1. Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

3. The Given Day

By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

4. Push

By Sapphire. Rowohlt Tb.

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

6. Say You’re One of Them

By Uwem Akpan. Back Bay.

7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

8. Boston Noir

By Dennis Lehane. Akashic.

9. In a Perfect World

By Laura Kasischke. Harper.

10. The Time Traveler’s Wife

By Audrey Niffenegger. Mariner.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

2. Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

3. The Given Day

By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

4. Boston Noir

By Dennis Lehane. Akashic.

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

7. In a Perfect World

By Laura Kasischke. Harper.

8. Say You’re One of Them

By Uwem Akpan. Back Bay.

9. Push

By Sapphire. Rowohlt Tb.

10. Handle With Care

By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

4. The Given Day

By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

5. In a Perfect World

By Laura Kasischke. Harper.

6. Bed of Roses

By Nora Roberts. Berkley Trade.

7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

8. Twilight

By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

9. Handle With Care

By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

10. New Moon

By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

2. Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

3. The Given Day

By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

6. In a Perfect World

By Laura Kasischke. Harper.

7. Twilight

By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

By David Wroblewski. Ecco.

9. Best American Short Stories 2009

By Alice Sebold. Mariner Books.

10. Handle With Care

By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

3. The Given Day

By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

6. In a Perfect World

By Laura Kasischke. Harper.

7. Say You’re One of Them

By Uwem Akpan. Back Bay.

8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

By David Wroblewski. Ecco.

9. Where the Wild Things Are

By Maurice Sendak. Harper Collins.

10. Logicomix

By Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou. Bloomsbury.

Source: Boston are bookstores

1. Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout,Random House.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
By Stieg Larsson, Vintage.

3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery, Europa.

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
;By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, Dial.

5. The Given Day
By Dennis Lehane, Harper Perennial.

6. The Time Traveler’s Wife
By Audrey Niffenegger, Mariner.

7. Netherland
By Joseph O’Neill, Vintage.

8. Handle with Care
By Jodi Picoult, Washington Square.

9. Unaccustomed Earth
By Jhumpa Lahiri, Vintage.

10. Sarah’s Key
By Tatiana de Rosnay, St. Martin’s.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

2. Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

3. The Given Day
By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog.
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

5. The Time Traveler’s Wife.
By Audrey Niffenegger. Mariner.

6. Say You’re One of Them.
By Uwem Akpan. Back Bay.

7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

8. Cross Country.
By James Patterson. Vision.

9. Netherland.
By Joseph O’Neill. Vintage.

10. The Art of Racing in the Rain.
By Garth Stein. Harper.

Source: Boston area bookstores

By Judith Maas

TODAY: Emily Arsenault reads from “The Broken Teaglass,” at 3 p.m., at Concord Bookshop, 65 Main St., Concord.

MONDAY: Poets Fred Marchant and Teresa Cader read at 8 p.m., at the Blacksmith House, 56 Brattle St., Cambridge; tickets ($3) … Nicholas Christakis discusses “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives,” at 7 p.m., at First Parish Church, 3 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge; tickets ($5) available at harvard.com; Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave.; or by calling 617-661-1515.

TUESDAY: John Freeman discusses “The Tyranny of E-mail,” at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store … Gwen Romagnoli reads from “The Bicycle Runner,” at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Cambridge … Tom Perrotta leads a discussion of Richard Price’s “Lush Life,” at 7 p.m., at Newtonville Books, 296 Walnut St., Newtonville … Alton Brown discusses “Good Eats: The Early Years,” at 6 p.m., at Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline ($5) … Jeff Bell discusses “When in Doubt, Make Belief,” at 7 p.m., at Wellesley Booksmith, 82 Central St., Wellesley … Erik Qualman discusses “Socialnomics,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop, Cambridge.

WEDNESDAY: Patrick J. Carr discusses “Hollowing Out the Middle,” at 6:30 p.m., at First Parish Church … Lucy Honig reads from “Waiting for Rescue,” at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books … Daniel Jonah Goldhagen discusses “Worse Than War,” at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store … Anthony Rao discusses “The Way of Boys,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner, Brookline … Michael Stanley reads from “The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu,” at 5:30 p.m., at Stellina Restaurant, 47 Main St., Watertown … Poet Mary Oliver reads at 7 p.m., at Cape Cod Community College, 2240 Iyannough Road, West Barnstable.

THURSDAY: Barbara Ehrenreich discusses “Bright-Sided,” at 6 p.m., at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge; tickets ($5) available at harvard.com; Harvard Book Store; or by calling 617-661-1515 … Mary E. Mitchell reads from “Americans in Space,” at 7 p.m., at Newtonville Books … Andrew Pessin discusses “The 60-Second Philosopher,” at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books … Charles London discusses “Far from Zion,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith … Poets David Ferry, Suji Kwock Kim, Jill McDonough, Gail Mazur, and Lloyd Schwartz read at 6:30 p.m., at the Boston Public Library, Copley Square; for additional Massachusetts Poetry Festival events, visit www.masspoetry.org … Frank Warren reads from “Postsecret,” at 7 p.m., at Boston University Law School Auditorium, 765 Comm. Ave.; for tickets ($5), visit Barnes & Noble, Boston University, Kenmore Square, or call 617-236-7405 … Dick Lehr discusses “The Fence,” at 7 p.m., at Andover Bookstore, 89R Main St., Andover … Chef Peter Davis discusses “Fresh and Honest,” at 7 p.m., at Wellesley Booksmith; RSVP 781-431-1160 or events@wellesleybooksmith.com … Joan Wickersham discusses “The Suicide Index,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop … Anita Diamant reads from “Day After Night,” at 7 p.m., at the Bookstore of Gloucester, 81 Main St., Gloucester ... Peter Nichols discusses "Final Voyage," at 7 p.m., at Jabberwocky Bookshop, 50 Water St., Newburyport.

FRIDAY: Novelist Andrea Barrett speaks at 7 p.m., in Rm. 6-120, 182 Memorial Dr., MIT, Cambridge … Nancy Rappaport reads from “In Her Wake,” at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store … Lauren Mackler discusses “Solemate,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop … Gary Vaynerchuk discusses “Crush It!,” at 1 p.m., at Barnes & Noble, Boston University.

