Best books 2005

Shakespeare and sharks. Mad guitarists and not-so-mad scientists. A history of post?World War II Europe and a novel-as-history of Europe before and during the war. Sound intriguing? The 28 books on LJ's best books list for 2005 cover all this and more. In addition, you'll find an enhanced selection of top genre fiction; this year, we've spiced up the proceedings by adding thrillers to the ?Best? list. And ?Best How-To? returns after last year's successful debut.

Ackroyd, Peter. Shakespeare: The Biography. Nan. A. Talese: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-51139-6. $32.50.

Shakespeare biographies are to publishing what the little black dress is to fashion: they never go out of style. In this magnum opus, British historian Ackroyd wastes no time in convincing us what impossible-to-confirm facts we should go by, instead delving deeply and passionately into the world that surrounded and inspired the greatest man of letters. No stone is left unturned and no reader unaffected. (LJ 8/05 )

Brookes, Tim. Guitar: An American Life. Grove. ISBN 0-8021-1796-1. $24.

For every ?proper? guitar player out there, there are 50 air guitarists, all of them part of a long social history that NPR commentator Brookes recounts for the first time here. In his quest to replace his beloved Fylde, he combines the wisdom and wisecracks of master luthier Rick Davis with the stories of players nameless and famous. A most democratic passion sounds loud and clear. (LJ 4/1/05)

Casey, Susan. The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks. Holt. ISBN 0-8050-7581-X. $25.

Just 30 miles west of San Francisco lie the barren and spooky Farallon Islands, where every September the largest concentration of great white sharks in the world gathers to feed on the local seals. On their tails are the dedicated biologists who seek to understand these mysterious creatures better. Part natural history, part adventure story, this is a gripping, unforgettable read. (Web-exclusive review, LJ 7/5/05)

Clarke, Erskine. Dwelling Place: A Plantation Epic. Yale Univ. ISBN 0-300-10867-2. $35.

Slaveholders in antebellum Georgia, Charles Colcock Jones and his family have been expertly studied before (in Robert Manson Myers's 1972 National Book Award winner, Children of Pride ). But Clarke digs further into the primary sources, meticulously tracing the intertwined stories of enslaved and enslavers, the latter aware of their sins as oppressors yet ultimately unable to renounce their way of life. With building power, a multigenerational chronicle of heartbreak unfolds in white and black. (LJ 9/15/05)

Cross, Charles R. Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix. Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0028-6. $24.95.

Cross (Heavier Than Heaven ) took the road less traveled by biographers, using an economy of words in the context of several years' research. The result exudes empathy and respect for a musician who has too often been mythologized and, in effect, dehumanized. Here you'll meet Hendrix's impoverished though persevering family?his troubled mother, father, brothers, and sisters. And, for the first time, you'll meet Jimi. (LJ 7/05)

Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed. Viking. ISBN 0-670-03337-5. $29.95.

Diamond's Pulitzer Prize?winning Guns, Germs, and Steel examined the environmental and technological factors that led to the predominance of Western civilizations. In his equally impressive follow-up, he studies the collapse of past societies?Easter Island, the Maya and Anasazi, and a Viking colony in Greenland?and offers ideas on how we might avoid their tragic fate. (LJ 2/15/05)

Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4314-X. $23.95.

Some may say that to draw inspiration for writing from one's own life is too easy, but those who have done so know better. This is more than a memoir about a well-known writer's acceptance of her husband's death and her daughter's devastating illness. It is a fragile narrative of an equally fragile woman standing naked before herself and allowing grief to lead the way. (LJ 9/1/05)

Doyon, Stephanie. The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole. S. & S. ISBN 0-7432-7133-5 [ISBN 978-0-7432-7133-2]. $24.

Why would anyone want to be the Greatest Man in a sad-sack town inhabited by losers and underachievers? But golden boy Robert Cutler strives year after year to be Cedar Hole's model citizen until a tragic accident gives his overshadowed rival, Francis ?Spud? Pinkham, a chance to prove his worth. A charming and touching adult debut from young adult author Doyon, who once studied with Richard Russo. (LJ 7/05)

Eames, Andrew. The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie. Overlook, dist. by Penguin Group (USA). ISBN 1-58567-673-X. $24.95.

In 2002, British journalist Eames boarded the Orient Express in London and embarked on a journey across Europe into Asia. His mission was not impossible but highly ambitious: to re-create Agatha Christie's 1928 journey from London to Iraq, which inspired her novel Murder on the Orient Express . The result is at once a reverent yet clear-headed tribute to Christie and a travelog of the highest order. (LJ 5/15/05)

Fox, William Price. Satchel Paige's America. Univ. of Alabama. ISBN 0-8173-5189-2. pap. $16.95.

Novelist Fox here returns to early 1970s Kansas City, MO, where he'd been sent to write an article on baseball pitching great Satchel Paige. Following Paige from bowling alley bars to barbecue joints to his home, Fox listened to a man who never stopped pitching stories?even as he plotted his next barnstorming tour of small-town baseball diamonds. Now we have a lively, moving, and often hilarious tale of an encounter 30 years ago and of a life richly led. (Baseball roundup, LJ 2/1/05)

Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. S. & S. ISBN 0-684-82490-6 [ISBN 978-0-684-82490-1]. $35.

After a professional stumble in 2002, Goodwin redeems herself with this page-turner in which Lincoln gains the 1860 Republican presidential nomination over the leading contenders?Salmon P. Chase, Edward S. Bates, and William H. Seward, characterized here with force and depth?and then invites them to join his cabinet. This gesture of conciliation, emblematic of Lincoln's skills, enabled him to forge a leadership that could reckon with the Union's disintegration. Related by a magnificent storyteller, this history reads like one of those 19th-century novels you can't put down. (LJ 10/15/05)

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4339-5. $24.

In still, exquisitely rendered language, Kathy H. recalls her lost youth with difficult Ruth and sweet, confused Tommy at Hailsham, an English estate one might call idyllic?were the students not clones who in later life will be harvested for their vital organs. What's horrific about this scenario is that the protagonists aren't so horrified; how shattering to realize that we can be so easily bent. (LJ 1/05)

Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). ISBN 1-59420-065-3. $39.95.

Judt thinks like a fox?he knows many things?in this sweeping account of Europe's battle back from the brink in the wake of World War II. Eschewing simplistic pronouncements, Judt views the continent's triumphs (and disasters) as a series of choices made by men and not a historic inevitability or unaccounted for miracle. The result is history as it should be: convincingly argued, formidably researched, and riveting from first to last. (LJ 10/1/05)

Koeppel, Dan. To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession. Hudson Street. ISBN 1-59463-001-1. $24.95.

In the course of 25 years, the author's father traveled to more than 60 countries and saw over 7000 of the world's 9600 bird species, an accomplishment achieved only by ten other people. The price he paid? A broken marriage and two estranged sons. In trying to understand this obsession, nature writer Koeppel eventually reconciles with his distant father. Poignant and absorbing. (LJ 5/1/05)

Kotz, Nick. Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America. Houghton. ISBN 0-618-08825-3. $26.

The genesis of the 1960s Civil Rights legislation is here told by casting light on its two major architects, with the crafty LBJ revealed as an idealist and King the humanitarian as a savvy politician. The vivid story transforms readers into listeners who could swear they are actually hearing the voices of these two great and complex men in that time before the Vietnam war overtook the Johnson White House and the Civil Rights war killed King. (LJ 11/15/04)

Leeman, Richard. Cy Twombly. Flammarion, dist. by Rizzoli. ISBN 2-080-30483-6. $125.

Few will dispute the contribution Cy Twombly has made to 20th-century art, but he remains something of an enigma; his unparalleled melding of painting, drawing, and writing to articulate both memory and desire has always defied categorization. Finally, the man gets the respect he deserves in this lavish monograph. Art historian Leeman interprets Twombly's oeuvre both thematically and chronologically, producing the most complete study of the artist to date. (LJ 9/1/05)

McEwan, Ian. Saturday. Nan A. Talese: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-51180-9. $26.

On Saturday morning, London neuro­surgeon Henry Perowne has a minor fender bender with irascible lowlife Baxter, and by evening Baxter and his cohorts have invaded Henry's house, a trespass so painfully and realistically rendered that it's almost unbearable to witness. Although superbly polished, the book is prickly with uneasy issues, and the tension here is palpable. (LJ 3/15/05)

Miller, Arthur I. Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes. Houghton. ISBN 0-618-34151-X [ISBN 978-0-618-34151-1]. $26.

Behind science's greatest discoveries lie great human dramas. In 1935, leading astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington publicly rejected Indian mathematician Chandra's theory of black holes, setting back the course of physics for almost 40 years. Science historian Miller's engrossing account examines the reasons for Eddington's antagonism and reveals how Chandra was eventually vindicated with a Nobel prize. (LJ 4/1/05)

Milton, Edith. The Tiger in the Attic: Memories of the Kindertransport and Growing Up English. Univ. of Chicago. ISBN 0-226-52946-0. $22.50.

This multilayered enchantment is both a memoir of a German Jewish childhood transformed under the care of a family in England during World War II and a bracing rumination on the contours of remembrance, coping with destiny's odd turns, and reckoning with family and loss. Milton's descriptive prose, by turns witty and acutely empathetic, is among the most accomplished you're likely to encounter. (LJ 10/1/05)

Moehringer, J.R. The Tender Bar. Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0064-2. $23.95.

Those few among us who can claim to have been raised in a bar often remember only the stench of alcohol and a childhood deprived of innocence. Not Moehringer. In this poignant memoir about growing up in Manhasset, NY, the Pulitzer Prize winner declares, ?Long before it legally served me, the bar saved me.? To a fatherless boy like him, it was the only place where he felt safe and understood. (LJ 9/1/05)

Pears, Iain. The Portrait. Riverhead: Putnam. ISBN 1-57322-298-4. $19.95.

An unnamed artist who has exiled himself from glittering early 1900s London paints the portrait of the critic friend who made his career, recalling their shared past and the sitter's irredeemable sins in darkly escalating language. In this startling departure from his weighty literary thrillers, Pears accomplishes the near-impossible: he turns relentless monolog into a chilling tour de force. (LJ 3/1/05)

Schickel, Richard. Elia Kazan: A Biography. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-019579-7 [ISBN 978-0-06-019579-3]. $29.95.

Film scholar Schickel is a man on a mission?to break through the rancor surrounding Kazan's House Un-American Activities Committee testimony and reveal the gifted director of stage and screen. No doubt he falters by overdefending his subject, but the moment passes because Schickel focuses his steely passion on Kazan's considerable oeuvre. Skeptics and believers alike will embrace this distinctly American artist. (LJ 9/15/05)

Smith, Zadie. On Beauty. Penguin Pr: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 1-59420-063-7. $25.95.

More than beauty, it is love that binds together art professor Howard Belsey, African American wife Kiki, and their three complicated children. And it's love that threatens to tear them apart. Smith completely revivifies a range of complex topics, from adolescent angst to identity politics, but the book's greatest gift is its perceptive and keenly felt portrait of a family remaking itself. (LJ 8/05)

Spitz, Bob. The Beatles. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-80352-9. $29.95.

Too much is not enough for most Beatles fans, but Spitz's eight-year, 900-page magnum opus will not cause the reading equivalent of obesity. This feast of anecdote and detail manages to go down lightly thanks to jaunty (if occasionally melodramatic) writing. Sample your favorite eras?the lads' Liverpool youths are especially juicy?or devour them all in good time. (LJ 9/15/05)

Stevenson, Talitha. Exposure. Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-101162-1. $24.

Stylish yet penetrating, this work portrays the Langford family?the picture of smug contentment until an attack on noted judge Alistair unlocks a lifetime of deception. Meanwhile, immigrant couple Goran and Mila, the pet project of Langford son Luke, struggle with fictions of their own. A morality tale? Yes, but this is especially affecting as a portrait of people who perpetually sabotage themselves. (LJ 8/05)

Van Ronk, Dave with Elijah Wald. The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir. Da Capo. ISBN 0-306-81407-2. $26.

