good books to you

Nothing says Christmas like The Wilder's Christmas show at the Reading Reptile. Full of 'ole timey music, corn pone humor, and family traditions. Yee Haw!

As to Christmas, and the soon-to-be New Year, Warrior Ant Press is releasing it's 2007 list of Pretty Good Books. These are books that captured our attention this year, or at least long enough for us to read them cover-to-cover. Not all of these books were published in 2007, that's just when WAP discovered them. We include them in our 2007 list, because a good book never goes out of style.

Here's fifteen books, in no particular order, and all of them are better than what's on television right now. Read one today.

Finn by Jon Clinch. Wow! No wonder Huck was a little conflicted. As politically incorrect as Twain as just as readable.

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell. 2006, Little, Brown, & Company. Nobody writes about the life of poor Ozark folk as well as Woodrell, and very few writers produce anything that even comes close to this level of storytelling.

A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports by Brian Synder. 2006, Viking Publishers. You think the public doesn't like Barry Bonds. It's nothing compared to what Flood had to endure when he decided to challenge the monopoly known as Major League Baseball. Flood should be in the Hall of Fame for the legacy of his efforts.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. 2006, Shaye Aerhart Books. A perfect holiday whodunit about going home and confronting the demons of the past.

What is what by Dave Eggers. If this harrowing tale of struggle and triumph doesn't make you stop whining about your difficult life, you should seriously contemplate finding a new therapist.

The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer. This book will make you forget the Kite Runner.

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. 2007, Harper Collins. Oiih! A Hard-boiled Jewish detective and his Tlingit sidekick try to solve a crime in the Alaskan noir.

Alice Waters & Chez Panisse. by Thomas McNamee. 2007, Penguin Press. You haven't heard the last of Alice Waters till you've been served this tome for dessert. After 35 years of cooking, her marks are still fresh on the plate and there's more to come.

You don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem. 2007, A book that simultaneously pokes fun at the art world AND romance. What's not to like?

Cross County by Robert Sullivan. 2006. A different sort of travelogue written as if Jack Kerouac had traveled the interstate with his wife and kids fueled by Dunkin' Donuts, truck stop coffee, and seedy motels.

Doubt: A parable by John Patrick Shanley. Shanley's 2005 play won the Pulitzer Prize. It still resonates in our celebrity culture of love/hate and guilty/not guilty. Jury duty coming up? Take this one to the court house and turn some heads.

the unbinding by Walter Kirn. 2006, Anchor Books. An internet novel - now in books!

Under the Sun by Arthur Dorros. 2004 Amulet Books. A boy makes his way through war to a place of hope.

meditations in green by Stephen Wright. 2003. Vintage Paperbacks. The best novel about Vietnam, since, well, Vietnam.

Theft, by Peter Carey. The stuff of paintings - Art world intrigue, romance, and deceit.

elsewhere:
a bitter man lives here
the wilders