Wish List

Part of my dilemma is the ever-growing list of books that I want to read--the following are just a few of those that I hope to complete in the near future. I'd love any recommendations you might have--things I should take off my list, move to the top, add, etc.!

1. Heroes of the Valley (2009) by Jonathan Stroud (Author of the Bartimaeus Trilogy, which I loved). "An epic fantasy thriller, featuring murder, revenge and a slightly diminutive protagonist."

2. Guys Write for Guys Read (2005) edited by Jon Scieszka (Author of the Time Warp Trio Series). "Features brief contributions from scores of heavyweight authors and illustrators like Walter Dean Myers, Dan Gutman, Chris Crutcher, Avi, Brian Jacques, Dav Pilkey, Stephen King, Daniel Pinkwater, Jerry Spinelli, Will Hobbs, Chris Van Allsburg, Laurence Yep, and frequent collaborator Lane Smith. If there's one overarching theme here, it's the simple but important message: read what you like, when you like, whatever that happens to be."

3. People of the Book (2008) by Geraldine Brooks (Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March). "One of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. In the hands of Hanna Heath, an impassioned rare-book expert restoring the manuscript in 1996 Sarajevo, it yields clues to its guardians and whereabouts: an insect wing, a wine stain, salt crystals, and a white hair."

4. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2007) by Malcolm Gladwell (Author of The Tipping Point). "Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior."