Our favorite books of 2006

Compiled by Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, December 8, 2006

Fiction

Selected and condensed from reviews by News critics

A Dirty Job, by Christopher Moore (William Morrow, $24.95). Proving that death can be humorous, too, Moore tells the story of secondhand store owner Charlie Asher, whose life is turned upside down when he's recruited to gather the souls of the recently departed.

Abide With Me, by Elizabeth Strout (Random House, $24.95). In this sensitive, challenging work, a small-town minister and father of an infant daughter struggles to cope with the death of his young wife and his growing crisis in faith.

Absurdistan, by Gary Shteyngart (Random House, $24.95). This postmodern tragicomedy - evocative, touching, horrifying, funny and clever all at once - focuses on the grotesque, wastrel son of a Russian-Jewish gangster whose travails get him stuck in "Absurdistan," a fictional land located where Azerbaijan ought to be.

After This, by Alice McDermott (Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, $24). Moving and beautifully observed, McDermott's story revolves around a typical American family, post-WWII. Chapters focus on a different family member and are so finely crafted that most could stand alone as short stories.

Against the Day, by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin, $35). Large (more than 1,000 pages), extravagant, wildly inventive and full of life and bitter truths, Pynchon's new novel takes place in the era between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the immediate aftermath of World War I. In intricate, cross-pollinated plots, he offers a comic epic filled with robber barons, anarchists, miners, and more.

All Aunt Hagar's Children, by Edward P. Jones (Amistad/HarperCollins, $25.95). Pulitzer Prize winner Jones urges us to confront slavery's legacy in these quietly dramatic stories of black families and their intimate connections to Washington, D.C. in the 20th century.

Anonymous Lawyer, by Jeremy Blachman (Henry Holt, $25). Harvard law grad Blachman skewers his profession with slash-and-burn ferocity in his often hilarious first novel, told through the anonymous blog and emails of a lawyer at a prestigious law firm who exposes the miserable realities of day-to-day life at the top and confesses his many, many sins.

Arthur & George, by Julian Barnes (Knopf, $24.95). Based on the real story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his attempts to exonerate a half-Indian man convicted of animal mutilation, this novel is an astonishing exercise in writing, as well as a ripping good yarn.

Augusta Locke, by William Haywood Henderson (Viking, $24.95). Set in the early 1900s, Henderson's emminently readable tale revolves around Gussie Locke, who leaves her Greeley home as a young girl, becomes pregnant and raises her daughter on the Western plains in a hard-scrabble existence.

Black Girl/White Girl, by Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco, $25.95). Through this story of college roommates, one black, one white, Oates explores the complexities of race relations, offering a modern gothic tale, disturbing but fascinating.

Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell (Random House, $24.95). A simple coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old living in a dreary British village amid critical schoolmates becomes powerful in the hands of Mitchell, who infuses the story with gorgeous language and pitch-perfect dialogue.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, by Haruki Murakami; translated by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin (Knopf, $25). The masterful Japanese storyteller conjures modern fairy tales, immersing readers in a world in which illusions are as real as their mundane daily lives.

The Book of Dave, by Will Self (Bloomsbury, $24.95). Self satires the strange complexities of the modern world by juxtaposing two stories: the first set in London roughly 500 years in the future and the second involving a modern-day cab driver. The cab driver's written rants about an ex-wife, uncovered in the future London, provide the moral, legal and cultural foundation of the new world order in this blisteringly astute novel.

Cellophane, by Marie Arana (The Dial Press, $24). An astounding first novel that follows the foibles and heartaches of Don Victor and his family as he pursues his dream of building a paper factory deep in the Amazon jungle. With warmth and humor, Arana contrasts the conventions of aristocratic society with the daily habits of the Amazon Indians, all of whom live in relative harmony until a series of foreboding events take over.

The Dead Yard, by Adrian McKinty (Scribner, $24). In expat Irishman and Colorado resident McKinty's new tale, recurring character Michael Forsythe lands in a Spanish prison after a soccer riot, where he's blackmailed into infiltrating an American arm of the IRA in order to get out of jail.

Digging to America, by Anne Tyler (Knopf, $24.95). Tyler reflects on the phenomenon of upper-middle-class American families adopting babies from Asia in this story of two couples - one white, suburban, the other Iranian-American - who adopt baby girls from Korea. Through her characters, she creates a quiet, powerful, meditation on what it means to be an American today.

The Dissident, by Nell Freudenberger (HarperCollins, $25.95). The author creates a cleverly wrought illusion in this tale about a Chinese performance artist's stay with an upscale Beverly Hills family. The absorbing plot is filled with characters torn between idealism and realism and seeking a true awakening through love and art.

Everyman, by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin, $24). In this slim novel about a man contemplating his life and impending death, Roth portrays loss and grief so precisely, one can only marvel at their rendering. Full of passion, anger and vivid details of lives well-lived and profoundly screwed up.

Farewell Summer, by Ray Bradbury (William Morrow, $24.95). Bradbury returns to the magic of childhood in this slender but elegant sequel to his 1957 debut Dandelion Wine in which 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding and his friends square off against the town elders.

Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow, $26.95). In this collection of 31 stories, poems, essays and a novella - some frightening, some laugh-out-loud funny, some downright strange - Gaiman shows his amazing range as an acclaimed fantasy writer.

Gallatin Canyon, by Thomas McGuane (Knopf, $24). Saul Bellow once called McGuane a "language star," and McGuane still wears that mantle well in this collection of elegant stories, many set in Montana, where men and women work in the shadow of nearby mountains and toil at the difficult task of learning where they fit in the world.

Ines of My Soul, by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins, $25.95). In this fascinating account of historical figure Ines Suarez - a founding colonist of Chile and one of the few female conquerors in the New World - Allende offers nonstop action and painstaking period detail.

The Interpretation of Murder, by Jed Rubenfeld (Henry Holt, $26). The story of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung's actual visit to Manhattan in 1909 intertwines with the fictional plot of a killer loose in the city to create a cast teeming with uppercrust industrialists and immigrants alike - and tension on every page.

JPod, by Douglas Coupland (Bloomsbury, $24.95). Coupland revisits the cubicle hell first glimpsed in his novel Microserfs with this caustic, absurdly funny look at six programmers marooned in a Vancouver video-game company.

The Keep, by Jennifer Egan (Knopf, $24). In this psychological who-dun-what, New York city hipster Danny goes to Eastern Europe to help his rich cousin convert a crumbling castle into a hotel - while, in a parallel story, a prison inmate writes the story of Danny and the castle. As Danny's and the inmate's experiences intensify, Egan skillfully builds the tension.

Kill Me, by Stephen White (Dutton, $25.95). When a rich man with an "X-Games lifestyle" worries about being incapacitated by his activities, he takes out an insurance policy with a shadowy organization that agrees to have him killed, should that occur. Soon he's in a desperate race against time in this nail-biting mix of pulp fiction and hard-boiled noir.

The Light of the Evening, by Edna O'Brien (Houghton Mifflin, $25). O'Brien's language is lush and poetic in this powerful story of a mother dying of ovarian cancer, remembering the details of her life while awaiting a reunion with her daughter, with whom she's had a strained relationship.

Lisey's Story, by Stephen King (Scribner, $28). King is at his best in this love story and supernatural suspense tale about a woman, her deceased husband, a psychopathic killer, her mad sister, and her own inner demons.

The Lives of Rocks: Stories, by Rick Bass (Houghton Mifflin, $23). Bass offers diverse stories that scale human frailty to the larger natural world, in clear and elegant prose.

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, by Ayelet Waldman (Doubleday, $23.95). A woman's grief over the loss of her one-day-old daughter begins to dampen her euphoria with her marriage in this fast-paced and beautifully wrought story about the complexities of familial love.

Mary: A Novel, by Janis Cooke Newman (MacAdam Cage, $26). Mary Todd Lincoln gets her turn in this mesmerizing historical novel that explores the first lady's life, including her courtship with the president, the gut-wrenching death of her youngest son and her commitment to a sanitarium by her eldest son, some 10 years after Lincoln's assassination.

Moral Disorder, by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday, $24.95). Atwood never fails to dazzle with her keen appreciation for the poetic possibilities of language in this superb collection of intimately linked stories that traces one woman's life over the course of decades.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, by Judy Doenges (University of Michigan Press, $24). In a story as memorable as it is sad, Colorado author Doenges chronicles the life of a young heroine struggling to rise above her unlucky circumstances, including the loss of maternal protectiveness, a drug-dealing father and a con-artist grandmother.

Nature Girl, by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $25.95). Hiaasen will bring tears of laughter to even the most jaundiced readers with this hilarious story about a bipolar woman who decides to teach a crooked telemarketer a lesson and a half-white Seminole airboat operator who has something to hide.

The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters (Riverhead, $24.95). With a sure touch and an empathetic, but not sentimental style, Waters examines the lives of four women in London following WWII, flashing back to their lives during the war.

NNNNN, by Carl Reiner (Simon & Schuster, $21). Reiner, of The Dick Van Dyke Show fame, offers a hip, poignant and even sexy page-tuner about a man writing a novel. When Reiner's protagonist starts having protracted conversations with himself out loud, his wife sends him for psychiatric help, sparking a series of increasingly absurd coincidences that lead him to dicscover the truth about his roots.

Paint It Black, by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown, $24.99). Fitch ressurects 1980s Los Angeles in all its subterranean, gritty glory with this story about a punk rocker from the wrong side of the tracks who becomes pitted against her boyfriend's intimidating, wealthy mother.

The Pale Blue Eye, by Louis Bayard (HarperCollins, $24.95). Set in 1830, this compelling, disquieting historical mystery involves a young man in the early days of West Point. The cadet, the real-life Edgar Allan Poe, is recruited by a police detective to help solve the strange death of another cadet, found hanged in a particularly gruesome manner.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf, $24). A man and his son try to survive in a ruined, post-apocalyptic world in this simple story so elegantly rendered that McCarthy's prose is the very grammar of sorrow and loss.

Saving the World, by Julia Alvarez (Algonquin, $24.95). An elegant tale revolving around a woman who, in 1803, took part in a Spanish expedition to the New World to vaccinate people from smallpox. Her story is contrasted with that of a contemporary woman absorbed by the facts she learns about the expedition.

Shanks for Nothing, by Rick Reilly (Doubleday, $24.95). When bluebloods threaten to turn his favorite golf course into a parking lot, Raymond "Stick" Hart jumps into action, making for a story involving the Russian mob, a prison escape, marital discord, gambling addiction - and plenty of laughs.

Skinner's Drift, by Lisa Fugard (Scribner, $25). A haunting, artful debut about an Afrikaner family learning to bury itself in uncomfortable secrets just as South Africa is beginning to break free from the entangled grips of apartheid.

Talk, Talk, by T.C. Boyle (Viking, $25.95). A case of identity theft leads to a cross-country pursuit for justice, as a deaf woman becomes willing to sacrifice anything to track down the person responsible. The aftermath will have readers pondering when it's best to fight injustice and when it's wiser to cut your losses and quietly submit to it.

