The Kojo Nnamdi Show

This year's recommendations for the best winter reading from book editors and independent bookstore owners.

Barbara Hoffert
Editor, Library Journal Book Review

Contemporary Fiction Illuminating the Middle East

The Wasted Vigil

by Nadeem Aslam

Knopf

Four Novels with Historical Settings

Blindspot: By a Gentleman in Exile & a Lady in Disguise: A Novel

by Jane Kamensky, Jill Lepore

Blackstone Audio, Inc.

The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel

by Kathleen Kent

Little, Brown and Company

Company of Liars

by Karen Maitland

Delacorte Press

Sashenka: A Novel

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Simon & Schuster

Three Story Collections

Yesterday's Weather: Stories

by Anne Enright

Grove Press

The People on Privilege Hill

by Jane Gardam

Europa Editions

Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3

by Annie Proulx

Scribner

Three Grand Masters

A Mercy

by Toni Morrison

Knopf

Home: A Novel

by Marilynne Robinson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Indignation

by Philip Roth

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Two Poets

Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid

by Simon Armitage

Knopf

The Romantic Dogs

by Roberto Bolaño

New Directions

Todd Stewart
Co-owner of Vertigo Books

Fiction

Sway: A Novel

by Zachary Lazar

Little, Brown and Company

Indignation

by Philip Roth

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

World Made by Hand: A Novel

by James Howard Kunstler

Grove Press

Peace

by Richard Bausch

Knopf

The Three Musketeers (Signet Classics)

by Alexandre Dumas père

Signet Classics

Nonfiction

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

by Tom Vanderbilt

Knopf

Like A Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of A Tribute Band

by Steven Kurutz

Crown Archetype

Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!

by Art Spiegelman

Pantheon

Washington Burning: How a Frenchman's Vision for Our Nation's Capital Survived Congress, the Founding Fathers, and the Invading British Army

by Les Standiford

Crown

God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215

by David Levering Lewis

W. W. Norton & Company

Megan Graves
Hooray For Books!

Children's Literature:

Age: 2 and under

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

by Mem Fox

Harcourt Children's Books

Haiku Baby

by Betsy E. Snyder

Random House Books for Young Readers

Doggone Dogs

by Karen Beaumont

Dial

The Way Back Home

by Oliver Jeffers

Philomel

Age: 3-6

Doggone Dogs

by Karen Beaumont

Dial

The Way Back Home

by Oliver Jeffers

Philomel

Saving Mr Nibbles (Elliot's Park)

by Patrick Carman

Orchard Books

Oops!

by Alan Katz

Margaret K. McElderry Books

Age: 8-10

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams

by Jen Bryant

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

Masterpiece

by Elise Broach

Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

The Dragonfly Pool

by Eva Ibbotson

Dutton Juvenile

Keeper of the Grail (The Youngest Templar, Book 1)

by Michael Spradlin

Putnam Juvenile

Age: 12 and up

Nation

by Terry Pratchett

HarperCollins

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, Book 1)

by Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Press

Children's Holiday Literature

Hurry Hurry Have You Heard

by Laura Krauss Melmed

Chronicle Books

Children's Poetry

The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry

by

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers