Middlesex was chosen by both Faith Sullivan and Brad Zellar.

Holiday Book List - 2002
with Brad Zellar and Faith Sullivan
December 13, 2002

Midmorning's Holiday Book List

Midmorning's book experts talk about their favorite buys for the holiday season. From the newly published to old titles you may have missed, there are ideas for everyone on your list. Faith Sullivan is the author of The Cape Ann and The Empress of One. Her latest book is What A Woman Must Do. Brad Zellar, a senior editor at City Pages, a Twin Cities alternative weekly, is co-founder of Rag and Bone Books in Minneapolis.

Hot Picks from Faith Sullivan

• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Conquerors by Michael Beschloss
• Paris 1919 by Margaret Macmillan
• The Art and Politics of Arthur Szyk, by Steven Luckert and Arthur Szyk
• Swann by Carol Shields
• Lost Discoveries by Dick Teresi
• John Adams by David McCullough
• Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey by Janet Malcolm
• Seek My Face by John Updike
• Empire Falls by Richard Russo
• Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen
• London, The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
• Stet by Diana Athill
• Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood
• Little by David Truer
• Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
• Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy
• The Minnesota Orchestra at One Hundred
• Step Across This Line by Salman Rushdie
• Packinghouse Daughter by Cheri Register
• The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
• White Christmas by Jody Rosen
• When You Ride Alone You Ride With bin Laden by Bill Maher
• Prey - Michael Crichton
• White Oleander by Janet Fitch
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
• Child of My Heart by Alice McDermott
• The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
• Female Trouble by Antonya Nelson
• Homestead by Annick Smith
• Miniatures by Norah Latimer
• Ex Libris by Ann Fadiman
• Yesterday Morning by Diana Athill
• Three Junes by Julia Glass

Minnesota Writers to Check Out Bill Holm Lorna Lanvik Allison McGhee Sandra Benitez Wang Ping Carol Bly Patricia Hampl Will Weaver Marjorie Dorner Mary Rockcastle Julie Schumacher Leo Dangel Bart Sutter Meridel Le Sueur Paul Gruchow Phoebe Hanson Jim Heynen

Poetry Mary Oliver Robert Frost Wang Ping Patty Ann Rogers For Kids The Last Resort, by J. Patrick Lewis Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age, by Raymond Briggs Swan Lake, by Lisbeth Zwerger Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen

Brad Zellar's List

• Step Right This Way: The Photographs of Edward J. Kelty
  Great vintage circus photographs.
• So What: A Life of Miles Davis, by John Szwed.
• Good Poems, edited by Garrison Keillor
  Really nice selection of poetry, including a number from local poets.
• Little King December, by Axel Hacke, with illustrations by Michael Sowa
  I haven't read this thing yet, but the illustrations are wonderful.
• Nobody's Perfect: Selected Writings From the New Yorker, by Anthony Lane
  Collection from one of the snarkiest, most entertaining pop culture critics around.
• From Our House to Your House, edited by Martin Parr
  Collection of old and often very frightening family Christmas card photos.
• Curiosa: Celebrity Relics, Historical Fossils, and Other Metaphoric Rubbish, by Barton Lidice Benes
  Artifacts ranging from Larry Hagman's gall stone to a snippet of Alec Baldwin's jockstrap to three years worth of fingernail clippings from some guy in Virginia. Really quite a handsome book.
• It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken, a picture novella by Seth
  Graphic novel of a young Canadian's obsessive quest for an obscure New Yorker cartoonist. One of the best books I read all year.
• Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides. Funny, entertaining, and sad novel about a hermaphrodite.
• Baseball: A Literary Anthology, edited by Nicholas Dawidoff
  The Library of America finally gets around to publishing something really important.
• All My Life For Sale, BY John D. Freyer
  Guy sells everything he owns on Ebay.
• A Book of Books, photographs by Abelardo Morell
  Gorgeous collection of photographs of books. Erotica for the bibliomaniac in the family.
• 2002 Best American Non-Required Reading, edited by Dave Eggers
  Entertaining and eclectic selection of stuff from sources like The Onion and Jane.
• Bad Hair, by James Innes-Smith and Henriette Webb
  Just what it says—photographs of very bad haircuts, -styles, and -dos.
• Gould's Book of Fish, by Richard Flanagan
  Tazmanian novelist's stylish and mind-blowing novel-within-a-novel about a convict painter of fish. My favorite novel of the year.
• What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained, by Robert Wolke.
• Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer
  First novel with a very funny voice.
• Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin. Everything by the guy who wrote "White Christmas," "God Bless America," and "There's No Business Like Show Business," along with more than 1,000 other Tin Pan Alley classics.
• Gumbo: A Literary Rent Party to Benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation, an anthology of African American writing.
• Yes, Yes, Y'All: An Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade, edited by Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn
  Tons of great anecdotes and photos.
• Miniatures, by Norah Labiner
  Eccentric and stylish second novel from Minneapolis novelist.
• Something to Declare: Essays on France, by Julian Barnes.
• The Passionate Epicure, by Marcel Rouff
  From the excellent new Modern Library Food Series, edited by Ruth Reichl. A reissue of a hugely entertaining book.
• Dead Reckoning: Great Adventure Writing From the Golden Age of Exploration, 1800-1900, edited by Helen Whybrow.
• The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken, by Terry Teachout
• Desperate Characters, by Paula Fox
  Reissue of an overlooked classic from 1970, with a pretty good introduction by Jonathan Franzen.
• Stranger On A Train: Daydreaming and Smoking Around America With Interruptions, by Jenny Diski
  British novelist's entertaining account of her Amtrak odyssey.