If you thought Bob Dylan's Chronicles emanated atmosphere, try Van Ronk's salty, seamless, and often hilarious re-creation of Greenwich Village during the blues and folk revival of the 1960s. Where His Bobness could be frustratingly oblique, Van Ronk?a beloved guitarist/songwriter in his own right?is concrete to the point of 3-D. The ?mystical? veil shrouding the era is thrown back to reveal kids fumbling at art, sex, and politics. (LJ 6/1/05)

Vollmann, William. Europe Central. Viking. ISBN 0-670-03392-8. $39.95.

Slated as an LJ Best Book even before it won the National Book Award, Vollmann's rich and original work links the stories of those giants of 20th-century totalitarianism, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Creating (or re-creating) the voices of artists, generals, and ordinary folk, Vollmann doesn't write historical fiction but history as fiction. A breathtaking accomplishment.

Ward, Peter. Life As We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life. Viking. ISBN 0-670-03458-4. $25.95.

From the tiniest microbe to the largest mammal, life as we know it on Earth is DNA-based. But what if there are other ?alien? life forms here and out there in the universe? It might sound like science fiction, but Ward, a principal investigator for NASA's Astrobiology Institute, reports on the cutting-edge research that seeks to redefine life. Especially provocative is his proposal for a new taxonomy open to nonearth and synthetic life forms. (LJ 11/15/05)

Best Genre Fiction 2005 Tania Barnes, Margaret Heilbrun, Barbara Hoffert, Heather McCormack, Mirela Roncevic, Wilda Williams LJ 's tenth annual list, selected by Rex Klett (Mystery), Jackie Cassada (SF/Fantasy), Kristin Ramsdell (Romance), Tamara Butler (Christian Fiction), and Jeff Ayers (Thrillers)

Mystery

Aubert, Rosemary. Red Mass: An Ellis Portal Mystery. Bridge Works. ISBN 1-882593-96-0. $23.95; pap. ISBN 1-882593-95-2. $15.95.

Aubert concludes the up-and-down career of series star Ellis Portal, a disgraced Toronto judge turned homeless sleuth turned reestablished lawyer, with more elegant twists and turns. A worthy finale to an excellent series. (LJ 6/1/05)

Fulmer, David. Jass: A Valentin St. Cyr Mystery. Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-101025-0 [ISBN 978-0-15-101025-7]. $23.

Fulmer's successful follow-up to his smashing debut, Chasing the Devil's Tail , captures the ragtime spirit of 1908 New Orleans in literate and readable prose as his Creole PI hunts the serial killer of local jazz musicians. (LJ 12/04)

Gaspar de Alba, Alicia. Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders. Arte Público. ISBN 1-55885-446-0 [ISBN 978-1-55885-446-8]. $23.95.

This incisive mystery featuring a Latina protagonist offers a powerful portrait of social injustice and serial murder along the U.S.?Mexico border. (LJ 3/1/05)

Geagley, Brad. Year of the Hyenas: A Novel of Murder in Ancient Egypt. S. & S. ISBN 0-7432-5080-X [ISBN 978-0-7432-5080-1]. $23.

Ancient Egyptian beliefs and detailed, exotic surrounds provide the setting for the timeless human traits that lead to murder. A lively historical debut starring a unique, energetic investigator. (LJ 1/05)

Levack, Simon. Demon of the Air: An Aztec Mystery. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-34834-7 [ISBN 978-0-312-34834-2]. $23.95.

British author Levack's award-winning debut offers a wonderfully detailed re-creation of the Aztec civilization, juxtaposing its ancient beliefs with ?modern? intrusions (in the form of Cortés and the ?pale faces?). (LJ 9/1/05)

SF & Fantasy

Bisson, Terry. Numbers Don't Lie. Tachyon, dist. by Independent Pub. Group. ISBN 1-892391-32-5 [ISBN 978-1-892391-32-2]. pap. $14.95.

