Gift ideas for readers, 2008

See what the library staff is recommending in our annual Books Librarians Give list!

Not enough ideas for you?  Check our our lists from 2007, 2006, and 2005.

And here’s more:

Greater Boston (WGBH-TV)’s list of holiday books (and movies), with local authors and Mary Cotton from Newtonville Books–video of the show is here.

The Books of ‘08 from WBUR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

NPR has a whole page of “Best Books” lists, covering booksellers’ picks, fiction, crime & mystery novels, graphic novels, foreign fiction, cookbooks, and more.

And Book Group Buzz has a roundup of a few more lists here.

Interestingly, none of these lists overlap very much, demonstrating that there’s a great book out there for everyone!

Books make great gifts?  Why?  Read more here (with more gift book ideas, too!).

Do you have holiday gift favorites?  Click here to comment and add your own suggestions!

Happy reading!

The FDR books Obama reads

What’s on President-elect Obama’s nightstand?  When he mentioned reading a new book about Franklin Roosevelt in a recent “60 Minutes” interview, everyone wondered what he meant.  The New York Times has the full investigative results here.  

For the record, the library owns all the books mentioned in the Times article, sometimes also in large print, paperback, and/or audio.

The Books of Summer

Here are some lists to give you ideas:

NPR’s Summer Books page
WBUR’s On Point, Summer 2008 Book Suggestions
Boston Globe’s “Quirky” Summer Reads
BookPage’s Summer Reading list
Top Authors Pick Best Summer Books, from CNN.com
USA Today’s 2008 Summer Books
Salon.com’s Summer Reads
New York Observer’s Books of Summer
From RealSimple magazine, Best Summer Books and More Great Summer Reads 

And a great list of lists (including some of the above) from the Worth Reading blog.

Do you need gift book suggestions?

See our 8th annual holiday book list, with suggestions from Newton Free Library staff.  Titles include fiction, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, biography/memoir, and a long list of suggestions for children.For other ideas, see last year’s gift book list, found on our bibliographies page.

And for still more ideas, see what Mary Cotton of Newtonville Books suggests in the Newton Tab.

A great source for book news!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would you like to keep up with the latest buzz and know which books were reviewed on TV and radio?  Subscribe by email to the “Books on the Air” newsletter from BookLetters.  You’ll receive a weekly email with information and catalog links for books reviewed on the Today Show, the Tavis Smiley Show, Oprah, Charlie Rose and NPR, among others.

You can subscribe by choosing “BookLetters” from the “Books and Reading” page on our website, and clicking on the link to sign up for an email newsletter.  Other newsletters are also available, and you can preview any of them by clicking on the title.

More summer reading ideas!

Recommended summer reading from WGBH-TV’s “Greater Boston,” with Emily Rooney.  Click on the “watch video” link at the bottom of the page to view the video segment filmed at Newtonville Books with picks from Mary Cotton.

Start Your Summer Reading!

Need ideas?  Check out these links!

NPR’s 2007 Summer Books page
“Talk of the Nation”’s Summer Reading List
Summer Book Suggestions from WBUR’s “On Point”
Summer Reading picks from Gail Caldwell of the Boston Globe
A roundup of new books and reissues being publised this summer, from the Los Angeles Times

For children and young adults, Summer reading suggestions from the Horn Book
For middle and high schoolers, Summer reading lists from local schools

What do the Presidential candidates read?

The Associated Press has asked current Presidential candidates questions aimed at revealing their “personal side.”  What was the last book of fiction they read?  Political thrillers were popular, and Grisham got two votes.  Some can’t (or chose not to) distinguish non-fiction from fiction; some tried to cutely score political points.  Dennis Kucinich chose a book by Alan Lightman, an MIT professor from the Boston area.  Here’s the full list:

DEMOCRATS

Biden: “Runaway Jury” by John Grisham.

Clinton: “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Dodd: “The Broker” by John Grisham.

Edwards: “Exile” by Richard North Patterson.

Kucinich: “Einstein’s Dreams” by Alan Lightman.

Obama: “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson.

Richardson: “The administration’s energy plan.”

REPUBLICANS

Brownback: “The Dream Giver” by Bruce Wilkinson with David and Heather Kopp.

Giuliani: “The Beach House” by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge.

Huckabee: “My oldest son’s screenplay.”

Hunter: “The Democrats’ proposal to balance the budget.”

McCain: “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway.

Romney: “Term Limits” by Vince Flynn.

Tancredo: “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore.

Books for You Recommended Titles

Our database of “Books for You” recommended titles is now online!  Browse any fiction or non-fiction category and see what we’ve been recommending.  This list will be updated regularly as we add titles.

If you would like us to create a personalized list for you, our Books for You service is still available.  Fill out our online questionnaire and we will respond with suggestions tailored to your interests.

Presidential Candidates 2008 as Authors: A Booklist

From ricklibrarian, a great booklist of books written by current Presidential candidates.  It’s a long list!