What would you do if your mother asked for this for Christmas?
What do you do when your friend asks for a truly terrible book for the holidays? How much do you really understand about Afghanistan? And, most importantly, what is Stephen King’s favorite book of 2009? Answers below!
- Just in time for Christmas, Shelf Life addresses a question of book-giving etiquette you may have asked: if you’re, say, a fan of Jon Stewart, and your friend asks for the latest Glenn Beck book, do you buy it for him? The blog post leans toward literary snobbery and has sparked a debate among readers, whose answers range from flatout refusals (” I couldn’t in good conscience buy that dreck”), to avoidance (” I’d get them a scarf, etc, from the opposite spectrum”) to holiday-inspired selflessness (“hold your nose and give the gift that the recipient will appreciate”). What do you think?
- And speaking of book requests, what does Stephen King read when he’s not writing 1,000-page novels? Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger, for one, which he dubbed his favorite book of 2009. Jacket Copy has a roundup of author’s faves for 2009, linking to features done by the New Yorker and the Millions blog. Jeffrey Toobin, Jonathan Lethem, and Jennifer Egan are just some of the authors included.
- Afghanistan appears in U.S. newspaper headlines almost daily, but few of us understand the country’s complicated past. As part of its “Three Books” series, NPR suggests three books about Afghanistan to educate us. The books (two nonfiction and one fiction) remind readers that “America’s involvement in Afghanistan predates Sept. 11 by two decades” and “deepen our understanding of the news reports from Afghanistan.” To read more, check out “Afghanistan Unveiled in Three Eye-Opening Accounts.”
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