GIVE A BOOK FOR CHRISTMAS

A melange of suggestions by local writers Jane Crossman, Glenn Ponka, Nancy Bjorgo, Jackie D'Acre, Sue Blott.

Any book by Alexander McCall Smith especially the Isabel Dalhousie books and the Number One Ladies Detective Agency series.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Garrison Keeler's Lake Wobegon USA.

The never out of print Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell and The Stone Diaries by the incomparable Carol Shields

The novels of Philip Caputo but also his 10,000 Days of Thunder: A History of the Vietnam War

The best of Elizabeth Hay, A Student of Weather and the 2007 Giller winner Late Nights on Air - both wonderful.

The World Without Us by Alen Weisman. A look at what would happen on earth if everyone here disappeared.

For Thunder Bayites who live away but still keep in touch Life in a Thundering Bay: Voices from Thunder Bay's Past a compilation of historical writings edited by Tania L/ Saj and Elle Andra-Warner (available at the Northern Women's Book Store) For the cookbook fan Flavours of Northwestern Ontario by Tim Matthews (available at the Con College book store) and for the under 8 set, The Boy From the Sun by Duncan Weller (available at the Finnish Book Store). For the whodunnit reader Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith. Inspector Renko investigates mysterious sightings of the long dead Russian dictator at a Moscow metro station. (available at Chapters)

My book selection is Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. It is a book where many things either do or do not happen, where one of the main characters is named Jonathan Safran Foer (but who isn't the author), where the future is described as being only a paper thin distance away but still we don't have the strength to turn the page. It is about the Holocaust, about a blind dog named Sammy Davis Junior, about a tour guide with outrageously butchered English, among many other things. It is heart stopping and beautiful and funny and sad and completely original.Two thumbs up says Peggy Lauzon