Hi Everyone-

Well, Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so the season is officially upon us. We look forward to seeing all of you in the stores for the holiday shopping season!

The other book buyers and I spent much of our lead-up time to the season preparing out annual Holiday Gift Guide, which is hitting the stores this week. We sorted carefully through all the publishers' lists to make sure we'd picked out what we truly think are the most worthy titles of the season. We firmly believe this is the only basis on which to choose books in which our customers can trust, and it's why we work so hard on the guide every year. After we choose the titles, we send them out to the staff at all the stores, so that the blurbs that describe the books (as well as music and gifts) in the guide are written by actual people who are real fans of what they describe.

The buyers and I stand strongly behind every title in the guide as a worthy gift. But of course we all have our own favorites. Here are just a few of my personal highlights from this year's Holiday Gift Guide:

Galatoire's Cookbook by Melvin Rodrigue: The famed New Orleans institution finally gets its due in this lavishly produced and illustrated cookbook featuring food that is almost as gorgeous on the page as it is in real life.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion: As I've previously mentioned in this space, this is one of the most powerful and profound examples of the personal memoir I've ever read, as Didion recounts her process of coping with the death of her husband and the illness of her daughter.

Mencken by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers: The life of the wildly iconoclastic and brilliantly sardonic Baltimore native is told in all its fascinating, incredibly well-researched detail.

The Elements of Style Illustrated by Strunk and White/Maria Kalman: I have to admit: when I first looked at this book in the catalogue last spring, my initial reaction was, "Why?" It wasn't until I held this extremely handsome book in my hands that I realized what a perfect bit of synergy it is to combine Maria Kalman's gorgeous illustrations with this definitive treatise on writing.

The Bowl Is Already Broken by Mary Kay Zuraleff: One of my favorites from earlier in the year, this novel is chock full of local appeal. While the museum's name is never mentioned, the book is clearly set at the Freer Gallery of Art, right on the National Mall. And the plot is such fun: the "Castle" plans to turn the museum into a food court, and things get worse when a curator accidently smashes a priceless bowl at a high-profile ceremony. But was it the accident it seemed? The ideal gift for those who follow the local art scene.

On Beauty and Shalimar the Clown by Zadie Smith and Salman Rushdie: As I mentioned a few weeks ago, these were two of the highlights of one of the most amazing fall fiction seasons in years. Both are absolute must-reads.

The Smaller Majority by Piotr Nasrecki: This book was the talk of the Independent Bookseller Consortium's meeting back in May, and after it arrived, I could really see why: it features some of the most lovely, detailed, hyper-close-up photos of insects and other small creatures that I've ever seen, anywhere.

The Root of Wild Madder by Brian Murphy: The sleeper hit of the summer, which just keeps selling and selling, is a fascinating look at the history and production of Persian carpets.

Matisse the Master by Hilary Spurling: Again, this is a book whose praises I have already sung in this space. Suffice it to say that this great second volume of Spurling's definitive life of Matisse is one of the most significant, necessary, and beautfully written art biographies of all time. A masterpiece worthy of the master himself.

New Art City by Jed Perl: As I've said, I love art biographies in general, and particularly those that focus on a nexus of genius, in this case, Manhattan in the 1950's. This incredibly in-depth study/history/biography features such grand artists and characters as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Joseph Cornell, and Andy Warhol.

Finally, the guide is filled with dozens of great stocking stuffers, but I had to point out: Philip Marlowe's Guide to Life by Raymond Chandler, ed. by Martin Asher. This nifty little quote book features the wit and wisdom of the world's quippiest detective, Philip Marlowe, whose observations on every conceivable topic are as true as they are droll and hardboiled. Great for fans, but will also make converts.

...that's only a small handful of the great titles in the guide. The Guide itself landed in my lap as I was writing this, and I can say that thanks to the production and marketing departments, it's the most gorgeous one we've ever produced. Please stop by and grab a copy, so you can see for yourself what we think are the season's hottest titles—and why!

