Each holiday season, Connecticut Library Association members answer the question, "If you could give just one book..." and pick their #1 gift-giving pick. Among their recommendations...
The Ruins by Scott Smith[Fiction]
The Ruins follows two American couples, just out of college, enjoying a pleasant, lazy beach holiday together in Mexico as, on an impulse, they go off with newfound friends in search of one of their group-- a young German, who, in pursuit of a girl, has headed for remote Mayan ruins. This is what happens from the moment the searchers-- moving into the wild interior-- begin to suspect that there is an insidious, horrific "other" among them...
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra[Fiction] Dr. Jaafari, an Arab-Israeli citizen, is a surgeon at a hospital in Tel Aviv. He is dedicated to his work, respected and admired by his colleagues and community. On the night of a deadly bombing, he works tirelessly to help the shocked and shattered patients brought to the emergency room. But this night of turmoil and death takes a horrifying personal turn. His wife's body is found among the dead, with massive injuries, the police coldly announce, typical of those found on the bodies of fundamentalist suicide bombers.
Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic, by Esther Perel[Non-Fiction] Ether Perel takes on tough questions, grappling with the obstacles and anxieties that arise when our quest for secure love conflicts with our pursuit of passion. She invites us to explore the paradoxical union of domesticity and sexual desire, and explains what it takes to bring lust home.
The Know-it-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, by A. J. Jacobs.[Non-Fiction] To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica. His wife, Julie, tells him it's a waste of time, his friends believe he is losing his mind, and his father, a brilliant attorney who had once attempted the same feat and quit somewhere around Borneo, is encouraging but unconvinced.
Biba's Italy: Favorite Recipes from the Splendid Cities, by Biba Caggiano[Non-Fiction] Americans love Italy: 4 million of us visit every year, and Rome and Florence rank number 1 and 2 of our favorite European cities. We also love Italian food: time and again, it’s rated our favorite international cuisine. In
Biba’s Italy, renowned cookbook author and restaurateur Biba Caggiano shows why: here are the very best recipes from our very favorite cities, plus travel tips galore on restaurants, bakeries, gelaterie, food markets, and cooking schools.
Click on each book cover to request it from our catalog.
Winners have been announced for the first annual, Random House-sponsored Teen BookVideo Awards. Top filmmakers from across the country competed to create book videos (sort of like a movie trailer, except for a book) for three of the hottest teen books of 2006. The three featured books are: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray, and How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff. You can watch the three winning videos here.
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