SATURDAY: Tapestry of Voices poets read at noon at St. Anne’s Church, 8 Kirk St., Lowell … New England Poetry Club poets read at noon at Cobblestones of Lowell, 91 Dutton St., Lowell … Stuart Weisberg discusses “Barney Frank,” at 4 p.m., at Harvard Book Store … Children’s author David Biedrzycki reads at 10:30 a.m., at Newtonville Books … Elise Lemire (“Black Walden”) speaks at 5 p.m., at the Concord Free Library, 129 Main St., Concord … Mike Farrell discusses “Of Mule and Man,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith … Ann Lister discusses “Sheet Music: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Love Story,” at 1 p.m., at Tatmuck Booksellers, 18 Lyman St., Westboro … Maureen Foley reads from “The Book of Illuminiation,” at 2 p.m., at Borders, CambridgeSide Galleria, Cambridge … Carol Newman Cronin reads from “Oliver’s Surprise,” at 1 p.m., at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum, 135 South St., Hyannis ... Local authors sign their books from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Books by the Sea, 846 Main St., Osterville ... Children's author Joan Hiatt Harlow reads from her books from 1 to 4 p.m., at the House of Distinction, 169 Grove St., Wellesly; for ticket information, visit rfkchildren.org or call 617-227-4183.

Stanford University is shuttering its Publishing Course for Professionals after more than 30 years, citing the recession along with changes in the advertising industry and in reading habits brought about by the Internet.

According to a Publishers Marketplace subscription-only report, the move comes in the wake of significant cost-cutting at the Palo Alto, Calif., university, which suffered a 27 percent drop in endowment capital over the past fiscal year. The piece also noted that paid attendance at the program, which has been training publishing and magazine professionals since 1978, reportedly tumbled last year.

Program director Holly Brady, who is leaving Stanford, told Publishers Marketplace that "the problem that got us here is, of course, the digital transformation of the business, which has caused so many layoffs in the publishing industry, coupled with the recession. When a company has laid off dozens of people and is struggling to survive itself, it's hard to
send staffers to Stanford."

Posted by Paul S. Makishima, Globe staff

1. Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

3. The Given Day
By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

5. Say You’re One of Them
By Uwem Akpan. Back Bay.

6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

7. The Time Traveler’s Wife
By Audrey Niffenegger. Mariner.

8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
By David Wroblewski. Ecco.

9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk.

10. Eclipse
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
By Stieg Larsson, Vintage

2. The Time Traveler’s Wife
By Audrey Niffenegger, Mariner

3. Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout, Random House

4. Unaccustomed Earth
By Jhumpa Lahiri, Vintage

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery, Europa

6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, Dial

7. The Weight of Silence
By Heather Gudenkauf, Mira

8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, Quirk

9. Eclipse
By Stephenie Meyer, Little, Brown

10. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer, Little, Brown

Well, flex that quad and call me Ishmael.

Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor, a contributor to literary e-zine HTML Giant, launched a call for submissions of high quality photos of literary body art for a book they hope to compile. “From Shakespeare to Bukowski to The Little Prince in a Baobab tree, if it’s a literary tattoo and its on your body, we want to see it.’’

But lest you think different, their interest isn’t simply prurient. “We’d also like to read a few words about the tattoo’s meaning to you — why you chose it, when you first read that poem or book, or how its meaning has evolved over time. How much (or how little).’’

Talmadge and Taylor appear to be tapping into a rising interest in body art with a literary bent.

Back in the day, tattoos carried simple unambiguous messages: Mom, Navy, Sharleen. That was then.

One site, Contrariwise: Literary Tatoos has dedicated itself to sharing of and about this genre of body art. Visitors to the site submit photos of their tats and then write a little note explaining what it's about. For instance, there is a black-and-white shot of a shoulder, adorned famous lines from Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gentle into that good night./Rage, rage against the dying of the light.’’ Numerous tributes to Harry Potter. And some more personal ones such as one of a burning candle in a stand on a young woman who says that it is an allusion to a poem by Shel Silverstein and a tribute to her grandparents who have died, particularly one grandmother who was a fan of the poet and children’s author: “If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar/A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…/If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire/ For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.’’

On another site, Yuppie Punk, there can be found an alleged short history of the trend (“Johannes Guttenberg invented the printing press in Germany in 1439. Samuel O’Reilly invented the modern tattoo machine in 1891 .... The lowbrow nature of the tattoo juxtaposes nicely against the highbrow art of the book.’’).

The range of the tattoos here is impressive. There are quotes from the the Bible and the likes of literary types like Shakespeare, Plath, Dickens, Frost, Kerouac, Vonnegut, along with the expected science fiction and fantasy crowd -- Frank Herbert, Ray Bradbury and George Orwell.

Unlike Contrariwise, whose collection appears to be heavily word oriented, here there are portraits of famous authors like Faulkner and Thoreau and equally famous characters like Alice in Wonderland, Curious George, and the Wild Thing.

These are but two sites. A quick Google check will reveal many others.

Got a literary tat? It’s your time. Step out of the closet, flex an appendage, shed shirt or trou, and stage a public reading.

Photos of tattoos of Kurt Vonnegut quotes and illustrations from Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are'' from YuppiePunk.com

Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe staff

As part of a larger push into the e-book world, Barnes & Noble says that it is offering complimentary WiFi at its nearly 780 stores across the nation.

Formerly, BN customers were charged $3.95 for two hours of access to AT&T's in-store wireless Internet service, which has been available in stores since 2005.

The book retailer said in a news release that customers in its stores now will be able to download and preview any of the more than 700,000 titles in its recently launched e-bookstore, along with the thousands of free, public-domain books available through Google.

Earlier this month, the company released its free eBook reader application called eReader for the BlackBerry, iPhone, and iPod touch.

