Our candidates for the Year's Best Reads

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	China  •  Paula Regan CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2007 •  HARD COVER  • 355 PAGES With chapters on the landscapes, history, people, culture and architecture, this lavishly illustrated book opens with a series of stunning double-page photographs of mountains, plains, rivers and forests of China. The illustrated timeline is equally as good, the absorbing profiles of diverse individuals fascinating and the choice historic and modern buildings profiles in the section on architecture outstanding. Produced by the editors at DK with their usual care. (CHN453, $40.00)
	In Europe, A Journey Through the Twentieth Century  •  Geert Mak HISTORY •  2008 •  PAPER  • 896 PAGES Dutch journalist Mak's big, bold account of Europe on the threshold of the 21st century bridges travel, journalism and history. He reports from Lisbon and Helsinki to Moscow, Istanbul, the D-day beaches and other momentous sites, deftly profiling the people and events that have defined modern Europe. (EUR254, $20.00)
	Marco Polo, From Venice to Xanadu  •  Laurence Bergreen BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2007 •  HARD COVER  • 448 PAGES The celebrated biographer of Magellan, James Agee and Al Capone takes a crack at Marco Polo, covering not only his expeditions -- and his encounters with Kublai Khan -- in detail, but also his youth and later years, when his writing catapulted him to 13th-century celebrity status. (EXP49, $28.95)
	The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys, Great Writers on Great Places  •  Klara Glowczewska ANTHOLOGY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES Published on the 20th anniversary of Conde Nast Traveler, this anthology expertly edited and with an introduction by Klara Gloweczeka features 21 transporting tales by Simon Winchester, Pico Iyer, William Dalrymple, Patricia Storace, Edna O'Brien, Jan Morris and other favorite writers. (TVL127, $16.00)
	Shadow of the Silk Road  •  Colin Thubron TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES The author of a string of remarkable travel accounts, Thubron -- now in his sixties and as intrepid as ever -- recounts an epic, 7,000-mile trek across the Silk Road from Xi'an to Eastern Turkey in this lyrical, erudite portrait, encompassing Dunhuang, Samarkand and Bukhara, Afghanistan and Iran. (CAS133, $15.95)
	Away, A Novel  •  Amy Bloom LITERATURE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES Bloom's marvelous fifth novel draws from the real-life particulars of Lillian Leyb, a remarkable Russian immigrant who, settled in New York, took off across America, determined to walk to Siberia and reunite with her young daughter. Bloom draws the reader into 1920s Yiddishkeit New York, Chicago, rough-and-tough Seattle, the Alaskan wilderness in this tender, absorbing tale. The reviewer in Publisher's Weekly raved, "Encompassing prison, prostitution and poetry, Yiddish humor and Yukon settings, Bloom's tale offers linguistic twists, startling imagery, sharp wit and a compelling vision of the past. Bloom has created an extraordinary range of characters, settings and emotions. Absolutely stunning." (USA162, $14.00)
	Planet Earth, The Complete Series  •  David Attenborough  •   BBC NATURAL HISTORY •  2007 •  DVD  • 5 PAGES The complete 11-part series as broadcast on BBC and narrated by David Attenborough on five discs: From Pole to Pole, Mountains, Fresh Water, Caves, Deserts, Ice Worlds, Great Plains, Jungles, Shallow Seas, Seasonal Forests, and Ocean Deep. This is the original series, not the U.S. adaptation with narration by Sigourney Weaver. Alastair Fothergill and the makers of The Blue Planet present the epic story of life on Earth. Five years in production, over 2000 days in the field, using 40 cameramen across 200 locations, this is a stunning portrait of our planet. (NAT122, $79.98)
	The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World  •  Lucette Lagnado BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2008 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES A Wall Streeet Journal reporter, Lagnado evokes not just the extraordinary life of her marvelously social father (the "boulevardier of Cairo), but also the now-vanished world of Cario before Gamal Abdel Nasser and the exodus of the Jews. Landing eventually in Brooklyn in the 1960s, it's the nightclubs, markets, synagogues, cemetaries and wheeling-dealing of colonial Cairo that animated her father Leon. (EGY215, $14.95)
	Birds of Peru  •  Tom Schulenberg  •  Dan Stotz  •  John O'Neill  •  Dan Lane FIELD GUIDE •  2007 •  HARD COVER  • 604 PAGES The much-anticipated authoritative field guide by Schulenberg and colleagues at the Field Museum in Chicago, this comprehensive guide, featuring 304 color plates by Dan Lane, covers all 1,792 species of birds recorded in Peru, nearly one-fifth of the world's total. This is the massive project initiated by the much-loved (and dearly missed) Ted Parker. The guide will also be useful for much of western South America, including southeastern Colombia, southern Ecuador, western Brazil, Bolivia, and northern Chile. (PRU55, $49.50)
