Books

Book critic Maureen Corrigan recommends her favorite children's books of the year: "The Christmas Tree," "Sam and the Tigers," "Little Black Sambo" (revised edition) "The Complete Adventures of Curious George" "The Golden Compass."

Critic Maureen Corrigan gives us her recommendations for books for the gift-giving season.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel by South African writer Andre Brink. It is titled "Imaginings of Sand." Brink first made a name for himself in the 1960s as one of a new generation of African writers who wanted their work to be more politically outspoken.

Muller cowrote the new book, "Grindhouse: The Forbidden World of 'Adults Only' Cinema." It's a visual history of adult cinema and all it's paraphernalia from the 1920s thru the 1970s. Many of the items used in the book Muller rescued from a dumpster of an old theatre in San Francisco. Muller is a journalist and is founder and director of the San Francisco Historical Boxing Museum.

Laura Joplin is the younger sister of the rock legend Janis Joplin. Her new book, "Love XX Janis," was inspired by a bundle of letters Laura found of her sister's. This is the first time the letters are published. Laura is six years younger than Janis, and was 21 when Janis died. There's a new episode of the VH1 documentary series "Legends" about Janis Joplin, in which Laura reads some of the letters of her sister.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the Canadian author's new crime novel "Alias Grace," published by Doubleday.

Nunez's debut autobiographical novel was "A Feather on the Breath of God." Her newest is "Naked Sleeper." (HarperCollins). One reviewer calls it "a fine novel of maturing at 40." Another writes that it's "a steady, superbly insightful study of a life as quietly complex as the reader's own."

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet grew up in Detroit and worked in the factories as a young man. He's probably best known for his 1992 book of poems about the working class, "What Work Is," which won the National Book Award. He has several volumes of poetry as well as a memoir. His forthcoming book is called "Unselected Poems."

Book critic Maureen Corrigan considers "The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right" by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, and wonders how literary heroines may have fared had they followed the authors' advice.

Munro has a new collection called "Selected Stories." Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Paris Review. She's written seven previous short story collections, and has received Canada's highest literary prize three times.