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By
Published: 2006
Category: Beyond Classification [4]
HOLIDAYS 2006: Books
It can't be that time of the year already? I'm so unready. Didn't we just do this?
If you're like me, you're not quite in the mood for getting and spending. (A spiritual revelation? Another matter entirely. I, for one, am always up for that.)
The good news: You're not alone.
The better news: No one is expecting you to put a bow on a Porsche. (Unless, that is, you run a hedge fund, are an executive at an oil company, or play for the Yankees.) If they love you, they know reality's tricky these days and that the last thing you need is a bigger dent in your credit.
The best news: HeadButler.com has been around for two-and-a-half years. The archives are bulging. Somewhere in Butler's greatest hits is an affordable present for everyone on your list --- even he's as misanthropic as House, MD.
So....let's get to it. Today....books.
GREAT READS
Mildred Pierce [8]-- a loving mother, a spoiled daughter
Queen's Gambit [9] -- the "Rocky" of chess; enthralling
Goodbye, Columbus [10] -- college romance, Philip Roth's first success
Bel-Ami [11] -- an untalented stud makes it to the top
Bleak House [12] -- Dickens at his best
We Die Alone [13] -- World War II survival story
The Foreign Correspondent [14] -- Alan Furst's Frenchmen try to unsettle the Nazis
HARD TO PLEASE
Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin [15] -- a snootball favorite
It Might Have Been What He Said [16] -- a high-profile marriage splits open
The Four Just Men [17] -- a thriller that has you rooting for the bad guys (or are they good?)
The Garden of Eden [18] -- for the very sophisticated
Last Night [19] -- James Salter's most recent collection of arch, elegant stories
Santiago Calatrava [20] -- move over, Frank Gehry; here's the world's coolest architect
THRILLERS
Alan Furst [21] -- grown-up spies without the macho nonsense
Identity Theory [22] -- as scary a book as you'll ever read
The Four Just Men [17] -- brilliant anarchists vs.over-matched justice
The Tears of Autumn [23] -- who killed JFK?
CHILDREN
Roald Dahl gift set [24] -- 7-to-12 year-olds eat Dahl up
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! [25] -- a delight for toddlers
The Polar Express [26] -- the film was a bomb, the book is a Christmas ritual
HUMOR
The Dog Dialed 911 [27]-- embarrassing documents from SmokingGun.com
Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore [28] -- vengeance is mine, they said.
Sky Burial -- a Chinese wife's search for her husband in Tibet
A Sense of the World [30] -- the best traveler on the planet is...blind
And There Was Light [31] -- a leader of the French Resistance is...blind
PHOTOGRAPHY
Aftermath [32] -- Joel Meyerowitz's brilliant, hard-to-believe pictures of the World Trade Center site
Santiago Calatrava [33]
-- everyone's favorite new architect
U2 & I: The Photographs 1982-2004 [34] -- in case you haven't had your fill of Bono
THE GOOD LIFE
The Power of Style [35] -- women who re-invented themselves as icons of Society
740 Park [36] -- the richest building in New York
REFERENCE
Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right [37] --- be smarter, effortlessly
[38]
Atlas of the World [38] -- it is a small world after all, with this
THE ARTS
Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins [39] -- love dance? Broadway? This book is a knockout
TOTALLY HIP
Dora Lives: The Authorized Story of Miki Dora [40] -- surfer, thief, just don't call him a role model
Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond [41] -- the coolest sax player and his tormented life
The Fabulous Sylvester [42] -- the glory and wisdom of the disco queen
TRAVEL
Wallpaper City Guides [43] -- 18 cities. Pick one. Go.
FOOD & WINE
Life is Meals: A Food Lover's Book of Days [44] -- meals and memories from the Salters
Setting the Table [45] -- memoirs of Danny Meyer, NYC's favorite restaurateur
My Life in France [46] -- Julia Child, at her tastiest
Between Meals [47] --
the culinary education of the great A.J. Liebling
Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers [48]
Bistro Cooking [49] --- bottom's up!
Oldman's Guide To Outsmarting Wine [50] -- know it all, save a fortune
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking [51] -- Marcella Hazan's classic
MONEY
The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need [52] -- Andrew Tobias explains it all for you
Poker as Life: 101 Lessons from the World's Greatest Game [53] -- the alternative route to prosperity
FRANCE
Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin [15] -- exploits of a "gentleman burglar"
Alan Furst [21] -- stylish spy thrillers, set on the eve of World War II
Simple Passion [54] -- the story of a mistress
[55]
Christmas in Paris, 2002 [55] -- a week of shopping, editing and thinking, as the Iraq War looms
A Sport and a Pastime [56] -- sex and surrender in the countryside
The Garden of Eden [18] -- Ernest Hemingway's "dirty" book
Artists in Residence: A Guide to the Homes and Studios of Eight 19th-Century Painters In and Around Paris [57] -- a lovely guide to a special tour
Honore de Balzac [58] -- the greatest writer on society; nothing's changed
Provence A-Z [59] -- Peter Mayle's guide to the South of France
Bel Ami [11] -- Guy de Maupassant's masterpiece about sex and ambition
[57]C'est La Vie [60] -- an American widow starts over in France