	Make the Most of Your Time on Earth, A Rough Guide to the World  •  Rough Guides GUIDEBOOK •  2007 •  PAPER  • 608 PAGES The savvy editors at Rough Guides celebrate 25 years with this sumptuously illustrated, essential roundup of remarkable, not-to-be-missed activities, experiences and adventures around the world. (WLD100, $29.99)
	In Spite of the Gods, The Strange Rise of Modern India  •  Edward Luce HISTORY •  2008 •  PAPER  • 346 PAGES Edward Luce tackles the challenges and reality of the world's largest democracy with insight and balance in this stimulating portrait of a nation in transition. Luce, Delhi-based Financial Times's South Asia bureau chief from 2001-2005, married to his college sweetheart who is Indian, considers India his second home. (IDA349, $14.95)
	Four Seasons in Rome  •  Anthony Doerr TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES Awarded a fellowship at the American Academy, Doerr moves Shauna and six-month-old Owen and Harry to Rome, a place where they had never been -- and a lovely excuse for this lyrical, sharply drawn memoir. A novelist and short story writer, Doerr captures the romance and challenge of living aboard with a writer's eye and dazzling prose. (ITL840, $14.00)
	A Thousand Splendid Suns  •  Khaled Hosseini LITERATURE •  2007 •  HARD COVER  • 384 PAGES Khaled Hosseini's hugely anticipated sequel to The Kite Runner. Like the runaway bestseller, this second novel by the Afghan-American is set in Afghanistan during a time of turmoil. He follows the fate, lives and loves of two young women over three decades during the period of Soviet Occupation. (CAS146, $25.95)
	Tales from the Torrid Zone, Travels in the Deep Tropics  •  Alexander Frater TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES Alexander Frater (Chasing the Monsoon) steers away from polar climes and snowy wilderness, comfortably confining himself to the wide zone between the Topic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Born in Vanuatu of British missionary stock, he's at home among scattered islands and tropical outposts, hop-scotching from the Solomon Islands to the Marquesas and Galapagos to the Caribbean, East Africa and Madagascar, and across the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Papua New Guinea and Australia. (PAC172, $14.95)
	Love Mumbai  •   Love Travel Guides GUIDEBOOK •  2007 •  BOXED  • 160 PAGES A Hand-Book for the Luxury Vagabond. Rather remarkable, this hand-crafted book, presented in its own satchel of locally woven silk, is not just beautiful, it is also a loving, personal guide to favorite shops and spas, weekend escapes, restaurants and experiences in and around the city. This is a new venture of Fiona Caulfield, inspired by her own quest for the authentic, local and interesting. (IDA389, $40.00)

	A Late Dinner, Discovering the Food of Spain  •  Paul Richardson   • FOOD  •  A resident of Spain for the last 15 years, Richardson searches out the diversity and delight of Spain and its food in this engaging account of travels in search of a meal. (SPN344, $24.00)
	Food, The History of Taste  •  Paul Freedman   • FOOD  •  Editor Paul Freedman and diverse scholars celebrate the history and pleasure of food in this richly illustrated history, illuminating the gustatory pleasures of classical antiquity; contributions of the Islamic World the Arabian desert, Persia, and Byzantium; the cuisine of the Middle Ages and Renaissance; cross-cultural exchanges upon the discovery of the New World; the ascendance of France and fine dining; and evolution of modern agriculture and contemporary restaurant dining. (GEN395, $39.95)
	China Road, A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power  •  Rob Gifford   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  NPR's Gifford writes with warmth and affection of his encounters with truckers, small farmers and regular folk along fabled Route 312 from Shanghai to the border with Kazakhstan. (CHN433, $17.00)
	Five Germanys I Have Known  •  Fritz Stern   • HISTORY  •  Professor Stern brings his intellect, experience and insight to this tremendous book on 20th-century Germany and it multiple transformations. (GER173, $15.00)
	Getting Wet, Adventures in the Japanese Bath  •  Eric Talmadge   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Tokyo-based Talmadge journeys from seaside resorts to mountain retreats and megaplexes in this cultural history of Japan through the tradition of the bath. (JPN197, $22.00)
	Ghosts of Spain  •  Giles Tremlett   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Long-time Guardian correspondant Tremlett writes with nuance and flair in this engaging portrait of Spain, its people and recent history. (SPN323, $16.95)
