Focus

Winter Book Recommendations

 

This hour on Focus, we’ll talk about the best books to cozy up with inside as the cold marches on outside. Amber Castens and Elaine Bearden of the Urbana Free Library join host Jim Meadows and offer up a few holiday favorites, as well as a few new books out this year.

Read more to find a book list from today's show!

Amber’s book list:

General Fiction
Letters from Skye: A Novel by Jessica Brockmole, 2013

Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel by Maria Semple, 2012

The River of No Return: A Novel by Bee Ridgway, 2013

Teen Fiction
Cinder; Scarlet (Both in Lunar Chronicles series) by Marissa Meyer, 2012-2013

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, 2013

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, 2012

Nonfiction
The Art of Clean Up: Life Made Neat and Tidy by Ursus Wehrli, 2013

Rose Kennedy's Family Album: From the Fitzgerald Kennedy Private Collection, 1878-1946 by Arranged and edited by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, 2013

Breakfast for Dinner: Recipes for Frittata Florentine, Huevos Rancheros, Sunny Side-Up Burgers, and More! By Lindsay Landis, 2013

Mad Hungry Cravings by Lucinda Scala Quinn, 2013

Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, 2013


For TV/Movie fans
Walking Dead series (begins with Days Gone Bye) by Robert Kirkman, 2008

Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire series) by George R.R. Martin, 2005

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, 2006

Elaine’s book list:

Children’s books

Alphasaurs and Other Prehistoric Types by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss, 2012             

Big Snow and Building Our House by Jonathan Bean, 2013

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein, 2013

Follow Your Money : Who Gets It, Who Spends It, Where Does It Go? by Kevin Sylvester and Michael Hlinka, 2013

Frog Trouble and Eleven Other Pretty Serious Songs for Ages One to Older Than Dirt by Sandra Boynton, 2013

A Letter for Bear by David Lucas, 2013

Look up! : Bird-Watching In Your Own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate, 2013

My Very First Mother Goose edited by Iona Opie and illustrated by Rosemary Wells, 1996

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry : 200 Poems With Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar! edited by J. Patrick Lewis, 2012

Nic Bishop Snakes by Nic Bishop, 2012

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, 2012

Please Bring Balloons by Lindsay Ward, 2013

Switching On the Moon : a Very First Book of Bedtime Poems collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters,  2010

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jane Ray, 2011

Wonder by R.J. Palacio, 2012

Local Children’s Authors' Books New in 2013:

The Deep, Deep Puddle by Mary Jessie Parker, 2013

Gandhi: A March to the Sea by Alice B. McGinty, 2013

The Pirate's Coin: a Sixty-Eight Rooms Adventure by Marianne Malone, 2013

POSTSCRIPT: Thanks to the listeners who supplied the title and author of a non-fiction book about being a law student at Harvard Law School. The book is "One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School", by Scott Turow, author of legal thrillers such as "Presumed Innocent" and "Burden of Proof".