LAST EDITED ON 12-02-02 AT 01:09 AM (EST)

Finishing up the year with some real winners here!

1. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920) * winner of a Pulitzer and well worth your time.
2. Keepers of the Kingdom: The Ancient Offices of Britain by Alastair Bruce, photographs by Julian Calder and Mark Cator (1999) * oh those Brits and their penchant for titles, how would you like to be the official Washer of the Sovereign's Hands or Queen's Swan Marker?
3. Grace Notes by Rita Dove (1991) * poems from one of America's Poets Laureate.
4. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Loren Katz (1997) * yep, many escaped slaves found homes among the Native Americans; for younger readers and everyone else actually.
5. Green on Capri by Shirley Hazzard (2000) * memoir.
6. The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault translated by Neil Philip and Nicoletta Simborowski, illustrated by Sally Holmes (1697; 1993).
7. The Two Brothers: A Legend of Jerusalem by Neil Waldman (1997) * uplifting story for all ages (well, 4 and up).
8. Best American Short Stories edited by Garrison Keillor (1998).
9. The Philospher's Pupil by Iris Murdoch (1978) * you'll have to check your library or used bookstore for this gem.
10. Mansfield Park by Jane Austin (1814).
11. The Lady Cornaro by Jane Howard Guernsey (1999) * about the first woman in Europe to receive a Ph.D.
12. Where Is Joe Merchant? by Jimmy Buffet (1993) * yep, that Jimmy Buffet!
13. Southern Christmas: Literary Classics of the Holidays edited by Judy Long and Thomas Payton (1998).
14. Michelangelo: The Complete Sculpture, Painting, Architecture by William E. Wallace (1998).
15. Bob Bridges: An Apocalyptic Fable by Penny Perkins (1999) * cockroach from the future visits modern man to solve a problem, what more needs to be said?
16. Lying on the Couch by Irvin D. Yalom (1997) * thriller.
17. Classic Fiction of the Harlem Renaissance edited by William L. Andrews (1994).
18. Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze by Kenneth Robeson (1933) * the Superman from Earth in his first adventure.
19. Bloomsbury and France: Art and Friends by Mary Ann Caws and Sarah Bird Wright (1999).
20. The London Monsters: A Sanguinary Tale by Jan Bondeson (2000) 8 for fans of Ripper era London.
21. The Great Feud: The Campbells & the MacDonalds by Oliver Thomson (2000) * ah, those funloving Scots and their rivalries.
22. The Last Amateurs: Playing for Glory and Honor in Division I College Basketball by John Feinstein (2000).
23. The Gettysburg Nobody Knows edited by Gabor S. Boritt (1999) * for Civil War enthusiasts.
24. Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Search for Sacred Art by Debora Silverman (2000).
25. A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition by Lee Mendleson, with reminiscences by Bill Melendez (2000) * a perfect choice, of course.
26. The Hessian by Howard Fast (1972) * a tale of the Revolution.
27. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (1908).
28. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter (1965; 1988) * also suggested Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter (1962).
29. Thomas Becket: His Last Days by William Urry (1999) * bio of the 12th century archbishop of Canterbury and his murder, yum yum.
30. Rent by Jonathan Larson, Evelyn McDonnell and Kathy Silberger, photographs by Larry Fink (1997) * the hottest show on Broadway!
31. Norris McWhirter's Book of Millennium Records: The Story of Human Achievement in the Last 2,000 Years by Norris McWhirter (1999) * yeah!

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