	Indian Summer, The Secret History of the End of an Empire  •  Alex Von Tunzelmann   • HISTORY  •  Von Tunzelmann sets her tale of well-born Dickie Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, his wife Edwina, the attentive Nehu and other personalities of the time against the dramatic backdrop of Indian independence. (IDA385, $30.00)
	The Coldest Winter, America and the Korean War  •  David Halberstam   • HISTORY  •  In a powerful new history of the Korean War, Pulitzer-winning Halberstam combines research, detail and reportorial skill miscalculations of General Douglas MacArthur, (KOR34, $35.00)
	The Door of No Return, The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade  •  William St. Clair   • HISTORY  •  St. Clair draws on correspondence, government records, artifacts and ship's logs for this intimate, absorbing history of the British slave trade and portrait of life at Ghana's Cape Coast Castle, a World Heritage Site. (WAF116, $24.95)
	The Last Mughal, The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857  •  William Dalrymple   • HISTORY  •  The riveting tale of the poet, mystic and Mughal Emperor Shah Zafar II, culminating in the 1857 Indian Rebellion. (IDA350, $16.95)
	St. Peter's  •  Keith Miller   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  Miller traces in enthusiastic, succint detail the evolution od St. Peter's from its original incarnation, built on the orders of Emperor Constantine, to its medieval rebirth and additions by Michelangelo, Bernini, and Maderno in this history, guide and celebration of the great baroque basilica. One in a growing series of marvelous Wonders of the World publsihed by Harvard University Press. (ITL886, $19.95)
	A Naturalist and Other Beasts, Tales from a Life in the Field  •  George B. Schaller   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  In this absorbing memoir the eminent zoologist writes with authority and affection of his many field expeditions over a long career in conservation, including his time among the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, snow leopards in Nepal and his groundbreaking work on giant pandas in Sichuan. (NAT119, $24.95)
	A Pig in Provence  •  Georgeanne Brennan   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  Marvelously frank about daily chores and the decidedly unglamorous business of raising goats and pigs, Brennan lards her earthy tale of the rural life with recipes, one per chapter. (FRN687, $13.00)
	Down the Nile, Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff  •  Rosemary Mahoney   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  With Edwardian river travelers as her inspiration, Mahoney hires a rowboat and sets forth on a 120-mile journey in this engaging tale. (EGY207, $23.99)
	Grammar Lessons, Translating a Life in Spain  •  Michele Morano   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  Morano reflects on the humor, challenge and thrill of living in a new language in these 13 essays on travel, grammar and search for self. (SPN345, $22.50)
	In Arabian Nights, A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams  •  Tahir Shah   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  Shah (The Caliph's House) weaves his own family tradition of storytelling with commentary on Moroccan spiritual traditions, culture and history in this account of his adopted home on the sea in Casablanca. (MRC80, $24.00)
	Other Colors, Essays and a Story  •  Orhan Pamuk   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  The Nobel Prize-winner displays his wit, warmth, and far-ranging interests in this revealing collection of essays and interviews. With Pamuk's photographs, drawings and paintings. (TKY159, $27.95)
	Slicing the Silence, Voyaging to Antarctica  •  Tom Griffiths   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  Griffiths, a humanities fellow with the Australian Antarctic Division, weaves anecdote, profile, history, science and adventure into a rich, illuminating portrait of Antarctica. (ANT261, $29.95)
	Stanley, The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer  •  Tim Jeal   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  In this grand biography, drawing on previously unavailable family archives, Jeal spins a surprising, revisionist tale of a life of tragedy, adventure, disappointment and success. (AFR198, $38.00)
	The Far Traveler, Voyages of a Viking Woman  •  Nancy Marie Brown   • EXPLORATION  •  Brown's intriguing account of the life of the young Viking woman Gudrid sheds light on early Norse settlements in Iceland, Newfoundland and beyond. It's an archaeological mystery, a history of ancient seamanship and a biography all rolled into one. (VIK26, $25.00)
	The Fragile Edge, Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific  •  Julia Whitty   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  Whitty's memoir of adventures underwater and travel in Rangiroa, Tuvalu and Moorea weaves impressions and philosophy with an account of coral reef ecology and Polynesian peoples. (PAC173, $14.95)