The Tenth Circle, by Jodi Picoult (Grove Atria, $26). In this remarkable, cutting edge achievement, Picoult collaborates with comic-book artist Dustin Weaver to tell the tale of a comic-book artist stay-at-home Dad who has been commissioned to create a graphic novel that depicts a father rescuing his daughter from the world of Dante's Inferno. In a bizarre twist, the graphic novel begins to reflect the artist's own life. Theft: A Love Story, by Peter Carey (Knopf, $24). This wild and satisfying ride revolves around a once-celebrated but now seriously out-of-fashion painter and his mentally unstable brother, whom he caretakes. When they meet a beautiful woman, events she has set in motion take on a life of their own.

The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfied (Atria, $26). When a used-bookseller's daughter is asked to write the biography of a famous author, she comes face to face with the painful secrets of her own life, making for a gothic tale filled with rich characters and fascinating plot twists .

The Touching That Lasts, by Kent Nelson (Johnson, $24). In these sensitive, polished stories with settings as diverse as a Florida trailer park, a Colorado ranch and and a Southern island, Nelson captures the often-extraordinary moments in ordinary lives.

US!, by Chris Bacheler (Bloomsbury, $14.95). Underneath the wise-guy humor is a warm, gentle presence in this satiric fantasy in which writer Upton Sinclair is periodically brought back from the grave by leftists in need of a leader, then periodically killed by right wingers.

The View From Castle Rock: Stories, by Alice Munro (Knopf, $25.95). Munro experiments with her own family history in these partially autobiographical stories, turning her characters' hopes and disappointments and grim resignations into exquisitely rendered portraits of interior lives and relationships.

The Vote, by Sybil Downing (University of New Mexico Press, $29.95). Thorough research teams with a taut storyline in this historical novel about a young idealist from a prominent Denver family who becomes entangled in the suffragist movement of 1918.

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen (Algonguin, $23.95). A 93-year-old man flashes back to the Depression, when he served as an unlicensed veterinarian for a traveling circus. We also learn about his life in the present, in this poetically written story chock full of fidelity, treachery, love and vindication.

The Whistling Season, by Ivan Doig (Harcourt, $25). What happens when a Minneapolis widow goes to work for a single father of three in Montana, bringing her slick-tongued brother with her? Doig employs literary subtlety and unforgettably quirky characters to focus on a turn-of-the-century family and a one-room schoolhouse, where youth and hopefulness challenge the harsh seasons.

The Whole World Over, by Julia Glass (Pantheon, $25.95). National Book Award winner Glass tells the satisfying story of a pastry chef; her flamboyant gay friend; her reserved husband, and a disabled woman her husband encounters on the street. The characters' actions reverberate, until they are all brought together in unexpected ways by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack .

Children's titles

Selected by News critic Jennifer Miller

Betty Lou Blue, by Nancy Crocker; pictures by Boris Kulikov (Dial Books for Young Readers, $16.99, ages 2-5). Betty Lou is taunted by classmates because her feet are the size of snowshoes. Then one day a snowstorm traps the kids who were mean to her, and Betty Lou must decide whether to walk away or do what's right. A gentle lesson for any child - told in a way that doesn't judge.

Flotsam, by David Wiesner (Clarion Books, $17, ages 5-8.) A boy combing the beach for specimens to examine under his microscope discovers an old camera washed up by the tide. Inside, he finds film of an undersea world where octopi read and islands walk, along with pictures of other children at the edge of the ocean holding the very same camera. A wordless book, Flotsam is a masterpiece of the imagination.

I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track, by Joshua Prince; illustrated by Macky Pamintuan (Sterling Publishing, $14.95, ages 2-5). A switchman named Jack tries to save an ant from being smacked by a freight train in this rhyming book that is so well crafted you can hear the rhythm of the train as you read it aloud. While some rhyming books trip you up, this one rolls off your tongue and is one of those rare gems that kids can't wait to join in telling.

John, Paul, George & Ben, by Lane Smith (Hyperion Books for Children, $16.99, ages 5 and up). History can be a dry subject for any child, but when Smith gets hold of it, watch out. This fantastic introduction to the founding fathers piques interest in Revolutionary history like no picture book before. Smith imagines John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson as five little lads with hilarious traits that later became their trademarks.

Lugalbanda: The Boy Who Got Caught Up In A War, An Epic Tale From Ancient Iraq, by Kathy Henderson; illustrated by Jane Ray (Candlewick, $16.99, ages 8 and up). Older than the Bible, Quran and Torah, this timely folk tale is about a war that won't end and the wisdom the conflict teaches those caught up in it. With the help of a magical bird and goddess, prince Lugalbanda advises a king not to destroy the city he's trying to conquer, but to save its people. Adapted from poems recorded on clay tablets in ancient Iraq, the story is a must-read for children trying to make sense of war.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo; illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Candlewick Press, $18.99, ages 7 and up.) A pampered china rabbit named Edward Tulane can't be bothered by love until he learns through great loss to cherish those around him and to love again. An adventure that goes to the bottom of the ocean, the top of a garbage heap and beyond, this is literature that makes your heart ache and swell.

Peter Pan in Scarlet, by Geraldine McCaughrean; illustrated in U.S. editions by Tony DiTerlizzi and Scott M. Fischer (Margaret K. McElderry Books, $17.99, ages: all). Sequels to classics aren't usually the stuff of books of the year, but when the author honors the original so beautifully and rekindles our love of it, while staying true to her voice, it becomes something remarkable. This first authorized sequel to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan is everything fans could hope for from start to finish, as Wendy and the Lost Boys try to save Neverland from their worst nightmares.

Uno's Garden, by Graeme Base (Abrams Books for Young Readers, $19.95, ages 3-8.) Uno's love of the forest is infectious and soon everyone wants to live there, but as more people move in, the very plants and creatures that drew them are being squeezed out. At the top of each page, readers tally the loss of plants and creatures, and growth of buildings. The story's honesty makes you cringe, while it's hopefulness makes you feel that you can make things better.

Young adult

Sold, by Patricia McCormick (Hyperion Books, $15.99, ages 10 and up). Sold is so exquisitely written it's hard to believe it's fiction. McCormick puts you in the head of 13-year-old Lakshmi, forced into India's prostitute trade after her stepfather tricks her into leaving Nepal with a stranger. One of the year's most searing stories, the book at times seems too raw for a young reader, and yet you are reminded that in real life girls younger than many readers of this book endure such horrors. Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett (Harper Tempest, $16.99, ages 12 and up). Pratchett's skill as a storyteller soars in this third book in the Tiffany Aching series, as the girl witch makes the mistake of dancing with the element of winter, the Wintersmith. With the help of wiser old witches and hilarious Celtic elves, Tiffany struggles to save the world from being frozen over. Though part of a series, it can be read by itself and has everything great books have, from opening lines that pull you in to an intriguingly delightful premise punctuated by humor.

Nonfiction

Selected and condensed from reviews by News critics

Adventure

The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party, by Kelly Tyler-Lewis (Viking, $25.95). In gripping detail, Tyler-Lewis offers the story of Ernest Shackleton's support team, which traveled to Shackleton's ultimate destination to set up depots for the last quarter of the adventurer's trek, only to suffer scurvy, snow blindness and worse.

A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler, by Jason Roberts (HarperCollins, $26.95). With meticulous research, Roberts resurrects the story of James Holman, a blind man who attempted to circumnavigate the globe in the early 19th century and has been largely forgotten to history.

Animals/nature

The Good, Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood, by Sy Montgomery (Ballantine, $21.95). A heartwarming account of the 14 years Montgomery spent raising her pet pig, Christopher Hogwood, from runt to 700- pound local celebrity.

Grayson, by Lynne Cox (Knopf, $18.95). English Channel swimmer Cox learns that words aren't the only way to communicate when, while training off California's Seal Beach, she meets up with an infant whale that's been separated from its mother and helps the two reunite. Cox's flawless descriptions in this charming, slim book leave you wanting more.

Nobody's Horses, by Don Hoglund (Free Press, $25). With panoramic details that capture the landscape of the Southwest, former Colorado resident, veterinarian and avowed horse lover Hoglund tells about how the federal government hired him to remove a herd of wild horses living in some of the most inhospitable real estate in the country.

Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur, by Carl Safina (Henry Holt, $27.50). A rare breed of writer who enters the story and lives it, Safina thoroughly details the lives of leatherback turtles, the world's largest reptiles, which have evolved over 125 million years.

Biography/ autobiography

All Governments Lie: The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I.F. Stone, by Myra MacPherson (Scribner, $35). This look at the legendary newsman who routinely mined news embedded deep in government documents captures Stone's zest for the business and his bravery in persevering, despite years of being shadowed by the FBI.

Half-Life of a Zealot, by Swanee Hunt (Duke University Press, $29.95). The daughter of the late arch-conservative oil tycoon H.L. Hunt offers painfully honest and often self- deprecating accounts of a life spent navigating between family needs and her goal to made a difference among the downtrodden.

Postcards From Ed: Dispatches and Salvos From an American Iconoclast, by David Peterson (Milkweed Editions, $24.95). This edited collection of the correspondences of legendary author Edward Abbey (The Monkey Wrench Gang) is a gold mine of information, detailing the contradictions inherent in Abbey's nature, his influences, favorite books and even a recipe for bean stew.

Bush administration (including books about Iraq and Hurricane Katrina)

Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City, by Jed Horne (Random House, $25.95). An editor of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune offers an epic look at the destruction that Hurricane Katrina wrought on New Orleans and paints a devastating picture of governmental breach of faith.

Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, by Eric Dyson (Perseus Books, $23). Dyson offers a detailed, thought-provoking account of the aftermath of the hurricane, concluding that race played a large part in the Bush administration's and the media's responses to the disaster.

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks (Penguin, $27.95). The Pentagon correspondent for The Washington Post offers a damning account of the many missteps that led President Bush and his administration to the war in Iraq and the mistakes that have plagued them since.

The One Percent Doctrine, by Ron Suskind (Simon & Schuster, $27). The title refers to the principle that Suskind says Vice President Dick Cheney articulated shortly after Sept. 11, that if there was "even a 1 percent chance" of terrorists' getting a weapon of mass destruction, the U.S. must act as if it were a certainty. Focusing on 2001 to 2004, Suskind sheds new light on the personalities and ideology that shaped the administration's decision to go to war in Iraq.

Crime

Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went Up in Smoke, by Dean Kuipers (Bloomsbury, $24.95). The fascinating tale of two working-class gay men who were shot down by FBI agents on their scorched property in southwestern Michigan in 2001 for growing marijuana and refusing to cede their land to the feds. Kuipers offers a critique of the war on marijuana while detailing the competing egos and ideology that went into running Rainbow Farm, a campground, festival venue and meeting place for hemp activists.

A Death in Belmont, by Sebastian Junger (W.W. Norton, $23.95). When the author's mother hired Albert DeSalvo to work on the family home in the Boston suburb of Belmont, De Salvo was years away from being arrested and convicted as the Boston Strangler. The encounter sparks this brilliant examination of DeSalvo and the theory that he was responsible for another murder of a neighborhood woman, for which a black man named Roy Smith was convicted.

Unholy Messenger, by Stephen Singular (Scribner, $23). The former Denver Post reporter examines the life of BTK killer Dennis Rader, a family man and self-professed Christian whose arrest shocked the nation. Singular juxtaposes Rader's story with that of the killer's pastor, Rader's only regular visitor after his arrest.

Essays

I Feel Bad About My Neck, by Nora Ephron (Knopf, $19.95). The woman who brought us such screenplays as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle chronicles her life, her looks and the aging process in a slim book rich with laughs and comforting in its reflections on everything from hair dye to reading glasses to, yes, unsightly necks.

New Orleans, Mon Amour, by Andrei Codrescu (Algonquin Books, $14). Codrescu, who moved nearly 20 years ago to the historic French Quarter, offers a vivid collection of essays on the city's life, lore and lunacy over the last two decades, including seven post- Katrina essays.

Why New Orleans Matters, by Tom Piazza (ReganBooks, $14.95). Both a mournful dirge and vivacious ode to the author's adopted hometown, this book conjures the city's glorious, elegant decay, pre- Katrina, and details the city after the disaster.

Food

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, by Mark Kurlansky (Ballantine, $23.95). This absorbing tale of the growth of a modern city as seen through the rise and fall of the lowly oyster is proof that a good writer can apply himself to almost any topic and, if sufficient intelligence, diligence and curiosity are brought to bear, produce something luminous.

History

At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-1968, by Taylor Branch (Simon & Schuster, $35). This third and final volume in Branch's monumental history of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement begins in early 1965 and continues through the Vietnam War, offering an accumulation of small moments and sharply observed nuances that build to an indelible picture.

The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai, by John Tayman (Scribner, $27.50). Rivaling fiction in its twists and turns, Tayman tells the story of Hawaii's Molokai leper colony, where those with leprosy (or suspected of the disease) had been rounded up at gunpoint and dumped to face a horrific existence. Tayman details unspeakable cruelty but also incomprehensible altruism.

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson (William Morrow, $26.95). The 12-day flight from the law by President Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, accompanied by David Herold, provides the drama for this detailed account that unfolds hour by hour.

Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking, $29.95).Philbrick turns the warm and fuzzy Thanksgiving tale on its head in his chronicle of the many injustices the pilgrims visited on the Indians after arriving in the New World - actions that ultimately resulted in a war that was twice as bloody as the Civil War, on a percentage-killed basis.

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe, by Thomas Cahill (Nan A. Talese/ Doubleday, $32.50). In this fascinating portrayal of the intellectual richness that foreshadows the Renaissance era, Cahill focuses on key locations and figures that form the foundations of Renaissance and modern thought in feminism, science and art.

Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution, by Simon Schama (Ecco, $29.95). In his absorbing, complex narrative, Schama examines the period of 1700 to 1850 in American history, underscoring the irony of a time when the rebellious colonies were declaring their right to liberty while maintaining the institution of slavery.

Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson (Crown, $25.95). Reaching back a century, Larson repeats the formula that brought him success with his best seller Devil in the White City: intertwining two disparate stories - one of a man who gruesomely murdered his wife, the other of the man largely credited with commercializing wireless communication - to skillfully capture the flavor of the time.

The Tyrannicide Brief, by Geoffrey Robertson (Pantheon, $30). What does it take to try a case against a king, knowing that doing so is signing one's own death warrant? With impressive research, Robertson explores the plight of John Cooke, who, in the 1600s, prosecuted King Charles I of England for enlisting French support in the war against his own countrymen, thus meeting the definition of treason.

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin, $28). In the wake of Hurricane Katrina's reminder of the power of nature, Egan rekindles the memory of another, equally cataclysmic natural phenomenon, made worse by the folly of man. Through poignant survivor interviews in this National Book Award winner, Egan chronicles a time when drought combined with poor farming practices to destroy America's agricultural heartland.

Media

Brainiac, by Ken Jennings (Villard, $23.95). In this highly entertaining book, the winner of 74 Jeopardy! contests talks about his lifelong passion for trivia games and his participation in the show.

The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, by Marilyn Johnson (HarperCollins, $24.95). A romp of a book that captures with well-placed humor the curious assortment of people featured in the obituary pages, as well as those who write them, read them and simply are obsessed with them.

Memoir

Blood Brothers, by Michael Weisskopf (Henry Holt, $25). Wounded while embedded with troops in Iraq, the Time magazine correspondent details his recovery with three younger wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center, resulting in prose so vivid only one word describes it: inspirational.

Drawing to an Inside Straight, by Jodi Varon (University of Missouri Press, $19.95). Through the story of her Jewish father who came to Denver and tried to reinvent himself as a cattleman, only to lose everything in a high-stakes poker game, Varon crafts a richly evocative portrait of 1960s Denver, specifically the close-knit Jewish community in Virginia Vale.

Her Mother's Daughter: A Memoir of the Mother I Never Knew and of My Daughter, Courtney Love, by Linda Carroll (Doubleday, $24.95). In this honest, briskly paced memoir full of drama, the mother of Courtney Love recounts her painful past spent growing up in an adoptive family with a sexually abusive father; her difficulties in raising the obsessive, violent and unempathetic Love; and her reunion with her birth mother, children's author Paula Fox.

My Father Is a Book: A Memoir of Bernard Malamud, by Janna Malamud Smith (Houghton Mifflin, $24). Proving that talent runs in the family, Smith's superior writing beautifully evokes her father's life and career as one of a troika of Jewish writers who dominated the American scene in the 20th century.

