It bears repeating that we are excited about our Holiday Gift Selections for 2007 so please click on the link and browse through them while online to learn which books, movies, and CDs our staff carefully chose as some of the best new gifts available this year. The print copy will be reaching the stores soon. In addition, I suggest two other books of essays you won't want to miss - The New Kings of Nonfiction, edited by Ira Glass and The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys - Great Writers on Great Places.

Ira Glass' distinctive voice is the signature of NPR's This American Life, and many of the essayists and journalists from his new collection, The New Kings of Nonfiction have been featured on that program. His premise in this collection recognizes that there is a new breed of journalist who recognizes that he (or she) is not, cannot be, objective, and that his or her viewpoint might be part of the story, may actually make it more interesting and human to the reader. This is distinct from the New Journalism of the late 60s and early 70s in which writers like Hunter Thompson actually created and became the story. These new writers simply are aware of themselves as people to whom their interview subjects are reacting and responding, and are gifted enough storytellers to share their account in first person rather than claim journalistic omniscience. It's an important development.

Mark Bowden's "Tales of the Tyrant" is a fantastic cultural look into the psychology of Saddam Hussein. David Foster Wallace's reportage of the world of the modern radio talk-show host is actually an insight into his own complex thinking patterns and an example of footnotes and asides gone crazy. And James McManus joined a competitive poker game to report on it, and nearly ended up winning!

While some of the essays in this collection can't really be considered new (Bill Buford's Among the Thugs is old territory now, and Malcolm Gladwell has developed a notoriety that doesn't need Ira Glass' promotion) and in some cases, are honestly dated (Susan Orlean's "The American Male, Age 10" was written in 1992, and 10-year olds fifteen years later are truly a different breed altogether), nonetheless, even in these cases, the book is a compelling reminder of what makes these writers so stylistically unique, gifted, and original in their perspectives. The New Kings of Nonfiction (Riverhead, $15) would be a great gift for a young hipster or budding journalist, or a fantastic way to pass the time on your daily public transportation commute.

Conde Nast Traveler magazine is regarded for providing travel reviews that are unsolicited and for which, as far as possible, the reviewers travel anonymously without receiving special treatment from the places they visit. The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys - Great Writers on Great Places reprints essays by well-known writers that have appeared previously in the magazine. Simon Winchester takes you hiking to the rim of a volcano in the Philippines. Francine Prose walks in the footsteps of Kafka in Prague. Pico Iyer explores the intangible fairy-tale element of Iceland. John Julius Norwich initiates the reader into the Vatican City. James Truman reverently shares the legends, history, and artistry of Iran. These are some of my favorites.

Robert Hughes takes the reader to visit a culture conquered - and appropriated - by Rome, that of the Etruscans. Apparently, much of Roman culture, religion, and political identity was originally Etruscan. Etruscan gods and symbols became Roman. Hughes gives a brief introduction, teaching about their language and what little is known of it, their tombs and paintings ("the greatest corpus of flat painting from the ancient world still in existence"), and where to go when in Italy.

Nicole Krauss and her husband wanted to create a Japanese garden behind their house in Brooklyn, so they traveled to Japan to learn that it may be much harder than they imagined. She describes some beautiful places that they visited as well as sharing the philosophy and history that went into creating these living places of art and meditation. "Our first lesson: Subtle, unpredictable, elusive, a Japanese garden prefers questions to answers."

The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys - Great Writers on Great Places (Penguin, $16) is great for armchair traveling or planning your next off-the-beaten-path adventure!

I realize I'm not going to be able to do these books justice in the time allotted, but I'll see what I can offer in brief. With the Olympics in Beijing next year, the superpower is in the forefront of more people's minds. Jonathan Spence, one of the pre-eminent historians of China writing for an English audience has contributed another book to his formative and formidable body of historical research, Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man ($24.95, Viking Penguin). He focuses on the writings of a formerly wealthy 17th century man Zhang Dai, whose life and property were destroyed by the fighting that tore China apart after the Manchu invasion. Zhang became a subsistence farmer and dedicated the rest of his life to reflection and writing a description of his former world. It provides a useful lens through which to view a critical time in China's history and changing nature as a political entiry. This and any of his previously published books now in paperback would be helpful introductions to China, particularly Treason by the Book and The Gate of Heavenly Peace.

Colin Thubron has written a travelogue/history about the ancient trading routes through Asia called Shadow of the Silk Road ($24.95, HarperCollins). A personal and accessible account, Thubron writes about a journey he took from Xian, the ancient capital city, through Tibet, Central Asia, Iran, and along the border of Syria and Turkey to Antioch. With so many of these historically significant places in the news, his encounters with the present inhabitants and his reflections about the history that filters through are offered in meditative and reflective style. He is a companionable observer and guide to these countries.

Rob Gifford was Beijing correspondent for National Public Radio and is offering his perspective with China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power ($26.95, Random House). This read would be useful background for anyone intending to do business in China, to understand the culture and behavior that one will encounter as well as some of the useful statistics and recent news that will impact interactions. Again this is a personal account, written in the style of a memoir, but nonetheless is full of information that will help the new arrival, and entertain someone interested in the lifestyle of the modern Chinese in Beijing. If you are going to the Olympics next year, this will help prepare you for what you will see and experience when you get there!