	The Geography of Bliss, One Grump's Search For the Happiest Places in the World  •  Eric Weiner   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  NPR corespondent Weiner's hilarious, well-informed and surprisingly profound tale of a quest in search of what makes us happy. (GEN430, $25.99)
	The Wall, Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain  •  Peter Sis   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • FAMILY  •  With his usual flair and attention to detail, illustrator Peter Sis deftly sketches the events, experiences and history of his youth in Prague. (CZH78, $18.00)
	The Zookeeper's Wife, A War Story  •  Diane Ackerman   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  A marvelous storyteller, Ackerman recalls madcap, bohemian Warsaw before WWII, the devastation of the city by Nazi bombs in 1939, the horrors of the holocaust and heroic efforts in the resistance in this moving tale of Antonina and Jan Zabinski, directors of Warsaw Zoo. (PLD70, $24.95)
	Timbuktu, The Sahara's Fabled City of Gold  •  Marq de Villiers  •  Sheila Hirtle   • EXPLORATION  •  The husband-and-wife duo spin a lively tale of founding myths, Tuareg traditions, Moroccan invasions and the fate of the city as a center of trade and learning in this anecdotal history. The authors have also written Sahara (NAF13, $14.00). (WAF113, $25.95)
	Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton  •  Sara Wheeler   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  Wheeler captures the romance, adventure and personalities of 1920s-era East Africa in this winning biography of the handsome gadabout, daring bush pilot and companion of Baroness Blixen and Beryl Markham. An eloquent advocate of conservation, Finch Hatton had not just charisma but also substance. (EAF172, $27.95)
	Travels With Herodotus  •  Ryszard Kapuscinski   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  In this most personal book, and his last, the great Polish journalist and writer weaves tales of his youthful encounters in India, China, Egypt, Congo, Iran and Ethiopia with a meditation on Herodotus. (MED106, $14.95)
	Walking the Gobi  •  Helen Thayer   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  At the age of 63, Helen Thayer and her 74-year-old husband trekked on camel across Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Here, she recaptures the experience, seamlessly weaving within it a portrait of the nomadic cultures of the Gobi and the region's natural history. (MGL56, $23.95)
	When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, A Memoir of Africa  •  Peter Godwin   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  A superb writer, Godwin draws on his family history, politics and his many trips back home to Zimbabwe in this powerful memoir. (ZMB07, $24.99)
	Angry Island, Hunting the English  •  A. Gill   • ANTHOLOGY  •  A comic owner's manual to the English by a splendidly irreverent London critic. Gill includes scathing chapters on voice, humor, drink (I am an alcoholic), animals, garden, sport and class. (GBR715, $24.00)
	The Best Travel Writing 2007, True Stories from Around the World  •  Larry Habegger  •  James O'Reilly  •  Sean O'Reilly   • ANTHOLOGY  •  Paul Theroux, Rory Stewart, Karin Miller and Michel Moushabeck are all represented in this inspiring collection of 27 terrific tales. (TVL136, $16.95)
	After Dark  •  Haruki Murakami   • LITERATURE  •  Set entirely between midnight and dawn over one long night in Tokyo, musicians, prostitutes, salaryman and students meet and mingle to haunting effect in Haruki Murakami's short cinematic novel. (JPN251, $13.95)
	Call Me by Your Name  •  Andre Aciman   • LITERATURE  •  Aciman captures the lazy, languorous days and nights on the Mediterranean in this gay coming-of-age story set on the Italian Riviera. (ITL828, $23.00)
	Dancing to Almendra  •  Mayra Montero   • MYSTERY  •  Montero weaves real people and events with invention in this compelling tale marvelously set in 1957 Havana of the advantures of Yolanda a beautiful, one-armed former circus performer. (CBA107, $25.00)
	In the Country of Men  •  Hisham Matar   • LITERATURE  •  This hauntingly beautiful short novel, set in Tripoli in wake of Khadafy's 1969 revolution, shows the bewilderment and fear of the Libyan people through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy. (NAF53, $22.00)
	Mister Pip  •  Lloyd Jones   • LITERATURE  •  Jones sets his poignant tale of children, teachers and the transcendent power of storytelling in the midst of the 1990s civil war in Bougainville that pitched the islanders against the government of Papua New Guinea. He spins magic with gunfire and Great Expectations. (PNG22, $12.00)
	Sea of Poppies  •  Amitav Ghosh   • LITERATURE • COMING IN OCTOBER  •  The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, the exotic backstreets of China. A masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists. (IDA529, $26.00)
