Frostie the Deadman

Here is a trailer for the young adult novel Frostie the Deadman by Zackary Richards. It's an excellent read.

Best books of the year

As many of you know, I'm a book junkie. And it being December, sites are putting out their 'best books of the year' lists. Here are some...

New York Times'
-Best children's books

-Best books



The Christian Science Monitor's
-Best non-fiction books

-Best novels

-Best children's books

-Best short stories


The best I've read this year...
Non-fiction: The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart by Bill Bishop. Probably one of the two or three most insightful works of non-fiction I've ever read. If you want to understand why divisiveness has exploded in this country and why actual dialogue about politics has virtually vanished, this book goes a long way to explaining why.

Fiction: The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini. I usually avoid best sellers (and clichés) like the plague, especially in fiction. This is based on the premise that such books need a certain lowest common denominator effect in order to gain mass appeal. But this novel is actually lived up to the hype.

Young adult fiction: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. A compelling novel about two outsiders that's just strange enough to grab your interest but never degenerates into predictable coming-of-age cheesiness.

Readers, feel free to leave your own recommendations.