Harry Gelber has compiled a sweeping historical survey of China's interaction with other nations, but atypically he includes, but does not focus exclusively on the West, since their encounters with China happened rather late in the historical timeline. Other Asian powers have also contributed to the development of Chinese identity and of course. the Chinese have had a critical role in shaping the region over the millenia. It is written for a more academic audience, but contains useful sidebars of biographies and significant incidents which allow access to the denser material for the casual reader. The Dragon & the Foreign Devils: China and the World 1100 B.C. to the Present ($34.95, Walker & Co). Fascinating and fills many gaps in my world history curriculum.

And then we come to my personal favorite The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth ($26.00, Doubleday/Random House) by Sun Shuyun. As many know, the Red Army's Long March in 1934 of over 8,000 miles fleeing from Chiang Kaishek's Nationalist troops over mountains through swamps and prairies is the stuff of legends and myths. It is a nation-building story embedded deep in the Communist Chinese consciousness. And it can only be spoken of in superlatives referring to the endurance, strength, determination, and courage of the marchers. Only one-fifth survived, but finally, they reassembled in the Yellow Plateau in the northwest of China and prepared to fight back. Children are raised on this story, with films poetry, and songs dedicated to the Long March, much as our country also has it's heroic myth creation.

So Sun Shuyun set out to find out as much as she could , how much was true? How did the marchers survive? Were they welcomed by the peasants or were they exploitative? She followed their trail and interviewed witnesses and participants who are advancing in age, but have vivid memories of that time. And it is fascinating even for those of us who have had no exposure previously. Sun Shuyun is a compelling and engaging guide, shifting back and forth between her experience of meeting these men and many women, who were devoted to the cause, or simply trying to survive, and their own incredible accounts, of heroism and admissions of their own humanity. A great read, I highly recommend this book.

Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food for Millionaires, one of my favorite books this year, will be appearing at U.S.-Korea Institute of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) next week, and Olsson’s will be supplying the books. You can attend, and here is why you should. . .

Min Jin Lee’s first novel Free Food for Millionaires (Warner Books) has received glowing reviews and much deserved comparisons to Philip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus and Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, and while different in tone and theme, similarities are there – the drive of the children of immigrants to prove themselves and live up to the ideals of their parents, in spite of the temptations of wealth, power, and seduction in a golden age in Manhattan. But Min Jin Lee has a unique and distinct voice.

As Liesl Schillinger described in the New York Times Book Review, Ms. Lee has crafted “an energetic eventfulness and a sprawling cast that call to mind the literary classics of Victorian England.” I personally appreciate her work for the fact that she has no minor characters, each personality, in spite of their vices, is sympathetic, even lovable, in spite of their fallen-ness. It may not be clear why they make the choices they do, but they are trying their best to find happiness in the world, even if their impulses seem to doom them.

At the beginning of the book, Casey Han finds herself rebelling against her parents' expectations without having clearly articulated reasons. Her parents struggled to ensure that she and her sister received a good education and prestigious degrees, but Casey finds it overwhelming to take the next step to adulthood of either a career or graduate school. Moreover, while she thinks that she has found a wonderful boyfriend, she knows her parents would disapprove. The tensions rapidly come to a breaking point, and somehow she manages to go forward, trying to find her way into adulthood, and in the course of the book, the reader is introduce more fully to her family and her peers so completely that is hard not to perceive them as real people. They go through painfully, dark experiences, and yet there is a persistent hopefulness in this story, that their mistakes and betrayals might be used to cosmic or divine purpose, and good might result from their errant ways.

As a reader, one finds oneself alternately shocked by Casey, her family and friends, and rooting for them to overcome their destructive flaws and succeed in finding love and happiness. In fact, their flaws lead the characters to discover that they need each other, that they are loveable, that in spite of themselves, they can succeed. It is this concept that their flaws save the characters that makes Free Food for Millionaires almost Biblical in scope. While God, belief, and faith remain rather abstract concepts, upon which the characters imagine they should rely in order to get through adversity, an essential Biblical message - if you can allow yourself to believe in your own worth, you become valuable – holds true.

This is a magical book, that sweeps you into the world of these very complete characters. But don’t just take my word for it, decide for yourself by reading the New York Times review by Liesl Schillinger and by attending "An Evening with Min Jin Lee: On Writing Free Food for Millionaires” hosted by Yoonmee Chang, Professor of English at George Mason University, and the U.S.-Korea Institute of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Please note that while Olsson’s will be selling the books, this event is taking place at SAIS, not at Olsson’s. So you are encouraged to pre-register on their website at http://www.uskoreainstitute.org/events/rsvpminjinlee.html

Tuesday, November 6
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. reception
6:30 p.m. program begin
Johns Hopkins University-SAIS
Bernstein-Offit Building, Room 500
1717 Massachusetts Ave, NW

For more information, please check their website
http://www.uskoreainstitute.org/events/index.htm

I hope to see you there.
Andrew