Yes, it's that time of year again.  "Black Friday" is almost upon us--it's time to buy presents -- and what better present is there than a good book?

I'll be adding regular posts to this, our annual Holiday Book List, but all of you are welcome to do so as well, We want recommendations in all genres, and in fact and fiction alike.  What books will you be wanting for yourself?  And which ones will you be giving to friends, relatives and significant others?

Speak up!

For someone who wants to spend time with wise and gentle-hearted people, I cannot recommend Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Home enough. Beautiful.

For people with short attention spans, any of the Best American Short Stories series or collections by masters like Raymond Carver, Alice Munro, Haruki Murakami or T.C. Boyle.

For mystery readers looking to expand their world, the Scandinavian mysteries by Karin Fossum and Asa Larsson, the Icelandic ones by Arnaldur Indridason, the French ones by Fred Vargas, the Italian ones by Gianrico Carofiglio, Donna Leon and Andrea Camilleri, or the City Noir series published by Akashic Publishing.

For YA lovers, there are two connected ones by Catherine Murdock, Dairy Queen and The Off Season, and two by Neal Shusterman, The Schwa was Here and Antsy Does Time.

And for all the Twilight lovers, I wish they would look into Jane Eyre and the Brontes, who invented this kind of desperate love story.