WKSU Reading list


Karen R. Long
book editor at The Plain Dealer

Her article on Gift Books:

Fiction Books
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

Dear Life: Stories
by Alice Munro

What Happened to Sophie Wilder
by Christopher Beha

We Sinners: A Novel
by Hanna Pylväinen

The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel by Adam Johnson

Beautiful Ruins: A Novel
by Jess Walters

This Is How You Lose Her
by Junot Díaz

I am leaning to these titles in best 2012 nonfiction:

Fraternity: In 1968, a visionary priest recruited 20 black men to the College of the Holy Cross and changed their lives and the course of history. by Diane Brady

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen

Swimming Studies
by Leanne Shapton

Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon

All We Know: Three Lives
by Lisa Cohen

The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro

Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story by Jim Holt (also on gift guide)

2013 Releases

The Flamethrowers: A Novel -- out in April -- by Rachel Kushner, who wrote the brilliant novel Telex from Cuba: A Novel
Telex from Cuba in 2008

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright, his nonfiction book about Scientology, out Jan 17. Wright wrote the landmark The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 about the build up to 9-11.

Liz Murphy
owner of The Learned Owl Book Shop

Gift Books

Dancers Among Us: A Celebration of Joy in the Everyday: A Celebration of Joy in the Everyday, by Jordan Matter. Matter, a photographer, took a troupe of professional dancers and put them into everyday situations - racing to catch a train on a platform, being tossed in the air in the surf; leaping for joy at a baseball game - the results are fantastic, and hard to resist. There is a short video that shows HOW he got some of the shots - how many times the two male dancers had to throw the female into the air in the surf before he got the right shot. A perfect gift for anyone who loves life…needs a lift…or a smile.

Love You When...
by Linda Kranz. Kranz combines art and words to let the receiver of this small gift book know that the giver loves them at every moment during the day. And I am giving it to everyone I love!

Safari: A Photicular Book
book from Workman Publishers.
As you turn each page, the animal moves, and the page above is full of information about the animal, its habitat & habits. Good for anyone age 8-88 who wants to know more about animals in the wild.

The Lands of Ice and Fire
(maps offering a definitive dragon’s-eye view of the lands from George RR Martin’s Songs of Ice & Fire saga, perfect for any Game of Thrones fan.

Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy pop-up genius Matthew Reinhart. Not your basic

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power – we are selling dozens already!



Best of 2012

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend: A Novel. Unique, delightful & wholly absorbing. Bring your Kleenex.

Religion/self-help: Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. Lamott prays just like I do, figuring God is there listening no matter how you phrase things. I hope God doesn’t mind that I talk to him like a friend.

Young Adult/reading level: A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle and Wonder by RJ Palacio.

These are just my picks – The whole Learned Owl staff has just put together a list of all their favorite books of 2012 – available on our a href="www.learnedowl.com">website.

Coming in 2013

Me Before You: A Novel


The House at the End of Hope Street: A Novel Menna van Praag

Jessica Donaghy
Features Editor, GoodReads(www.goodreads.com)

Gift books for the Holiday Season

For the literary-minded: In the Shadow of the Banyan: A Novel by Vaddey Ratner

For the teen who is sick of vampires and wants something real: Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein

For readers who want more Hunger Games: Wool, by by Elizabeth Wein