-Joe Murphy, Head Book Buyer

Hi Everyone-

Well, we're all getting ready for (and looking forward to!) the holidays here at Olsson's. Our Holiday Gift Guide will be hitting the stores soon, and we're sure you'll like it—it's chock full of great gifts for the season that we selected with our customers in mind.

As for myself, I've finally discovered Sherlock Holmes. I'd read The Hound of the Baskervilles many years ago and remember liking it, but I had never pursued the Holmes novels and stories any further. What finally turned me on to the work now was reading Julian Barnes' forthcoming (in January) novel Arthur and George, an amazing retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle's involvement in trying to right a terrible miscarriage of justice around the turn of the (twentieth) century. I'll tell you more about this book when it hits the stores, but suffice it to say, it's brilliant, and it got me very interested in the actual Holmes stories.

So I dug out my copy of a title we featured in last year's Holiday Gift Guide, The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volume 2. It's a beautiful slipcased edition of two volumes, featuring every Holmes short story, along with extensive illustrations and amazing annotations.

I say amazing because the annotations, by Leslie S. Klinger, really do add a whole extra dimension to the Holmes "canon." Besides providing valuable historical information, the annotations also serve to document the incredibly loving detail with which Holmes fans and scholars (there's hardly a difference) view the work. Here's what I learned, and all you Holmes fans out there, forgive my previous ignorance: the Holmes stories are essentially viewed as historical documents recorded by John Watson and transcribed by Doyle. Therefore, any indiscrepencies in the texts (and there are more than a few) regarding historical and scientific accuracy, chronology, or even character names, must therefore be reconciled. So what would appear to the layman to be simple lapses in fictional continuity are to Holmes fans lapses in the historical record which must be explaned. I'd say explained rationally, but you should read some of the explanations of why, say, Dr. Watson's wife once addresses him as James rather than John, or a goose that has a diamond in its gullet (don't ask) doesn't have the right type of gullet (a "crop") for that to occur. The annotations, which cover all such theories, as well as fascinating insight into Victorian and Edwardian London, publication information, details comparing information between the stories and novels, and more, truly transform the entire reading experience. I've found myself (pleasurably) lost in the world of Holmes (and yes, the stories alone are well worth the price of the book) and his devoted following ever since picking the book up.

...And the set is completed this fall with the publication of the third volume of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, featuring all the Holmes novels, including The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign of Four, A Study in Scarlet, and The Valley of Fear. The novels are every bit as beloved as the stories, and I can't wait to plunge into this new volume as well. It's featured in this year's Holiday Gift Guide, and it's just as beautiful as the original set: it features its own slip case, has its own great illustrations, and of course, those fascinating, quirky, revealing annotations. I highly recommend both great sets!

I'm signing off now, before I give in to making some sort of "the game is afoot" reference.

See you in the stores,

-Joe Murphy, Head Book Buyer

Hi Everyone-

I love the occasional mystery, so I'd like to take this chance to sing the praises of the great Ruth Rendell, my favorite contemporary mystery author. I remember the first novel of hers I ever read—Anna's Book, written under her psuedonym of Barbara Vine. This was about a dozen years ago, and I remember coming in every day and talking to my colleague Deana, who had finished the book about a week before I started it. I must have driven her to distraction with my guesses about the solutions to the novel's various secrets—and of course I didn't want her to tell me whether I was right or wrong.

I'm having that sort of experience again with Rendell's new novel Thirteen Steps Down. Rendell can really portray some dark characters, and this book is a sort of stalkers' roundelay: a very creepy young man is stalking a supermodel, who pines away for her next-door neighbor, while the first stalker's landlady is trying to resume a "relationship" with a mere aquaintance from fifty years ago. I'm about two-thirds of the way through, and I can't wait to see what happens next. Rendell is both a master plotter and a brilliant portrayer of character, and I highly recommend this new book, as well as her many other titles, including those written under the name of Barbara Vine. Rendell/Vine has one other great ability—she can plant a secret in a novel that's right in front of you that you just can't see for looking. For me, that's the hallmark of a great mystery writer.

-Joe Murphy, Head Book Buyer