitha Soren) MICHAEL LEWIS is the author of...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:40:00 -0500

(Photo by Tabitha Soren)

MICHAEL LEWIS is the author of Moneyball and The Blind Side and most recently the editor of Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity. He lives in Berkeley, California. He recommends:

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman (Knopf)
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World
by Tony Horwitz (Henry Holt)

FUCHSIA DUNLOP writes for Gourmet, Saveur, the Financial Times,...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:04:00 -0500

FUCHSIA DUNLOP writes for Gourmet, Saveur, the Financial Times, and The New Yorker. A graduate of Cambridge University and a fluent Mandarin speaker, she lives in London, where she consults to the city’s first authentic Sichuan restaurant, Bar Shu. She is the author of Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper and Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. She recommends:

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press)
Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3 by Annie Proulx (Scribner)
A Day at elBulli by Ferran Adria (Phaidon)

(Photo by Marion Ettlinger) ANDRE DUBUS III is the author of...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:46:00 -0500

(Photo by Marion Ettlinger)

ANDRE DUBUS III is the author of House of Sand and Fog (an Oprah’s Book Club selection and finalist for the National Book Award), Bluesman, The Cage Keeper, and The Garden of Last Days. He lives with his family north of Boston. He recommends:

Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry edited by Billy Collins
(Random House)
A Miracle of Catfish by Larry Brown (Algonquin Books)
Five Skies by Ron Carlson (Viking)
Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories by Tobias Wolff (Knopf)
And Now A Story To Tell: Narratives in Verse by Dave Supple (BookSurge)

(Photo by Toshi Otsuki) DIANE ACKERMAN is the author of the...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:20:00 -0500

(Photo by Toshi Otsuki)

DIANE ACKERMAN is the author of the best-selling A Natural History of the Senses, Dawn Light, and The Zookeeper’s Wife, among many other books. She lives in upstate New York. She recommends:

Still to Mow: Poems
by Maxine Kumin (W. W. Norton)
To Be Read in 500 Years: Poems
by Albert Goldbarth (Graywolf)

2008 Recommendations:

To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
by John O’Donohue (Doubleday)
Writers on the Air: Conversations about Books by Donna Seaman (Paul Dry Books)
The Shadow Factory by Paul West (Lumen Books)
The Planets by Dava Sobel (Viking)

(Photo by Joyce Ravid) NICOLE KRAUSS is the author of Man Walks...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:09:00 -0500

(Photo by Joyce Ravid)

NICOLE KRAUSS is the author of Man Walks Into A Room and The History of Love. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn. She recommends:

The Romantic Dogs by Roberto Bolano (New Directions)
2666 by Roberto Bolano (FSG)
The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander (Vintage)
Open Closed Open: Poems by Yehuda Armichai (Harvest Books)
Austerlitz by Winfried Georg Sebald (Modern Library)
Interviews with Francis Bacon: The Brutality of Fact
by David Sylvester (Thames and Hudson)
The Paris Review Interviews Volumes I, II, and III (Picador)

(Photo by Gordon Trice) DAVID SMALL is the recipient of the...

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:59:00 -0400

(Photo by Gordon Trice)

DAVID SMALL is the recipient of the Caldecott Medal, a Christopher Medal, and the E. B. White Award for his picture books, which include Imogene’s Antlers, The Gardener, and So, You Want to Be President? Small’s most recent book, Stitches, is a 2009 finalist for the National Book Award. He lives in Mendon, Michigan. Visit davidsmallbooks.com. He recommends:

Exit Ghost by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Blue Pills by Frederick Peeters (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker (Simon & Schuster)