	Shadow Country  •  Peter Matthiessen   • LITERATURE  •  Matthiessen revisits and reworks his tale of Florida sugarcane farmer and infamous murderer Edgar J. Watson in this reprise of his classic trilogy Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man's River and Bone by Bone. (FLA72, $40.00)
	The Adventures of Amir Hamza  •  Musharraf Ali Farooqi   • LITERATURE  •  A deft new translation of the rip-roaring tales of the storied life and fabulous exploits of the Prophet Mohammad's uncle Hamza. (IDA391, $45.00)
	The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  •  Junot Diaz   • LITERATURE  •  The Dominican-born New Yorker's long-awaited multi-layered tale of the hopes and dreams and tumult of the hugely overweight, hopelessly confused young New Jerseyite of the title. Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. (CRB213, $24.95)
	The Elephanta Suite  •  Paul Theroux   • LITERATURE  •  In each of these interconnected novellas, an unwitting visitor to India is transformed by the experience in unexpected ways. (IDA382, $25.00)
	The Invention of Hugo Cabret  •  Brian Selznick   • LITERATURE • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)  •  This imaginative novel brings to life the adventures of a young orphan on the streets of Paris in the 1903s through an artful blend of text, sketches and illustrations. Ages 9-12. (FRN731, $22.99)
	The Tenderness of Wolves  •  Stef Penney   • LITERATURE  •  Penney evocatively sets her Costa Award-winning debut novel -- murder mystery, historical novel and family epic -- in 19th-century Canada's snowy north. (CND293, $25.00)
	The Yiddish Policemen's Union  •  Michael Chabon   • LITERATURE  •  Chabon's marvelous and wildly imaginative detective story is set in Alaska, but not an Alaska that anyone would recognize. It's Sitka gone Eastern Europe, filled with Jews saved from the holocaust and refugees from an Israel that never was. (ALA243, $15.95)
	Amazing Rare Things, The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery  •  David Attenborough   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  An exquisite selection of 160 natural history drawings and watercolors. (NAT132, $37.50)
	Antarctica, The Global Warning  •  Sebastian Copeland  •  Mikhail Gorbachev  •  Leonardo di Caprio   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  Copeland's atmospheric, full-page photographs of ice, mountains and sea are glorious -- and his argument that Antarctica is a barometer of climatic change is timely. (ANT255, $55.00)
	Galapagos, The Islands That Changed the World  •  Paul D. Stewart   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  Stewart and co-authors, associated with the BBC natural history unit, present the natural and human history of the islands in this wide-ranging, beautifully illustrated book, the companion to the BBC series. (GPS78, $29.95)
	Galapagos, The Islands That Changed the World  •  Paul D. Stewart   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  This stunning three-part BBC documentary captures the rugged beauty, allure, wildlife and history of the archipelago like never before. Only available in North American format. (GPS79, $19.98)
	Planet Earth, As You've Never Seen It Before  •  Alastair Fothergill   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  A sumptuous, oversize celebration of the diversity of life on Earth, this gorgeous coffee-table book features the dazzling, never-seen-before photography of the ballyhooed series. (CON35, $39.95)
	Planet Earth, The Complete Series High Definition  •  Alastair Fothergill   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  With tantalizing footage of snow leopards, polar bears and other wonders, many never before recorded on film, this extraordinary series delivers on its promise of the Earth as You've Never See it Before. Five years in the making, it was shot entirely in breathtaking high definition. (NAT137, $99.98)
	Sky Time in Gray's River  •  Robert Michael Pyle   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  Taking the form of a closely observed country year, this quiet book is an ode to the natural history of Gray's River, a half-forgotten village near the mouth of the Columbia River. (PNW209, $13.95)
	The Animal Dialogues, Uncommon Encounters in the Wild  •  Craig Childs   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  NPR radio commentator, naturalist and adventurer Childs (Crossing Paths) tells of meetings with wildlife of western North America in these absorbing essays. (NAT135, $24.99)
	Peruvian Wildlife, A Visitor's Guide to the Central Andes  •  Barry Walker  •  Huw Lloyd  •  Gerard Cheshire   • FIELD GUIDE  •  Written by resident bird legend Barry Walker and colleagues, this accessible, slim guide introduces the habitats, plants, birds, and animals of the high Andes with authority. Thoroughly illustrated, it's not exactly an indetification guide but rather an illuminating overview of the natural history of a fascinating, biologically diverse region. (PRU71, $26.99)

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