It’s an abbreviated episode this week as Michael is winding down his sabbatical and spending time at home with 4-month-old Finn. Finn provided his own contribution to this week’s podcast, as you will hear. In an unplanned moment, Ann asks Michael how his plan of reading nothing but graphic novels is working out. If you have children of your own, you will likely not be surprised by Michael’s response.

We want to know: if you had a month off from work, with pay, how would you spend it? Would you plan to read more? Let us know, in the comments or via voicemail.

We do still have two books we can’t wait for you to read: Michael talks about Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian. Chris is a favorite at Books on the Nightstand (you may remember us talking about Skeletons at the Feast) and we love this book. It’s vintage Bohjalian, perfect for fans of his earlier books Midwives and The Double Bind.

I have been waiting to tell you about Things We Didn’t See Coming, a collection of connected stories by Steven Amsterdam. Last fall, I wrote a blog post titled, “What do you say when a book haunts you?”, and it was in response to my reading of this book. Over the few days I was reading this book, I could not stop thinking about the stories, the setting and what was happening between each story. It’s a unique collection of postapocalyptic stories, some may call it dystopic, but I think it’s much gentler than The Road.

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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:

Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian by Shaye Arehart Books hardcover
Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam, Knopf hardcover

photo credit: Chillaxin' by DrewVigal

Lots of bloggers create posts filled with interesting links from around the web. I always read them with interest and usually find a few great sites. It’s unheard of for me to love every link someone posts. Then came Susannah at the Algonquin Books Blog. Her recent post, January’s Why-I-Love-Books Roundup, is just great. Check out the post and the rest of the blog, you won’t be disappointed.

I love it when someone else does all the work for me!

[p.s. Susannah, recommends Book Mooch for trading books. It's a good idea as long as you continue to support your local bookstores!]

We begin today’s podcast hearing from three of our listeners. Shannon, from Ohio, called our voice mail line to weigh in on some of Ann’s E-book comments from episode 60, and to share a favorite novel inspired by a classic. Nicky from Bicester, England wrote to tell us about a book group she started for people with fibromyalgia, a condition that can often make it hard to finish a book. And finally, Kerry told us about two things she’d like to hear more of on Books on the Nightstand: listener recommendations and listener stories (who you are, where you live, what you do, etc.). We’d love to be able to incorporate more of these things into the podcast or blog. Please send us your recommendations for books and tell us a little about yourself while you’re at it! You can use our voice mail line, contact us via e-mail or leave a message in the comments here.

Next up, we discuss books in translation. Through no plan of our own, we seem to have discussed several translated books over the last year, including The Unit, The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, The Glass Room and The Patience Stone.  (Edited: Stuart Allen reminded me that in fact The Glass Room was not translated, but was instead written in English. I knew that, but for some reason think of it as a work in translation, perhaps because those have been my favorite reads of late. Mea culpa, and thank you Stuart.)

A recent article at The Chronicle of Higher Education discusses the difficulties translators have being properly recognized in academia. (Unfortunately, the article is now only available online to subscribers.) Michael mentions A Void by Georges Perec, written in French without using the letter “e” and then translated into English also without that integral letter. Ann fondly remembers Perec’s Life: A User’s Manual which recently came out  in a new translation. Ann also mentions The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the hugely popular book originally written in French.  Other online resources mentioned, both from the University of Rochester: Open Letter, a publishing program that specializes in works in translation; and Three Percent, a resource for international literature.

It’s a very special segment three. Both Michael and Ann have been waiting months to talk about these books. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloottells the previously unknown true story of a poor, African-American woman in the 1950’s whose cells have been the basis for many of the scientific breakthroughs of the past 50 years. (Check out this graphic for a visual representation of their impact.) Ann tries to make sense while conveying her love of Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett, a novel that may well be one of the literary highlights of 2010 — consider yourself forewarned.

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I want it. I don’t own a MacBook or MacBook Pro. I may buy one just so I can get this cover.

Go get yours at Twelve South. They come in red or black.

(We have no affiliation with the company, just severe object lust).

We begin our episode with a discussion of the recent Moby Dick Marathon that took place at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Several of the marathon readers read from a Nook, Barnes & Noble’s e-reader. E-readers were also big at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, where several new models debuted.

Wonderful news! This morning, Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me was awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal. You may remember that I recently announced this as one of my favorite books of 2009 (it was also #6 on the list of our listeners’ faves).

I’m thrilled to know that this book is getting the recognition it so deserves and I hope the award on the front of the book will lead even more people to discover it!

A note to the five Books on the Nightstand listeners who won a signed, first edition of When You Reach Me: make sure you don’t spill coffee on that book!

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There’s been much confusion about how to help the aid efforts in Haiti after the January 12th 7.0 earthquake that has destroyed much of Port au Prince. A reliable guide to reputable, responsible charities who are helping in Haiti comes from Charitynavigator.org.  I’ve chosen to send my contribution to Partners In Health.

Partners In Health was founded by Dr. Paul Farmer, who was profiled in the incredible book  Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.  For the past 20 years, they have been working to bring medical care to the people of Haiti, and Dr. Farmer himself has made incredible personal sacrifices to carry out his life’s work.  If you want to learn more about Haiti and the work that Dr. Farmer has done, I cannot recommend Mountains Beyond Mountains more highly.  It’s an incredibly inspiring book, and when I first read it, made me want to go off and try to save the world. It has even more resonance now.

Reading about Haiti:

Edwidge Danticat is an award-winning author who grew up in Haiti. Her short stories, novels and memoirs will add to the understanding of Haiti’s history and the lives of the people who lived there — those who stayed and those who left to create a better life. You may have seen Edwidge on major news programs speaking about the situation in Haiti. If you are looking for something to read about Haiti in order to get a better understanding of the tough conditions even before the earthquake, I highly recommend any of her work.

KRIK! KRAK! Short stories. A National Book Award finalist, this collection of short stories details daily life in Haiti under dictatorship. “If the news from Haiti is too painful to read, read this book instead and understand the place more deeply than you ever thought possible.” — The Washington Post Book World (review from 1995)

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photo "Red 10" by flickr user Darwin Bell

Our friend and BOTNS listener Melissa has started a reading challenge that intrigues me:  the 10-10-10 Reading Challenge. Read 10 books each in 10 genres that you don’t normally read, and complete it by October 10th, 2010.

I can’t do 10 in each category, but I can try to read one in each category.

Genres I choose:

• Science
• Romance
• Science Fiction
• Indie press
• Self-published
• Business
• Cozy Mystery
• Self-help/psychology
• History
• Classic (pre 1900)

It might be cheating a little, but I already know the history title I am going to read. The others will likely be a combination of work reading and recommendations from bookseller friends. In any event, I’m sure it will be an interesting journey. If you’d like to join me, visit the 10-10-10 Reading Challenge blog and sign up!

(edited to add the 10th category. Evidently one of my challenges for 2010 is to learn how to count.)

Segment one of today’s podcast was inspired by an article about the discovery of a lost civilization in the Amazon. When Michael first saw the headlines, he immediately thought of The Lost City of Z, a book by David Grann that we’ve loved and recommended.  It’s wonderful when something that you’ve read makes you take notice of news and events beyond the pages of the book. This often happens to us with nonfiction, and often changes our level of interest in a topic.

In segment 2, we discuss some great books that were inspired by classic literature. Ann tells how a phobia interfered with her reading of Mary Reilly, a great novel by Valerie Martin that retells the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde, through the eyes of a servant girl in Dr. Jekyll’s household. Michael talks about Dreamhouse, a novel set in current-day but with many parallels to Alice in Wonderland.

The classically-inspired theme carries through to segment 3, Two Books We Can’t Wait For You To Read. Michael talks about Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin, and Ann calls Bloodroot by Amy Greene “an Appalachian Wuthering Heights.”

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(all information is for the U.S. editions).

BOTNS #59: We Hereby Resolve - click to listen or download

Actually, the first resolution is to try and use words other than “fantastic” to describe the books we love. Michelle Kerns at Examiner.com wrote an article titled, “The top 20 most annoying book reviewer cliches and how to use them all in one meaningless review“. It’s a funny article, but also one that we take caution from. We’ll try to watch what we say, and make it meaningful.

By now you’ve likely noticed the changes here at the Books on the Nightstand website. One of the changes that we are most excited about is the Index of all of the books we’ve talked about or written about since the blog was founded. The index is the most-frequently requested feature from our readers and listeners, and I’m thrilled that we have been able to put it together. This would not have been possible without our team of volunteers at the Books on the Nightstand Goodreads group — a huge thank you to Eric, Linda,  Sidweena, Suzanne, Tanya and Trish.

If you have anything you’d like to see here at Books on the Nightstand, please let us know. We can’t promise we’ll be able to do everything, but we will try where possible. As always, you can contact us through the commenting here on the blog, through our voicemail number, or via email.

If your New Year’s resolution is to save money, we can help with that: in segment 2 we focus on great books that will be published in paperback this month. Some of our favorites are here, but also one or two books that you haven’t yet heard us talk about. The dates we’ve listed below are the dates the books will be in US bookstores, and I’m sure that your favorite local bookstore will happily take a pre-order now.

• Mistress of the Monarchy by Alison Weir (January 5th)
• The Unwritten by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (January 12th)
• Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips (January 12th)
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (January 19th)
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (January 26th)
• The Lost City of Z by David Grann (January 26th)

Today’s episode marks the return of one of your favorite segments, Two Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read.  Ann talks about Noah’s Compass, the new novel from Anne Tyler, a novel about the connections between people and the strange relationships that we often have with those around us. Michael tells us about The Privileges by Jonathan Dee, a wonderfully-written novel with very real characters that Michael could not stop reading.

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