Three tales about the enigmatic, eclectic Wilson Wu, narrated by his friend Irving, explore an interdimensional doorway leading from a Brooklyn junkyard to the moon, a temporal pocket in Alabama that heralds the end of the universe, and an homage to the Butterfly Effect involving a wedding that almost doesn't happen. Bisson's fresh and original perspective makes him a leading writer of comic speculative fiction. (LJ 12/05)

Clarke, Arthur C. & Stephen Baxter. Sunstorm. Del Rey: Ballantine. (Time Odyssey, Bk. 2). ISBN 0-345-45250-X [ISBN 978-0-345-45250-4]. $25.95.

The best of disaster adventure fiction and hard sf combine in this compelling sequel to Time's Eye as British officer Bisesa Dutt and a group of specialists attempt to save Earth from a mammoth sunstorm threatening to destroy it in five years. (LJ 3/15/05)

Cross, Janine. Touched by Venom. ROC: NAL. (Dragon Temple Saga, Bk. 1). ISBN 0-451-46048-0 [ISBN 978-0-451-46048-6]. pap. $14.

An independent-minded young woman in a male-dominated society angers the Dragon Temple's dragonmasters, bringing disaster on her family and clan and setting the girl on an odyssey that will change her world. The jungle setting and tribal civilizations of this exciting debut novel vividly evoke the rain forests of Africa and South America. (LJ 11/15/05)

Eschbach, Andreas. The Carpet Makers. Tor. ISBN 0-7653-0593-3 [ISBN 978-0-7653-0593-0]. $24.95.

The carpet makers of Yahannochia spend their lives making carpets from the hair of their women relatives to adorn the emperor's palace beyond the stars. Disturbing rumors and a visitor from another world lead to an astonishing discovery about the carpets' true purpose. Brought to Tor's attention by sf writer Orson Scott Card, this 1996 German novel elegantly conveys the conflict between tradition and change. (LJ 3/15/05)

Palwick, Susan. The Necessary Beggar. Tor. ISBN 0-7653-1097-X [ISBN 978-0-7653-1097-2]. $24.95.

Found guilty of murder, Darroti is exiled, along with his family, from his idyllic homeworld to contemporary Earth, where they start their lives over as refugees. Palwick's first novel in a decade highlights the power of forgiveness and integrity. (LJ 10/15/05)

Romance

Goodman, Jo. A Season To Be Sinful. Zebra: Kensington. ISBN 0-8217-7775-0 [ISBN 978-0-8217-7775-6]. pap. $6.50.

A female footpad who saves the life of a nobleman finds love, as well as inevitable danger, when she and the three street urchins she ?protects? end up in the care of the grateful viscount. Passion, humor, and memorable characters add warmth to a romance that delves into the Regency period's seamier aspects and the darker side of human nature. (LJ 8/05)

James, Eloisa. Kiss Me, Annabel. Avon. ISBN 0-06-073210-5 [ISBN 978-0-06-073210-3]. pap. $6.99.

A lovely young aristocrat sets out to find an appropriate husband?preferably rich, English, and pleasant?and ends up with an impoverished, take-charge Scotsman instead. This second volume in James's ?Essex Sisters? series is an intelligent, beautifully written romance with a large cast of fascinating characters. (LJ 11/15/05)

Landis, Jill Marie. Heartbreak Hotel. Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-45330-1 [ISBN 978-0-345-45330-3]. $23.95.

In this heartwarming conclusion to Landis's ?Twilight Cove? trilogy, a widow works to restore a derelict hotel along the California coast and happens upon a new life?and a new love?with the help of the resident ghost. (LJ 4/15/05)

Moore, Kate. Sexy Lexy. Love Spell: Dorchester. ISBN 0-505-52623-9 [ISBN 978-0-505-52623-6]. pap. $6.99.

A popular fitness guru seeks anonymity as an inn owner in a coastal town and discovers love with the local handyman (and famous architect)?until her sexy workout book blows her cover. This funny romance has a serious core and is historical writer Moore's first foray into the contemporary arena. (LJ 4/15/05)

Phillips, Susan Elizabeth. Match Me If You Can. Morrow. ISBN 0-06-079355-8. $24.95.

Phillips is in top form in a hilarious romp that mixes a heroine desperate to save her inherited matchmaking business and a superstar sports agent hero too busy to find his own bride, throws in a rival matchmaker for good measure, and lets the sparks fly. (LJ 6/1/05)

Christian Fiction

Alexander, Hannah. Last Resort. Steeple Hill. ISBN 0-373-78540-2 [ISBN 978-0-373-78540-7]. pap. $12.95.