Politics

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century, by Kevin Phillips (Viking/Penguin, $26.95). In this stupendously researched journey through the last 500 years of superpower history, Phillips paints a picture of America at a dire crossroads predicated on its entanglements with fundamentalist Christianity, hydrocarbon energy and a debt unmatched in human history.

Conservatives Without Conscience, by John Dean (Viking, $25.95). The former White House legal counsel to President Nixon voices concerns about our nation's leadership and the current right-wing movement, claiming that by using fear-mongering to achieve political ends, politicians are undermining our democracy.

House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power, by James Carroll (Houghton Mifflin, $30). National Book Award winner Carroll (An American Requiem), whose father worked at the Pentagon, offers a superb mix of personal recollection and history regarding the largest building in the U.S. and the decisions that have been made there.

The Way To Win: Taking the White House in 2008, by Mark Halperin and John F. Harris (Random House, $26.95). ABC News political director Halperin and Washington Post editor Harris offer a window into the political backroom shenanigans, including a blow-by-blow account of past campaigns and analysis of trade secrets any contender will need to secure the presidency in 2008.

Religion

Letter to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris (Knopf, $16.95). In his brief, bullet-like argument aimed at the heart of religious devotees everywhere, Harris argues that faith in God is not only absurd but dangerous.

My Fundamentalist Education: A Memoir of a Divine Girlhood, by Christine Rosen (Public Affairs, $25). Rosen recalls her years in a Christian school in St. Petersburg, Fla., during the '70s, giving readers a rare and surprisingly entertaining glimpse of Christian-fundamentalist indoctrination through the eyes of a child.

Righteous: Dispatches From the Evangelical Youth Movement, by Lauren Sandler (Viking, $24.95). Sandler gives a sweeping and alarming view of what she dubs the "Disciple Generation," young evangelical Christians who are wooed into the movement at skate parks and malls and who are committed to imposing their extreme beliefs on others.

Science

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution, by David Quammen (W.W. Norton, $22.95). A wonderful introduction to the events leading to Darwin's development of the theory of evolution, covering the period after Darwin's famed voyage aboard the HMS Beagle until his death in 1882.

The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change, by Tim Flannery (Atlantic Monthly Press, $24). An informative and objective account of the effects of climate change by an acclaimed scientist who loves his subject and avoids the usual tactic of making readers feel guilty about addictions to fossil fuel while still explaining the dire consequences of continued greehouse gas emissions.

Social issues

Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness, by Pete Earley (Putnam, $25.95). Through heartbreaking and vividly detailed portraits - including that of his own son, who began experiencing psychotic episodes as a senior in college - Earley explores the mind-boggling mess that America's mental health system has become and champions the case for reform.

Sports

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero, by David Maraniss (Simon & Schuster, $26). An associate editor of The Washington Post peels back the layers of accepted and conventional sports reporting to present a compassionate, nuanced profile of baseball great Roberto Clemente.

Terrorism

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, by Lawrence Wright (Knopf, $27.95). A detailed, gripping and important account of the men who shaped the events that culminated in the Sept. 11 attacks, including Osama bin Laden and Mohammed Atta, as well as U.S. officials such as John O'Neill, the FBI man who tried to warn of the al- Qaeda threat.

Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response, by Aaron J. Klein (Random House, $24.95). An intriguing potboiler account of how assassination became a new tool for Israel's shadow war on terror after the slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat, by Louise Richardson (Random House, $25.95). A Harvard professor who grew up in Ireland seeing the destructiveness of terrorism and is an expert on international security details the characteristics of terrorists and the history of terrorism.

Travel

The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca, by Tahir Shah (Bantam Dell, $22). A charming, funny and enlightening tale about a British travel writer who moves his family to a once- stately mansion in Morocco only to find that the purchase comes complete with three troublesome house guardians and Jinns - invisible and mischievous spirits who wreak havoc on daily life.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia, by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking, $24.95). Suffering through a nasty divorce, Gilbert takes off for a year of self-examination to: Italy, to hone her language skills and enjoy the food; India, to meditate; and Indonesia, to learn balance in her life. The result is a sometimes-startling travelogue with rich, likable characters and laugh-out-loud humor.

World

Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present, by Peter Hessler (HarperCollins, $26.95). A timely and necessary look at a rising economic and military tiger, Hessler's book reveals the conflicted soul of a nation working to chart a course between its ancient history and the modern commercial world.

Wave of Destruction, by Erich Krauss (Rodale, $24.95). Krauss brings the terror of the Indonesian tsunami and its aftermath alive in this tender, painful look at four families who rode out the wave that blasted onto the shores of Thailand.

While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West From Within, by Bruce Bawer (Doubleday, $23.95). In this thorough, insightful and depressing volume, Bawer posits that western European governments are actively financing a mass migration of Islamic fundamentalists to their countries yet shying away from enforcing laws - even those pertaining to rape and murder - against the immigrants, for fear of being racist.

Miscellaneous

I'm Proud of You: My Friendship With Fred Rogers, by Tim Madigan (Gotham Books, $20). When Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Madigan was sent to interview the famed children's television host, a friendship bloomed, seeing the two through Madigan's marriage troubles, the death of one of Rogers' good friends and more, all gently detailed by the author.

The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family, by Mike Leonard (Ballantine, $24.95). When Marge and Jack Leonard's lives needed a boost, their son, NBC Today Show's Mike Leonard, gives it to them: a family cross-country road trek in two RVs. With heartfelt whimsy, Leonard recounts the journey in which he learns to measure his parents in their human dimensions.

Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut, by Mike Mullane (Scribner, $26). A member of the first class of shuttle-era astronauts, Mullane pulls back the curtains on NASA, detailing the sheer guts it takes for astronauts to strap themselves into a rocket, the profane pranks the space aces played on one another and the sad story of the Challenger disaster.

Who Are You People?: A Personal Journey Into the Heart of Fanatical Passion in America, by Shari Caudron (Barricade Books, $14.95). This funny, insightful book explores the lives of Barbie-doll collectors, tornado chasers, board-game aficionados and other fanatics, offering a peek into these unusual worlds and revealing a subset of folks who are simply looking for a place to belong.

Best unreal worlds

Selected by News science- fiction/fantasy/horror critic Mark Graham

Candles Burning, by Tabitha King and Michael McDowell (Berkley, $24.95) King proves she has no peer in telling the story of Calliope "Calley" Carroll Dakin. When Calley's father is kidnapped and brutally murdered, she and her mother are forced to live on an isolated island in the South. As the years pass, the youngster with overlarge ears who sometimes converses with dead people and hears things others don't (dolphins swimming in the ocean, people talking in faraway places) begins to unravel the mystery of her father's death. Elements combine to create a coming-of-age story worthy of Salinger, a Southern novel worthy of Faulkner and a ghost story worthy of King's more famous husband, Stephen.

Best thriller

Selected by News critic Peter Mergendahl

The Night Gardener, by George Pelecanos (Little Brown, $24.99). Pelecanos is still waiting for the adulation he deserves for his layered, nuanced and erudite novels, and this story involving a trio of cops is the best yet. Retired cop T. C. Cook still obsesses about a cold case in which the victims, each killed and left in the same way, all boasted names that were palindromes. When a teenager is murdered and left in the municipal gardens in Washington, D.C., it appears the Night Gardener is back. As Cook and two other cops join the investigation, each with their own reasons for returning to the case, Pelecanos details just what it takes, professionally, personally and physically, to deal with the very worst among us.

Best mystery

Selected by News critic Jane Dickinson

What Came Before He Shot Her, by Elizabeth George (Harper Collins, $26.95). In this unrelenting view of what poverty looks like today (getting enough to eat, it seems, is no longer the challenge), George's latest breaks out of the mystery genre to become an important novel about social justice. The London tale of 12-year-old Joel, abandoned with his two siblings to the care of a troubled aunt, leads up to the murder of a favorite George character and compels our attention and compassion. Gripping and intense, this is modern crime writing at its finest.

Coffee-table/gift books: Critics choose 10 sure-fire titles

Best pick for nature lovers

Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song, by Les Beletsky (Chronicle Books, $45)

This surprising book offers colorful illustrations of birds, juxtaposed with brief descriptions of each bird's habits - a conceit that would be nothing to write home about, if that's where it ended. But what makes this offering fly above a crowded book market is the audio device glued to the book's jacket. Push the button and you'll hear each bird's special song as clearly as if you were hiding out in the brush with a pair of binoculars. Final word: This adult educational toy, disguised as a book, will have you marveling at the uniqueness of every living thing and the startling, subtle joys of nature.

- Patti Thorn

Best pick for science lovers

Life, by Lennart Nilsson (Abrams, $45) In 1965, Life magazine published Nilsson's photo of a living human embryo on its cover. It was the first time such an early stage embryo had been captured on film and prompted a run on copies of the shot. More than 30 years later, Nilsson is still focusing his powerful electron microscope on life in its earliest stages. In these lush, incredibly detailed photographs, you'll see the intestinal organs of a newly born child; a heart at 24 days; a skin particle - even one of those controversial stem cells we've heard so much about. Each is its own work of art. And as for Nilsson's trademark fetus photos rendered here in brilliant tones: stunning is too mild a description. Final word: The Chicago Tribune once called Nilsson "The da Vinci of medical photography." The moniker still applies. - Patti Thorn

Best pick for baby boomers

Spy: The Funny Years, by Kurt Andersen and Graydon Carter (Miramax Books, $39.95)

It only lasted around three years, but Spy magazine's influence is felt now in ways too numerous to count: Let's just say that before Spy, "snark" was just a typo for "shark." This book details the magazine's short, sweet ride pumping out attitude along with hilarious features that took down top dogs like Donald Trump, Carl Bernstein, even Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. Densely packed, it includes reprints of favorite stories ("It's Yuppie Porn"; "My Kid Could Do That"), recollections from staffers and, yes, enough pages of "Separated at Birth" to justify the price. Final word: The Onion, The Daily Show, heck, even the lowliest blogger taking potshots at politicians owes a debt to Spy. An ad for the magazine reprinted here says it all: "Maybe someday the world really will be kinder and gentler. Until then, there's Spy."

- Patti Thorn

Best pick for history buffs

The Founding of the United States Experience 1763-1815 by Jerry and Janet Stouter (Ballantine, $50)

What was the typical dress of the American soldier? Where did the Liberty Bell come from? What was the oath of allegiance Continental Army soldiers were required to sign? It's all in this book tailor-made for American history buffs. The authors have gathered reams of minutiae - facts, maps, drawings, equipment lists - and packaged it in a tome that falls somewhere between encyclopedia and pop-up book. It spans the French-Indian Wars of the 1760s through the Jacksonian era, nearly every page with a pocket that reveals, say, a replica of the British plan of Boston or a copy of general orders written by George Washington or British General William Howe.Final word: If you equate education with a tactile experience, this is the book for you.

