HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As we ring out the old and ring in the new, we send out hope for a better year. May you be blessed with good health, wealth and prosperity and find comfort in a good book.

The troubling economy of 2008 has cast some gloom on publishing...

"The profound economic pressures felt by American consumers will lead them toward buying fewer books, or even no books at all," said Michael Norris, senior analyst of Simba Information's Trade Books Group.

Lets hope that is not true...
A government bailout isn't in the cards. Booksellers don't lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention
We don't want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let's mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance! Buy Gift Cards good for books.

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they're easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves. Stockpile children's books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they'll be cheaper after Christmas) and buy many, many books. Then tell the grateful booksellers, who by this time will be hanging onto your legs begging you to stay and live with their cat in the stockroom: > Roy Blount Jr. > President Authors Guild

On that note here is a list of our favorite books of 2008

David S

1. Adiga, Aravind. White Tiger

2. Wrobleweski, David. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

3. Greer, Andrew Sean. The Story of a Marriage

4. Bommersbach, Jana. Bones in the Desert

5. Lamb, Wally. The Hour I First Believed

6. Harrison, Jim. The English Major

7. O'Flynn, Catherine. What Was Lost

8. Estleman, Loren. Frames

9. McMahon, Jennifer. Promise Not to Tell

10. Burke, James Lee. Swan Peak

John

1. Ferrigno, Robert. Sins of the Assassin

2. Atkins, Ace. Wicked City

3. Connolly, John. Reapers

4. Cook, Thomas H. Master of the Delta

5. Burke, James Lee. Swan Peak

6. Gischler, Victor. Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse

7. McMurtry, Larry. Books, a Memoir

8. Silva, Daniel. Moscow Rules

9. Hunter, Stephen. Night of Thunder

10. Bulow, Ernie. Uncle Ernie’s Guide to Old Time Rodeo

John Nadeau

1. Ghelfi, Brent. Volk's Shadow

2. Leather, Sephen. Dead Men

3. Burke, James Lee. Swan Peak

4. Gage, Leighton. Blood of the Wicked

5. Ludlum, Robert. Bourne Sanction

6. Demille, Nelson. Gate House

7. White, Randy Wayne. Black Widow

8. Sandford, John. Phantom Prey

9. Winslow, Don. The Dawn Patrol

10. Wambaugh, Joseph. Hollywood Crows

Lea

1. Sakey, Marcus. Good People

2. Caldwell, Joseph. Pig Did

3. Wall, Carolyn. Sweeping Up Glass

4. Floyd, Bill. Killer’s Wife

5. Cain, Chelsea. Sweetheart

6. Lamb, Wally. The Hour I First Believed

7. Grimes, Martha. Dakota

8. Baldacci, David. Divine Justice

9. Deaver, Jeffery. Bodies Left Behind

10. Piccoult, Jodi. Change of Heart

Lorri

1. Caldwell, Joseph. Pig Did It

2. Shaffer, Mary Ann. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

3. Levitt, John. New Tricks

4. Caine, Rachel. Gale Force

5. Millar, Martin. Lonely Werewolf Girl

6. Carey, Mike. Vicious Circle

7. Kent, Kathleen. Heretic's Daughter

8. Edwards, Selden. Little Book

9. Cox, Michael. Glass of Time

10. Morton, Kate. House at Riverton

Pat King

1. Butcher, Jim. Small Favor

2. Caldwell, Joseph. Pig Did It

3. Butcher, Jim. Welcome to the Jungle

4. Hart, John. Down River

5. Johnson, Kim. Monty Pythons Tunisian Holiday

6. Meltzer, Brad. Book of Lies

7. Winspear, Jacqueline. Incomplete Revenge

8. Sakey, Marcus. Good People

9. Koryta, Michael. Envy the Night

10. Falcones, Ildefonso. Cathedral of the Sea

Patrick

1. Grant, Richard. God's Middle Finger

2. OConnell, Jack. Resurrectionist

3. McDonald, Craig. Toros and Torsos

4. Harrington, Kent. Good Physician

5. Connelly, Michael. Brass Verdict

6. Mosley, Walter. Right Mistake

7. Pelecanos, George. Turnaround

8. Revoyr, Nina. Age of Dreaming

9. Zeltserman, Dave. Small Crimes

10. Welsh, Irvine. Crime

Will

1. Bruen, Ken. Once Were Cops

2. Klinger, Leslie S. New Annotated Dracula

3. Connelly, Michael. Brass Verdict

4. Burke, James Lee. Swan Peak

5. Pelecanos, George. Turnaround

6. Ghelfi, Brent. Volk’s Shadow

7. Gischler, Victor. Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse

8. Card, Orson Scott. Ender in Exile

9. Abbott, Megan. Queenpin

10. Le Carre, John. Most Wanted Man