Former nurse Noelle Cooper is again having premonitions that someone she loves is in danger. When she discovers that her 12-year-old cousin is missing, Noelle knows she must return to Hideaway, a place that represents pain and sorrow for her. Reminiscent of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones , this intelligent mystery will keep readers engrossed. (LJ 6/1/05)

Austin, Lynn. All She Ever Wanted. Bethany. ISBN 0-7642-2889-7 [ISBN 978-0-7642-2889-6]. pap. $13.99.

Mother-daughter relationships are explored in this captivating tale about a dysfunctional family and one daughter's decision to confront her difficult past in an attempt to save her relationship with her own teenaged child. (LJ 11/1/05)

Cramer, W. Dale. Levi's Will. Bethany. ISBN 0-7642-2995-8 [ISBN 978-0-7642-2995-4]. pap. $13.99.

This 2005 Christy Award?winning author (Bad Ground ) pens another first-rate yarn set in an Old Amish community in 1940s Ohio. Cramer's ability to create flawed but sympathetic male protagonists in complex story lines makes this a winner. (LJ 6/1/05)

Lewis, Beverly. The Preacher's Daughter. Bethany. (Annie's People, Bk. 1). ISBN 0-7642-0105-0 [ISBN 978-0-7642-0105-9]. pap. $13.99.

Lewis returns to Amish life in her absorbing new series, focusing on Annie Zook, whose passion for art conflicts with her Amish community's beliefs. Through her friendship with ?Englisher? pen pal Louisa Stratford, Annie tries to decide which path she must take in life. (LJ 11/1/05)

Mazzarella, Nicole. This Heavy Silence. Paraclete. ISBN 1-55725-425-7 [ISBN 978-1-55725-425-2]. $21.95.

Dottie Connell's obsession to own the farmland her family has worked for her whole life forces her to make moral choices that will affect both herself and her ward, the child of her deceased best friend. This finalist in the Paraclete Press fiction contest is an understated literary gem.

Thrillers

Berry, Steve. The Third Secret. Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-47613-1 [ISBN 978-0-345-47613-5]. $24.95.

Best-selling author Berry moves from Russia (The Amber Room; The Romanov Prophecy ) to the Vatican with this intriguing and timely look at the election of a new pope. Did Pope John Paul II reveal the full Fatima secret in 2000?

Child, Lee. One Shot: A Jack Reacher Novel. Delacorte. ISBN 0-385-33668-3 [ISBN 978-0-385-33668-0]. $25.

A man who despises Jack Reacher must rely on his help after he is accused of shooting five people. This superior thriller shows Child at the top of his game. (LJ 3/15/05)

Connelly, Michael. The Lincoln Lawyer. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-73493-4 [ISBN 978-0-316-73493-6]. $26.95.

Connelly moves into John Grisham territory with his first legal thriller. Mickey Haller, whose office is in an automobile, defends a seemingly innocent client. (LJ 10/1/05)

Ellis, David. In the Company of Liars. Putnam. ISBN 0-399-15247-4. $24.95.

A legal thriller told in reverse so the story starts at the end and leads to a shocking opening, this is one roller-coaster ride of a read. (LJ 3/15/05)

Preston, Douglas. Tyrannosaur Canyon. Forge: Tor. ISBN 0-7653-1104-6 [ISBN 978-0-7653-1104-7]. $24.95.

The search for a rare fossil leads to death and a deadly secret. An absorbing science-based thriller that puts Michael Crichton to shame. (LJ 7/05)

Best How-To 2005 Tania Barnes, Margaret Heilbrun, Barbara Hoffert, Heather McCormack, Mirela Roncevic, Wilda Williams LJ 's second annual list, selected by columnists Deborah Bigelow (self-help), Karen Ellis (do it yourself), Constance Ashmore Fairchild (crafts), Daniel Lombardo (art instruction), Judith Sutton (cookery), Gayle Williamson (interior design), and Janice Zlendich (fiber crafts).