Posted by Paul S. Makishima, Globe staff

1. Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.
4. Unaccustomed Earth
By Jhumpa Lahiri. Vintage.
5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
6. Netherland
By Joseph O’Neill. Vintage.
7. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk.
8. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
9. The Time Traveler’s Wife
By Audrey Niffenegger. Mariner.
10. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

After more than 25 years in business, Kate’s Mystery Books in Cambridge will close on Aug. 1.
Kate Mattes, owner of the bookstore, put her 3,400-square-foot Victorian on the market in 2007 and says that she has finally sold it to a real estate trust that plans on a mixed use for the building. Besides the store, the building houses Kate’s apartment as well as a rental unit.
“This is, of course, very sad about the store,’’ she said in a telephone interview. “But it was just the right time to do it. The near future for the real estate market looks bad. And it’s kind of bleak when you look at the book business.’’
Since opening the bookstore in August 1983, Kate’s Mystery Books has become a local gathering spot for aficionados of such writers as Robert B. Parker and Stephen King, who have become customers and friends. The store, which specializes in mysteries by American writers but recently has built up foreign offerings, has hosted numerous readings and book signings.
Mattes said that the thing that prompted the move was the death of her brother, a book agent, about five years ago. “He was a really big part of the store. I could just pick up the phone and call him’’ for advice. After he died, he left a big trove of books, and Mattes was the only one in her family who had any idea what to do with them.
“I started thinking about things, and decided that I couldn’t do this to my sister and her kids,’’ she said. So she started thinking about getting things in order. One of the first things she decided to do was to try to sell the building. That way she could potentially reopen the store in a new location and get a place to live separate from the store, hopefully making it easier to dispose of her property when the time came.
Mattes, 62, said she will stay in the house till the end of August but hopes to find other housing in Cambridge. She also has not closed the door on re-entering the book business and will put some things in storage while she decides what to do next.
"Just moving is enough for now. Before I got into the book business I was a social worker and it took a couple of years to decide I wanted to open a book store.''
In the meantime she says that she intends to try to hold the community of mystery lovers together even after her store closes.
“I hope you can get in in the next few weeks to say good-bye although I won't actually disappear,’’ she said in an e-mail to customers. “We will be having author events at different venues and of course we will have the annual holiday party so there will be opportunities for the mystery community to get together. You will get notices of them from me.’’
As she prepares to wind down the business Mattes plans to mark down everything in the store 25 percent, and on Aug. 1 there will be a packing party from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and annual yard sale, with books going for $1 or less.

Posted by Paul S. Makishima, Globe staff

Photo of Kate Mattes by David L. Ryan/Globe Staff file photo

1. Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.
4. Unaccustomed Earth
By Jhumpa Lahiri. Vintage.
5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
6. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
7. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk.
8. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
9. Netherland
By Joseph O’Neill. Vintage.
10. The Shadow of the Wind
By Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Penguin.

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.
2. New Moon
By Stephanie Meyer. Little, Brown.
3. Twilight
By Stephanie Meyer. Little, Brown.
4. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk.
5. Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.
6. Love the One You’re With
By Emily Giffin. St. Martin’s Griffin.
7. Eat, Pray, Love
By Elizabeth Gilbert. Penguin.
8. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
9. City of Thieves
By David Benioff. Plume.
10. Unaccustomed Earth
By Jhumpa Lahiri. Vintage.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. City of Thieves
By David Benioff. Plume.
2. Angels and Demons
By Dan Brown. Washington Square.
3. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
4. Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.
5. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
6. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
7. Unaccustomed Earth
By Jhumpa Lahiri. Vintage.
8. Love the One You’re With
By Emily Giffin. St. Martin’s Griffin.
9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk.
10. Sarah’s Key
By Tatiana de Rosnay. St. Martin’s Griffin.

Johnny Depp, pal of the late dearly departed Hunter S., currently is in Puerto Rico filming an adaptation of Thompson's semi-autobiographical (did he write any other kind) novel "The Rum Diary'' about a lost, alcohol-fueled journalist who moves from New York to work on a newspaper in Puerto Rico.
Depp, you'll recall, played Thompson in the film version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' (I film I couldn't get through, owing to camera work seeking to replicate the experience of being really high and my own tendency toward motion sickness), and he also delivered a eulogy for the writer at a private memorial service.
Anyway, intrigued by the prospect of the film, an editor of Media Bistro's Galley Cat book blog reread "The Rum Diary,'' written very early in Thompson's career, and put together this video tour retracing the gonzo journalist's life on the island nation.
It's fun, interesting, and unlike "Fear and Loathing'' requires no Dramamine to watch.

Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe staff

1. Unaccustomed Earth
By Jhumpa Lahiri. Vintage.
2. City of Thieves
By David Benioff. Plume.
3. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
4. Certain Girls
By Jennifer Weiner. Washington Square.
5. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
6. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
8. American Wife
By Curtis Sittenfeld. Random House.
9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk.
10.The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.

On Friday night, the winners of the Los Angeles Times 29th annual book prizes were announced. Recipients of the $1,000 awards include:
*Fiction: Marilynne Robinson for "Home'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
* Current interest: Barton Gellman for "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency" (Penguin Press)
*Biography: Paula J. Giddings for "Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching'' (HarperCollins/Amistad)
*History: Mark Mazower for "Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe'' (Penguin Press)
*Mystery/Thriller: Michael Koryta for "Envy the Night'' (St. Martin's Minotaur/Thomas Dunne)
*Poetry: Frank Bidart for "Watching the Spring Festival: Poems'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
*Science & Technology: Leonard Susskind for The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics (Little, Brown)
*Young Adult Literature: Terry Pratchett for "Nation'' (HarperCollins)
*Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction: Zoe Ferraris for "Finding Nouf'' (Houghton Mifflin)
*Robert Kirsch Award (given annually to a living author "with a substantial connection to the American West”): Robert Alter.

Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe staff

1. Unaccustomed Earth
By Jhumpa Lahiri. Vintage.
2. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
3. People of the Book
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
4. American Wife
By Curtis Sittenfeld. Random House.
5. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
6. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
7. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Gallic.
8. City of Thieves
By David Benioff. Plume.
9. Pride and Predjudice and Zombies
By Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk.
10. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.

Northeastern University has decided to suspend its Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize because of financial difficulties.
"The competition is not going forward for now, but might possibly return at some unspecified point in the future,'' said Guy Rotella, a Northeastern English professor and series editor in an e-mail.

The annual competition, run since 1983, awarded $1,000 and publication by Northeastern University for a first or second book of poems.
Rotella explained that the economics of the prize no longer made sense. "Put simply,'' he said, "the costs of publication outstrip the combination of subvention and sales available to offset those costs.''
This year's winner was Lisa Gluskin, whose "Tulips, Water, Ash'' was picked by judge Jean Valentine and will be published in September.
Previous winners include Carl Phillips (In the Blood, 1992), Allison Funk (Living at the Epicenter, 1995), Jennifer Atkinson (The Drowned City, 2000), Ted Genoways (Bullroarer, 2001), and Roy Jacobstein (A Form of Optimism, 2006), according to Poets and Writers, which first reported the news.
Over the years, the contest, established to honor late Northeastern University professor Samuel French Morse, has featured a number of celebrated poets as judges, such as Anthony Hecht, Maxine Kumin, X.J. Kennedy, Donald Hall, Mary Oliver, Peter Davison, Charles Simic, Rachel Hadas, Philip Booth, A.R. Ammons, David Ferry, Sonia Sanchez, Molly Peacock, Edward Hirsch, Carolyn Kizer, Alfred Corn, Carl Phillips, Marilyn Hacker, Rosanna Warren, Robert Cording, and Ellen Bryant Voigt.

Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe staff

Everyone's worried about keeping their jobs -- or finding a new one.
If Motoko Rich of the Times is right, perhaps we should get into the romance-writing game.
Rich reports that the recession appears to be fueling the demand for pot-boilers:

Harlequin Enterprises, the queen of the romance world, reported that fourth-quarter earnings were up 32 percent over the same period a year earlier, and Donna Hayes, Harlequin’s chief executive, said that sales in the first quarter of this year remained very strong. While sales of adult fiction overall were basically flat last year, according to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks about 70 percent of retail sales, the romance category was up 7 percent after holding fairly steady for the previous four years.
At Barnes & Noble, the country’s largest book chain, where its chief financial officer, Joe Lombardi, recently warned that overall 2009 sales were likely to fall between 4 percent and 6 percent, sales of romance novels are up. And in the first three months of this year Nielsen Bookscan tracked a 2.4 percent rise in romance sales compared with a slight decline in sales of general adult fiction for the same period.

Why the upsurge? Apparently, it's escapism, a port in the economic maelstrom, safe haven from falling employment figures and 401(k)s.
Might be time to get pro-active. Sharpen up a pencil or two and start ripping those bodices.

Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe staff

Photo by Damon Winter/The New York Times

1. People of the Book
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
2. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
3. Watchmen
By Alan Moore. DC Comics.
4. American Wife
By Curtis Sittenfeld. Random House.
5. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
6. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
7. Firefly Lane
By Kristin Hannah. St. Martin’s Griffin.
8. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
9. Lush Life
By Richard Price. Picador.
10. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.

1. Watchmen
By Alan Moore. DC Comics.
2. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
3. The Reader
By Bernhard Schlink. Vintage.
4. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
5. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
6. People of the Book
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
7. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
8. American Wife
By Curtis Sittenfeld. Random House.
9. The Appeal
By John Grisham. Delta.
10. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The Reader
By Bernhard Schlink. Vintage.
3. People of the Book
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
4. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
5. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
7. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
8. Revolutionary Road
By Richard Yates. Vintage.
9. The Enchantress of Florence
By Salman Rushdie. Random House.
10. Watchmen
By Alan Moore. DC Comics.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. Revolutionary Road
By Richard Yates. Vintage.
3. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
5. The Reader
By Bernhard Schlink. Vintage.
6. The Appeal
By John Grisham. Delta.
7. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
8. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
9. Watchmen
By Alan Moore. DC Comics.
10. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
3. Revolutionary Road
By Richard Yates. Vintage.
4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
5. The Reader
By Bernhard Schlink. Vintage.
6. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
7. People of the Book
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
8. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
9. Me Talk Pretty One Day
By David Sedaris. Back Bay.
10. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
4. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
5. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
6. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
7. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
8. The Appeal
By John Grisham. Delta.
9. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
10. Change of Heart
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
4. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
5. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
6. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
7. The Appeal
By John Grisham. Delta.
8. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
9. Remember Me?
By Sophie Kinsella. Dial.
10. Loving Frank
By Nancy Horan. Ballantine.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The Appeal
By John Grisham. Delta.
3. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
4. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
6. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
7. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
8. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
9. The Pagan Stone
By Nora Roberts. Jove.
10. The Almost Moon
By Alice Sebold. Back Bay.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
3. Remember Me?
By Sophie Kinsella. Dial.
4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
5. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
6. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
7. The Best American Short Stories 2008
Edited by Salman Rushdie. Houghton Mifflin.
8. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
9. Sarah’s Key
By Tatiana de Rosnay. St. Martin’s.
10. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
3. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
4. The Best American Short Stories 2008
Edited by Salman Rushdie. Houghton Mifflin.
5. Remember Me?
By Sophie Kinsella. Dial.
6. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
7. World Without End
By Ken Follett. NAL.
8. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
9. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
10. Slam
By Nick Hornby. Riverhead.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
3. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
4. The Almost Moon
By Alice Sebold. Back Bay.
5. Remember Me?
By Sophie Kinsella. Dial.
6. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
7. World Without End
By Ken Follett. NAL.
8. Slam
By Nick Hornby. Riverhead.
9. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
10. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
3. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
4. Slam
By Nick Hornby. Riverhead.
5. World Without End
By Ken Follett. NAL.
6. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
7. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
8. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
9. The Secret Life of Bees
By Sue Monk Kidd. Penguin.
10. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.
3. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
4. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press.
5. World Without End
By Ken Follett. NAL.
6. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
7. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
8. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
9. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
10. Slam
By Nick Hornby. Riverhead.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. The Shack
By William P. Young.!,Windblown.
3. World Without End
By Ken Follett. NAL.
4. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
5. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
6. The White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga. Free Press .
7. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
8. The Alchemist
By Paulo Coelho. HarperCollins.
9. Run
By Ann Patchett.Harper Perennial.
10. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
4. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.
5. The Shack
By William P. Young.Windblown.
6. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
7. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
8. The Almost Moon
By Alice Sebold. Back Bay.
9. The Best American Short Stories 2008
Edited by Salman Rushdie. Houghton Mifflin.
10. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
3. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
4. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.
5. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
6. Barefoot
By Elin Hilderbrand. Back Bay.
7. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
8. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
9. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
10. The Almost Moon
By Alice Sebold. Back Bay.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.
3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
By Muriel Barbery. Europa.
4. Nights in Rodanthe
By Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central.
5. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
6. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
7. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
8. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
9. The Alchemist
By Paulo Coelho. HarperCollins.
10. The Abstinence Teacher
By Tom Perrotta. St. Martin’s.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz. Riverhead.
2. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.
3. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
4. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
5. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
6. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares. Riverhead.
7. Barefoot
By Elin Hilderbrand. Back Bay.
8. The Shack
By William P. Young. Windblown.
9. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
10. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

FULL ENTRY

1. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.
2. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
3. Barefoot
By Elin Hilderbrand. Little, Brown Back Bay.
4. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares. Penguin Riverhead.
5. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
6. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
7. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
8. Watchmen
By Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. DC Comics.
9. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
10. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Bridge of Sighs
By Richard Russo. Vintage.
2. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
4. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
5. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
6. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
7. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
8. New Moon
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
9. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
10. Watchmen
By Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. DC Comics.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. Run
By Ann Patchett. Harper Perennial.
2. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
3. Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.
4. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
5. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
6. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares. Riverhead.
7. Away
By Amy Bloom. Random House.
8. In the Woods
By Tana French. Penguin.
9. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
10. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. In the Woods
By Tana French. Penguin.
2. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
3. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
4. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares. Riverhead.
5. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
6. On Chesil Beach
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
7. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
8. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
9. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
10. The Maytrees
By Annie Dillard. Harper Perennial.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. On Chesil Beach
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
2. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
3. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
4. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares. Riverhead.
5. In the Woods
By Tana French. Penguin.
6. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
7. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
8. Away
By Amy Bloom. Random House.
9. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
10. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. On Chesil Beach
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
2. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares. Riverhead.
3. In the Woods
By Tana French. Penguin.
4. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
5. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
6. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
7. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
8. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
9. The Maytrees
By Annie Dillard.
Harper Perennial.
10. Away
By Amy Bloom. Random House.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. On Chesil Beach
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
2. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
3. Away
By Amy Bloom. Random House.
4. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
5. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
6. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares.Riverhead.
7. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
8. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
9. In the Woods
By Tana French. Penguin.
10. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
2. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
3. On Chesil Beach
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
4. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
5. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
6. In the Woods
By Tana French. Penguin.
7. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
8. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares. Riverhead.
9. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
10. The Maytrees
By Annie Dillard. Harper Perennial.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.
4. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
5. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
6. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
7. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
8. Great Man
By Kate Christensen. Anchor.
9. In the Woods
By Tana French. Viking / Penguin.
10. The Last Summer (of You and Me)
By Ann Brashares. Riverhead.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
2. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
4. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
5. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
6. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
7. In the Woods
By Tana French. Penguin.
8. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
9. No One Belongs Here More Than You
By Miranda July. Scribner.
10. Second Chance
By Jane Green. Plume.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
2. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. Divisadero
By Michael Ondaatje. Vintage.
6. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
7. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
8. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
9. Loving Frank
By Nancy Horan. Ballantine.
10. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
2. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
By Michael Chabon. Harper.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. Divisadero
By Michael Ondaatje. Vintage.
6. Out Stealing Horses
By Per Petterson. Picador.
7. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
8. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
9. Loving Frank
By Nancy Horan. Ballantine.
10. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
2. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
3. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
4. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
5. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
6. The Quickie
By James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Grand Central.
7. Then We Came to the End
By Joshua Ferris. Back Bay.
8. Body Surfing
By Anita Shreve. Back Bay.
9. The Reluctant Fundamentalist
By Mohsin Hamid. Harvest.
10. The Woods
By Harlan Coben. Signet.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
2. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
3. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
4. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
5. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
6. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
7. The Reluctant Fundamentalist
By Mohsin Hamid. Harvest.
8. The Other Boleyn Girl
By Philippa Gregory. Touchstone.
9. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
10. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
2. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
3. Then We Came to the End
By Joshua Ferris. Back Bay.
4. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
5. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
By Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor.
6. The Other Boleyn Girl
By Philippa Gregory. Touchstone.
7. The Double Bind
By Chris Bohjalian. Vintage.
8. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
9. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
10. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
2. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
4. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
5. Then We Came to the End
By Joshua Ferris. Back Bay.
6. Peony in Love
By Lisa See. Random House.
7. The Other Boleyn Girl
By Philippa Gregory. Touchstone.
8. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
9. The Double Bind
By Chris Bohjalian. Vintage.
10. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
2. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
3. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
4. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
5. The Other Boleyn Girl
By Philippa Gregory. Touchstone.
6. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
7. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
8. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
9. Then We Came to the End
By Joshua Ferris. Back Bay.
10. Peony in Love
By Lisa See. Random House.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
2. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
3. The Other Boleyn Girl
By Philippa Gregory. Touchstone.
4. Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
5. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
6. Atonement
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
7. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
8. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy.Vintage.
9. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
10. The Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett. NAL.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. What Is the What
By Dave Eggers. Vintage.
4. Atonement
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
5. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
6. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
By Dinaw Mengestu. Riverhead.
7. The Friday Night Knitting Club
By Kate Jacobs. Berkley.
8. Christine Falls
By Benjamin Black. Picador.
9. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
10. The Witch of Portobello
By Paulo Coelho. Harper.

Source: Boston area bookstores

1. Three Cups of Tea
By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Penguin.
2. Eat, Pray, Love
By Elizabeth Gilbert. Penguin.
3. The Audacity of Hope
By Barack Obama. Three Rivers.
4. A New Earth
By Eckhart Tolle. Penguin.
5. Dreams From My Father
By Barack Obama. Three Rivers.
6. Skinny B****
By Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman. Running Press.
7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
By Jean-Dominique Bauby. Vintage.
8. Into the Wild
By Jon Krakauer. Anchor.
9. The Tipping Point
By Malcolm Gladwell. Back Bay.
10. The Omnivore’s Dilemma
By Michael Pollan. Penguin.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
2. Atonement
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
3. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
4. The Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett. NAL.
5. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
6. Body Surfing
By Anita Shreve. Back Bay.
7. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
8. What Is the What
By Dave Eggers. Vintage.
9. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
10. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.

SOURCE: Boston area bookstores

1. Atonement
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
2. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
3. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
4. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
5. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
6. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
7. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
8. Suite Francaise
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
9. The Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett. NAL.
10. Body Surfing
By Anita Shreve. Back Bay.

SOURCE: Area bookstores

1. Atonement
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
2. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin. Books of Chapel Hill.
4. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
5. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
6. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
7. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
8. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
9. The Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett. NAL.
10. The Welsh Girl
By Peter Ho Davies. Mariner.

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
1. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
3. The Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett. NAL.
4. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
5. What Is the What
By Dave Eggers. Vintage.
6. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
7. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
8. Atonement
By Ian McEwan. Anchor.
9. The Mission Song
By John le Carré. Back Bay.
10. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
1. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
3. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
4. The Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett. NAL.
5. What Is the What
By Dave Eggers. Vintage.
6. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
7. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
8. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
9. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
10. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
2. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
3. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
5. What Is the What
By Dave Eggers. Vintage.
6. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
7. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
8. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
9. The Golden Notebook
By Doris Lessing. Harper.
10. No Country for Old Men
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
2. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
3. What Is the What
By Dave Eggers. Vintage.
4. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
5. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
6. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
7. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
8. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
9. The Golden Notebook
By Doris Lessing. Harper.
10. Digging to America
By Anne Tyler. Ballantine.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

GREAT WRITERS PODCAST

Don't look now, but your dogma just got run over by Shalom Auslander's karma.

It's amazing that a book so full of painful soul-baring can be so funny, but it is. Just listen to the laughs in the background from the crowd at Brookline Booksmith during Auslander's recent reading of excerpts from his new book "Foreskin's Lament."

But be forewarned: A howling [double meaning alert] rant on his orthodox Jewish upbringing and against those who teach children that God is a vengeful deity to be feared and obeyed at all times, the book is probably not for the faint of faith.

The New York Times said this:

Now Shalom Auslander has entered the ring, flying off the ropes, pro-wrestling style, with his memoir, “Foreskin’s Lament,” a no-holds-barred affront to the G-d whose name is never uttered by the faithful under Jewish law.

Also in the current episode of Great Writers, we serve up or "Top of the Stack" book recommendations from today's hottest writers, including Brock Clarke, the author of "An Arsonist's Guide to New England Writers' Homes;" Jon Clinch, the author of "Finn;" and Jennifer Belle, the author of "Little Stalker."

The recommendations are worth a listen to hear why the authors are recommending their favorites, but for your convenience, here are some links to their recommended books:

Brock Clarke:
"US!" by Chris Bachelder
"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" by Muriel Spark
"The Good People of New York" by Thisbe Nissen

Jon Clinch:
"I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down" by William Gay
"Absolom, Absolom" by William Faulkner
"Memoir from Antproof Case" by Mark Helprin

Jennifer Belle
"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov
"Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann" by Barbara Seaman
"Good Morning, Midnight" by Jean Rhys

Enjoy.

-- Ralph Ranalli

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
2. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
3. What Is the What
By Dave Eggers. Vintage.
4. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
5. The Best American Short Stories 2007
Edited by Stephen King. Houghton Mifflin.
6. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
7. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
8. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
9. Not Enough Indians
By Harry Shearer. Justin, Charles.
10. Gone, Baby, Gone
By Dennis Lehane. Harper.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
2. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
3. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
4. The Gathering
By Anne Enright. Grove.
5. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
6. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
7. The Best American Short Stories 2007
Edited by Stephen King. Houghton Mifflin.
8. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
9. What Is the What
By Dave Eggers. Vintage.
10. Wicked
By Gregory Maguire. Harper.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Francaise
By Irene Nemirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Best American Short Stories 2007
Edited by Stephen King. Houghton Mifflin.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
7. The Echo Maker
By Richard Powers. Picador.
8. Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel García Márquez. Vintage.
9. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.
10. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

Claire Messud is featured in the current episode of Great Writers.
(Globe staff photo by Dina Rudick)

GREAT WRITERS

The Great Writers podcast is back from summer hiatus, with a new format, more events, and bigger names than before.

Launched last year in conjuction with independent literary powerhouse Newtonville Books, Great Writers has now added two more of the region's best independent bookstores as partners: Brookline Booksmith and Wellesley Booksmith. Another big change: new episodes this season will debut on Tuesdays instead of Sundays.

The first episode of the 2007-2008 season is now online. It features a special double appearance from Brookline Booksmith by bestselling authors Claire Messud, reading and discussing "The Emperor's Children," (recently released in paperback) and Valerie Martin, talking about and reading from her latest work, "Tresspass."

"The Emperor's Children" is Messud's fourth book and was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times, which called her "a novelist of unnerving talent." Her 1996 debut novel, "When the World Was Steady," earned her a nomination for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Martin's 2003 novel "Property" won the prestigious Orange Prize.

Next week's episode will feature our first recommendations from the Books section staff of the Globe and a reading by Brock Clarke, the author of the remarkable new novel "An Arsonist's Guide to New England Writers' Homes."

Listen, enjoy, and tell a friend. Or what the heck, tell your whole book club.

Click here to listen to this week's episode.

Click here to visit Boston.com's Podcast page.

Click here to subscribe to the series via RSS. Great Writers is also available through iTunes.

-- Ralph Ranalli

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Francaise
By Irene Nemirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. Digging to America
By Anne Tyler. Random House.
7. The Best American Short Stories 2007
Edited by Stephen King. Houghton Mifflin.
8. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.
9. The Echo Maker
By Richard Powers. Picador.
10. One Good Turn
By Kate Atkinson. Back Bay.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Francaise
By Irene Nemirovsky. Vintage.
4. One Good Turn
By Kate Atkinson. Back Bay.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
7. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
8. The Echo Maker
By Richard Powers. Picador.
9. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.
10. Digging to America
By Anne Tyler. Random House.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
2. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
3. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
4. Suite Française
By Irene Nemirovsky. Vintage.
5. One Good Turn
By Kate Atkinson. Back Bay.
6. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
7. Digging to America
By Anne Tyler. Random House.
8. The Echo Maker
By Richard Powers. Picador.
9. The Best American Short Stories 2007
Edited by Stephen King. Houghton Mifflin.
10. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
4. Digging to America
By Anne Tyler. Random House.
5. Suite Francaise
By Irene Nemirovsky. Vintage.
6. One Good Turn
By Kate Atkinson. Back Bay.
7. The Echo Maker
By Richard Powers. Picador.
8. Those Who Save Us
By Jenna Blum. Canongate.
9. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
10. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor's Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Francaise
By Irene Nemirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The Memory Keeper's Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
7. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
8. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
9. The Lay of the Land
By Richard Ford. Vintage.
10. The Echo Maker
By Richard Powers. Picador.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor's Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Francaise
By Irene Nemirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The Memory Keeper's Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
By J.K. Rowling. Scholastic.
8. The Lay of the Land
By Richard Ford. Vintage.
9. Evening
By Susan Minot. Vintage.
10. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
7. Baby Proof
By Emily Giffin. St. Martin’s.
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
By J..K. Rowling. Scholastic.
9. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.
10. Evening
By Susan Minot. Vintage.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
5. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
6. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
7. Evening
By Susan Minot. Vintage.
8. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
By J.K. Rowling. Scholastic.
9. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
10. The Poe Shadow
By Matthew Pearl. Random House.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. Evening
By Susan Minot. Vintage.
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
By J.K. Rowling. Scholastic.
7. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
8. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
By J.K. Rowling. Scholastic.
10. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
By J..K. Rowling. Scholastic.
8. The Poe Shadow
By Matthew Pearl. Random House.
9. Evening
By Susan Minot. Vintage.
10. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
7. Evening
By Susan Minot. Vintage.
8. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.
9. The Whole World Over
By Julia Glass. Anchor.
10. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Emperor’s Children
By Claire Messud. Vintage.
2. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
3. The Birthdays
By Heidi Pitlor. Norton.
4. How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life
By Mameve Medwed. Avon.
5. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
6. A Letter to Harvey Milk
By Lesléa Newman. University of Wisconsin.
7. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
8. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
9. The Whole World Over
By Julia Glass. Anchor.
10. Absurdistan
By Gary Shteyngart. Random House.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
2. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
3. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.
7. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
8. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
9. The Whole World Over
By Julia Glass. Anchor.
10. Special Topics in Calamity Physics
By Marisha Pessl. Penguin.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
4. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
5. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
6. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
7. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.
8. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
9. The Whole World Over
By Julia Glass. Anchor.
10. Prime Time
By Hank Phillippi Ryan. Harlequin.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
2. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
6. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
7. Baby Proof
By Emily Giffin. St. Martin’s.
8. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
9. Middlesex
By Jeffrey Eugenides. Picador.
10. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
4. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
7. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
8. Absurdistan
By Gary Shteyngart. Random House.
9. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
10. Baby Proof
By Emily Giffin. St. Martin’s.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
4. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
5. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
6. Baby Proof
By Emily Giffin. St. Martin’s.
7. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
8. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
9. Absurdistan
By Gary Shteyngart. Random House.
10. Pretty Little Mistakes
By Heather McElhatton. Harper.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
2. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
4. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
5. Baby Proof
By Emily Giffin. St. Martin’s.
6. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
7. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
8. Absurdistan
By Gary Shteyngart. Random House.
9. Everyman
By Philip Roth. Vintage.
10. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
2. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
3. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
4. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. Absurdistan
By Gary Shteyngart. Random House.
7. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
8. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
9. Special Topics in Calamity Physics
By Marisha Pessl. Penguin.
10. Case Histories
By Kate Atkinson. Back Bay.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
2. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
3. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
4. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
5. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
6. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
7. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
8. Rise and Shine
By Anna Quindlen. Random House.
9. The Kite Runner
By Khalid Hosseini. Riverhead.
10. Anybody Out There?
By Marian Keyes. Avon.

Compiled by Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
2. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
3. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
4. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
7. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
8. Blue Shoes and Happiness
By Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor.
9. Everyman
By Philip Roth. Vintage.
10. Absurdistan
By Gary Shteyngart. Random House.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy. Vintage.
2. Suite Française
By Irène Némirovsky. Vintage.
3. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
4. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
6. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
7. Water for Elephants
By Sara Gruen. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
8. Everyman
By Philip Roth. Vintage.
9. Absurdistan
By Gary Shteyngart. Random House.
10. Blue Shoes and Happiness
By Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

Michael Thomas shares his favorite books in a new Great Writers podcast feature
(Globe staff photo by Suzanne Kreiter)

Whenever an aspiring author asks a successful one for advice, the answer is invariably: "Read."

But read what?

To help answer that question, the Globe's Great Writers podcast has been asking our participating authors to recommend the great books they've been reading lately. We're calling the new feature "Top of the Stack" - as in the books that have earned exulted status amid that pile next to their favorite reading chair.

The first installment of the new feature is already live online. We're also offering a recap and links here for those seeking more information.

Lionel Shriver, the author of the best selling book "We Need to Talk About Kevin," read last month from her new novel "The Post-Birthday World." She recommended:

"Intiution", by Allegra Goodman"
"Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates, and
"Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Michael Thomas, the Newton native who recently published the acclaimed novel "Man Gone Down," included a collection by poet Yusef Komunyakaa among his recommendations. They were:

"Just Above My Head" by James Baldwin
"Four Quartets" by T.S. Eliot, and
"Taboo" by Yosef Komunyakaa.

Finally, Pagan Kennedy, the author of the fascinating transsexual surgical history "The First Man-Made Man," recommended:

"The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion,
"The Midnight Disease" by Alice Flaherty, and
"His Brother's Keeper" by Jonathan Weiner.

We'll bring you more recommendations as the series moves along. The next episode of Great Writers will feature Erica Wagner, literary editor for The Times of London, reading and discussing her new novel "Seizure" at Newtonville Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. The Namesake
By Jhumpa Lahiri. Mariner.
4. Blue Shoes and Happiness
By Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor.
5. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
6. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
7. Man Gone Down
By Michael Thomas. Grove.
8. Black Swan Green
By David Mitchell. Random House.
9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
10. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Intuition
By Allegra Goodman. Dial.
4. The Namesake
By Jhumpa Lahiri. Mariner.
5. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
6. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.
7. Man Gone Down
By Michael Thomas. Grove.
8. The Old Wine Shades
By Martha Grimes. Signet.
9. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
10. Blue Shoes and Happiness
By Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Man Gone Down
By Michael Thomas. Grove.
4. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
5. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.
6. The Tenth Circle
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
7. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
8. Labyrinth
By Kate Mosse. Berkley.
9. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
10. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Man Gone Down
By Michael Thomas. Grove.
4. Black Swan Green
By David Mitchell. Random House.
5. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
6. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
7. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
8. Judge and Jury
By James Patterson and Andrew Gross. Warner.
9. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.
10. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
4. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
5. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
6. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
7. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
8. Salem Falls
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
10. Unshapely Things
By Mark Del Franco. Ace.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
4. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
5. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
6. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
7. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
8. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
9. Perfect Match
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
10. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
4. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
5. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead.
6. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
7. Man Gone Down
By Michael Thomas. Grove.
8. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
9. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
10. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
4. Love Walked In
By Marisa de los Santos. Plume.
5. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
6. The Brooklyn Follies
By Paul Auster. Picador.
7. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.
8. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
10. The Tenth Circle
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square Press.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
4. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
5. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
6. The Night Watch
By Sarah Waters. Riverhead.
7. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
8. The Children of Men
By P.D. James. Vintage.
9. The Sea
By John Banville. Vintage.
10. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
4. The Best American Short Stories 2006
Edited by Ann Patchett. Houghton Mifflin.
5. The Children of Men
By P.D. James. Vintage.
6. Life of Pi
By Yann Martel. Harvest.
7. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
8. The Sea
By John Banville. Vintage.
9. Eat the Document
By Dana Spiotta. Scribner.
10. Lipstick Jungle
By Candace Bushnell. Hyperion.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Vintage.
4. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
5. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
6. The Children of Men
By P.D. James. Vintage.
7. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Penguin.
8. A Wedding in December
By Anita Shreve. Little, Brown.
9. The Tenth Circle
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
10. Alternatives to Sex
By Stephen McCauley. Washington Square.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
3. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
4. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
5. The Children of Men
By P.D. James. Vintage.
6. Eat the Document
By Dana Spiotta. Scribner.
7. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
8. The Best American Short Stories 2006
Edited by Ann Patchett. Houghton Mifflin.
9. Case Histories
By Kate Atkinson. Back Bay.
10. The Night Watch
By Sarah Waters. Penguin.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. The Best American Short Stories 2006
Edited by Ann Patchett. Houghton Mifflin.
4. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
5. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
6. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
7. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Viking.
8. Running With Scissors
By Augusten Burroughs. Picador.
9. Something Borrowed
By Emily Giffin. St. Martin’s.
10. The Alchemist
By Paulo Coelho. HarperSanFrancisco.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
3. The Best American Short Stories 2006
Edited by Ann Patchett. Houghton Mifflin.
4. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
5. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
6. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
7. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Viking.
8. The Night Watch
By Sarah Waters. Riverhead.
9. The Five People You Meet in Heaven
By Mitch Albom. Hyperion.
10. Case Histories
By Kate Atkinson. Back Bay.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
4. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
5. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
6. The Sea
By John Banville. Vintage.
7. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Viking.
8. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. !,Random House.
9. The Lighthouse
By P..D. James. Vintage.
10. The Night Watch
By Sarah Waters. Riverhead.

1. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
2. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
3. The Lighthouse
By P.D. James. Vintage.
4. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
5. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
6. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Viking.
7. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
8. S Is for Silence
By Sue Grafton. Berkley.
9. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
10. The Tenth Circle
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
4. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Viking.
5. The Sea
By John Banville. Vintage.
6. The Lighthouse
By P..D. James. Vintage.
7. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
8. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
9. The Tenth Circle
By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.
10. Good Poems for Hard Times
Edited by Garrison Keillor. Penguin.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
3. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
4. The Lighthouse
By P..D. James. Vintage.
5. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
6. The Sea
By John Banville. Vintage.
7. My Name Is Red
By Orhan Pamuk.Vintage.
8. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
9. Slow Man
By J.M. Coetzee. Penguin.
10. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. W.W. Norton.

From Borders Books & Music, Brookline Booksmith, Concord Bookshop, Harvard Book Store, New England Mobile Book Fair, Newtonville Books, and Porter Square Books.

1. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
2. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
3. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
4. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
5. Snow
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
6. My Name Is Red
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
7. The Lighthouse
By P.D. James. Vintage.
8. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.
9. The Black Book
By Orhan Pamuk. Vintage.
10. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Viking.

1. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
2. The Sea
By John Banville. Vintage.
3. Saving Fish From Drowning
By Amy Tan. Ballantine.
4. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
5. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
6. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Viking.
7. Night Watch
By Sergei Lukyanenko. Miramax.
8. Slow Man
By J..M. Coetzee. Penguin.
9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
10. Trouble
By Patrick Somerville. Vintage.

1. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
By Kim Edwards. Penguin.
2. On Beauty
By Zadie Smith. Penguin.
3. The Sea
By John Banville. Vintage.
4. March
By Geraldine Brooks. Viking.
5. The History of Love
By Nicole Krauss. Norton.
6. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By Lisa See. Random House.
7. The Constant Princess
By Philippa Gregory. Touchstone.
8. Pardonable Lies
By Jacqueline Winspear. Picador.
9. The Inheritance of Loss
By Kiran Desai. Grove.
10. The Last Days of Dogtown
By Anita Diamant. Scribner.

FULL ENTRY