Books make great gifts!

Around this time of year, "Best Of" lists start to come out, of movies, music and of course, books.  I get frustrated with a lot of published Best Books lists because I (who read well over 100 titles a year) have often not read any of them, and sometimes not heard of any of them.

So, here are what I think might make the best gifts for people like you and me.


Fantasy/Paranormal

• The Elementals by Francesca Lia Block (St. Martin's hardcover, $24.99)*
• City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte (Penguin trade paperback, $16.00)
• Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (Viking hardcover, $28.95)
• This Case is Gonna Kill Me by Phillipa Bornikova (Tor trade paperback, $14.99)*

Mysteries

• Broken Harbor by Tana French (Viking hardcover, $27.95)
• Sacrifice Fly by Tim O'Meara (Minotaur hardcover, $24.99) *
• The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny (Minotaur hardcover, $25.99)
• Valley of Ashes by Cornelia Read (Hachette hardcover, $24.99)
• The Other Woman by Hank Philippi Ryan (Forge hardcover, $24.99)
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux hardcover, $25.00)*

Women's Fiction

• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (Ballantine trade paperback, $15.00)
• The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber (Ballantine hardcover, $26.00)
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette?  by Maria Semple (Little, Brown hardcover, $25.99)*
• Ten Girls to Watch by Charity Shumway (Washington Square Press trade paperback, $15.00)

*These are on my list, too!