Anzovin, Steve & Raf Anzovin. 3D Toons: Creative 3D Design for Cartoonists and Animators. Barron's. ISBN 0-7641-2951-1. pap. $24.95. ART INSTRUCTION (LJ 11/15/05)

Campbell, Susan. Saying What's Real: Seven Keys to Authentic Communication and Relationship Success. New World Lib., dist. by Publishers Group West. ISBN 1-932073-12-4. pap. $14.95. SELF-HELP (LJ 2/15/05)

De Angelis, Barbara. How Did I Get Here?: Finding Your Way to Renewed Hope and Happiness When Life and Love Take Unexpected Turns. St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-33015-4. $24.95. SELF-HELP (LJ 7/05)

Ellis, Catharine J. Woven Shibori . Interweave. ISBN 1-931499-67-5. pap. $24.95. FIBER CRAFTS (LJ 12/05)

Flexner, Bob. Understanding Wood Finishing: How To Select and Apply the Right Finish. Reader's Digest. ISBN 0-7621-0621-2. $29.95. DO IT YOURSELF (LJ 9/1/05)

Goin, Suzanne with Teri Gelber. Sunday Suppers at Lucques: Seasonal Recipes from Market to Table. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4215-1. $35. COOKERY (LJ 11/15/05)

Grandcolas, Lauren Catuzzi. You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls. Chronicle. ISBN 0-8118-4635-0. pap. $24.95. SELF-HELP (LJ 5/15/05)

Hector, Valerie. The Art of Beadwork: Historic Inspiration, Contemporary Design. Watson-Guptill. ISBN 0-8230-0307-8. pap. $24.95. CRAFTS (LJ 6/15/05)

Hess, Alan. The Ranch House. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-4346-8. $45. INTERIOR DESIGN (LJ 1/05)

Kafka, Barbara with Chrisopher Styler. Vegetable Love: A Book for Cooks. Artisan. ISBN 1-57965-168-2. $35. COOKERY (LJ 11/15/05)

Melville, Sally. The Knitting Experience. Bk. 3: Color: The Power and the Glory. XRX. ISBN 1-933064-02-1. pap. $24.95. FIBER CRAFTS (LJ 12/05)

Nathan, Joan. The New American Cooking. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4034-5. $35. COOKERY (LJ 11/15/05)

Paul, Tony. How To Create Light in Your Paintings: The Artist's Guide to Using Tone Effectively. New Holland. ISBN 1-84330-707-3. $24.95. ART INSTRUCTION (LJ 7/05)

Robin, Andy & Gregg Kavet. Saving Face: How To Lie, Fake, and Maneuver Your Way Out of Life's Most Awkward Situations. Simon Spotlight Entertainment: S. & S. ISBN 0-689-87890-7. pap. $12.95. SELF-HELP (LJ 5/15/05)

Rothamel, Susan Pickering. The Encyclopedia of Scrapbooking Tools & Techniques. Chapelle: Sterling. ISBN 1-4027-1031-3. $24.95. CRAFTS (LJ 10/15/05)

Schmidt, Franklin & Esther Schmidt. Victorian Kitchens & Baths. Gibbs Smith. ISBN 1-58685-302-3. $39.95. INTERIOR DESIGN (LJ 9/15/05)

Sussman, Julie & Stephanie Glakas-Tenet. Dare To Repair Your Car! HarperResource: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-057700-2. pap. $14.95. DO IT YOURSELF (LJ 9/1/05)

von Bremzen, Anya. The New Spanish Table. Workman. ISBN 0-7611-3994-X. $35; pap. ISBN 0-7611-3555-3. $19.95. COOKERY (LJ 11/15/05)

Wolfert, Paula. The Cooking of Southwest France: Recipes from France's Magnificent Rustic Cuisine. Wiley. ISBN 0-7645-7602-X. $37.50. COOKERY (LJ 11/15/05)

Yue, Rebecca. Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy: A Structured Course in Creating Beautiful Brush Lettering. Watson-Guptill. ISBN 0-8230-0556-9. pap. $24.95. ART INSTRUCTION (LJ 7/05)

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