-Mike Pearson

Best pick for popular music lovers

U2 By U2, by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr. (Harper Collins, $39.95)

Admittedly, the Beatles did this book first and better with Anthology. Then again, the Beatles did Helter Skelter first as well, and U2's version was top-notch anyway. U2 By U2 follows the Anthology format - just the voices of the band members (along with manager Paul Guinness) describing every step of their career in deep (sometimes excessive) detail. Stuffed with dates, photos, song analysis, Red Rocks memories and personal details (guitarist The Edge addresses his daughter's recent illness for the first time), it's essential U2 reading. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. has a great quote near the end: "Personalities will not break up U2. Musical differences will not break up U2. We'll break up because somebody squeezed the toothpaste from the wrong end." Final word: No topic is off-limits here, and the endless hours of interviewing pay off with great narratives and insight into arguably the world's best band in 2006.

- Mark Brown

Best pick for photographers

A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005 by Annie Leibovitz (Random House, $75)

Leibovitz first made her name shooting pictures for Rolling Stone magazine in 1970. Nearly 40 years later she's one of the world's foremost photographers, with a palette that ranges from landscapes (Venice, New York, Egypt) to stunning portraits (remember the picture of a very pregnant Demi Moore on the cover of Vanity Fair?) A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005, isn't a career retrospective, but it captures Leibovitz at both her most expansive and intimate. The expansive part is her portraits of cultural icons - a pensive Mick Jagger in a hotel room, an aged Johhny Cash sitting on a weathered front porch - while the intimate focuses on the photographer's family and her relationship with long-time companion Susan Sontag. Sontag died of cancer in 2004, and Leibovitz chronicles her final years, up to and including her wake and her empty grave. Haunting? You bet, and powerful in a way that tells you how deeply the shooter cared about her subject. Sometimes these digital images do everything but weep. Final word: This is a big book, weighing nearly 10 pounds. The 300 photos are worth their weight in emotional gold.

- Mike Pearson

Best pick for sports fans

Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book (Sports Illustrated, $29.95)

Sports Illustrated calls this a "family photo album" for everyone linked by passion for this pastime, and it's certainly an extended family - from Babe Ruth to Ichiro Suzuki, with its share of dysfunctionals (Pete Rose to Barry Bonds). SI celebrates the game in words and, of course, spectacular photographs in this volume that leads off with the pre-1920s (each decade's section has 10 games you wish you'd seen, a short take on the cultural hallmarks of the time, who was born and who died, nicknames and news) and rounds the bases with pieces on the best team you never heard of, Cool Papa Bell, baseball's contributions to Hollywood and an all-time All-Star team that features three active players. Final word: Oil your glove; it'll put you in the mood for a catch.

- Mark Wolf

Best pick for those keen on Colorado

Colorado: A Breath Away From Heaven, by Andy Marquez (Castle Q. Publications, $39.95)

Every year around this time, photo books of Colorado mountains and wildflowers come pouring in like clockwork. Many make us yawn: Despite the splendor, we've seen these shots before. Not so, this offering from Marquez which often catches Colorado in a new light - literally. The scenes here are bathed in the shades that passing clouds offer: sometimes moody, sometimes magnificently unfettered and nearly always with a different slant than you've seen before. Marquez's photo of Hanging Lake is so quietly dramatic, he makes a row of icicles sing like a sonata. -Final word: Yes, the narrative is a little sappy, but if you're looking for a gift for someone who loves the mountains and doesn't already have a Colorado photo book on their coffee table, this is the year's best bet.

- Patti Thorn

Best pick for art lovers

A Year in Art: A Painting a Day (Prestel, $29.95)

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what would a painting a day keep away? Philistines? This hefty calendar book - hardbound and at least 2 inches thick - may not be the most portable way to keep track of the passing days, but it's certainly among the most educational and beautiful to look at. The opening quote from Pablo Picasso, whose work is scattered throughout the book, explains it all: "Painting is just another way of keeping a diary." The book pairs a painting with a sheet on which to record notes, appointments, and more. Though the choices tend to historical - no Damien Hirst here - they also to some extent reflect the season or celebration: Jasper John's 1954-55 Flag on July 4, for instance, and Gerrit van Honthorst's 1622 Adoration of the Shepherds on Dec. 25. Final word: I can't think of a better accessory for an art-lover with a well-mannered desk, a good eye, and an appreciation of quality.

- Mary Voelz Chandler

Best pick for nostalgia lovers

The Apron Book: Making, Wearing, and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort, by EllyAnne Geisel (Andrews McMeel, $16.95)

Confession: I'm about as likely to follow the instructions here and whip up an apron as I am to cook a 5-course meal. But just turning the pages of this book by Pueblo author Geisel brought me back to my grandmother's kitchen and a time when Ozzie and Harriet, not Will and Grace, were America's couple. Based on a traveling museum exhibit Geisel put together called "Apron Chronicles," this lovely book features reminiscences about favorite aprons of yesteryear, patterns for those who sew and, best of all, photo after photo of crisply ironed aprons of all types - including a leopard print number that proves there's more cookin' in some people's kitchens than tuna casserole. Final word: You can practically feel the love that went into this trip down memory lane. Like your mother's best layer cake, it's one to savor.

- Patti Thorn

New coffee-table books of local interest

Colorado: An Illustrated History of the Highest State, by Thomas J. Noel and Debra B. Faulkner (American Historical Press, $24.95).

Colorado's Hidden Wonders, by Grant Collier (Collier Publishing, $19.95).

Desert Light: A Photographer's Journey Through America's Desert Southwest, by John Annerino (Countryman Press, $29.95).