LeadershipNow.com Best Leadership Books of 2011 - See the full list

Lead with Purpose: Giving Your Organization a Reason to Believe in Itself, byJohn Baldoni (Amacom)

Consider: Harnessing the Power of Reflective Thinking In Your Organization, by Daniel Patrick Forrester (Palgrave Macmillan)

CEO Refresher.com Best Business Books of 2011 - See the full list

Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success, by Wayne Rogers with Josh Young (Amacom)

Consider: Harnessing the Power of Reflective Thinking In Your Organization, by Daniel Patrick Forrester (Palgrave Macmillan)

Slow Down, Sell Faster!: Understand Your Customer's Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales, by Kevin Davis (Amacom)

The Elements of Power: Lessons on Leadership and Influence, by Terry R. Bacon (Amacom)

Full Engagement!: Inspire, Motivate, and Bring Out the Best in Your People, by Brian Tracy (Amacom)

Selling to Anyone Over the Phone: Connect With Every Customer; Generate Better Leads, Close More Sales, by Renee P. Walkup and Sandra McKee (Amacom)

CIO Insights10 Best IT-Business Books of 2011 - See the full list

The Power of Convergence: Linking Business Strategies and Technology Decisions to Create Sustainable Success, by Faisal Hoque, Lawrence M. Walsh and Diana L. Mirakaj (Amacom)

CIO Insights 11 Best Business Books for CIOs in 2011 - See the full list

The Elements of Power: Lessons on Leadership and Influence, by Terry R. Bacon (Amacom)

The Axiom Business Book Awards - See the full list

Winning Bronze in the Career (Job Search, Career Advancement) Category:
What's Next?: Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job, by Kerry Hannon

Winning Silver in the Business Ethics Category:
Rebuilding Trust in the Workplace: Seven Steps to Renew Confidence, Commitment, and Energy, by Dennis Reina and Michelle Reina (Berrett-Koehler Publishers)

Winning Silver in the Advertising/Markting/PR/Event Planning Category:
The Experience Effect: Engage Your Customers with a Consistent and Memorable Brand Experience, by Jim Joseph (Amacom)

Winning Gold in the Women in Business Category:
Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction, by Marcia Reynolds (Berrett-Koehler Publishers)

ALA Booklist Top Ten Business Books of 2011 - See the full list

Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success, by Wayne Rogers with Josh Young (Amacom)

Poisoned Legacy: The Human Cost of BP's Rise to Power, by Mike Magner (St. Martin's Press)

But the glacial pace of traditional publishing has its drawbacks—I remember working on a book once that took a decade to move from conception to printing—and of course this is particularly problematic in travel publishing.

Case in point: Lonely Planet's 16th edition of the New Zealand travel guide is due to be published in September, but because it was written before last February's earthquake, the current edition is of limited use on the ground.

So this week Lonely Planet is releasing a free download of the Christchurch chapter on its website.  The chapter, researched by Brett Atkinson in December, is the first Christchurch guide to be released since the earthquake, and Lonely Planet is taking the unusual step of making it available eight months ahead of the guide's official release. 

Kudos to Lonely Planet for being nimble enough to get the most up-to-date post-quake travel information out to travellers as quickly as possible!

Any Canadian travellers planning a trip to New Zealand can find out more about the book here.

In honour of the new year, here are a few books featuring the finest, scaliest, most terrifying firebreathers around!

Dragonships of Vindras series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman:

Dragon Age series by David Gaider:

Of course, the Wheel of Time series.  Tor is giving away 50 copies of The Eye of the World in celebration of the new year!

And let's take a moment to acknowledge the very first (Western) dragon of them all — a thousand years later still unmatchable for its bloodcurling ferocity:

Then the baleful fiend its fire belched out,
and bright homes burned. The blaze stood high
all landsfolk frighting. No living thing
would that loathly one leave as aloft it flew.
Wide was the dragon’s warring seen,
its fiendish fury far and near,
as the grim destroyer those Geatish people
hated and hounded. To hidden lair,
to its hoard it hastened at hint of dawn.
Folk of the land it had lapped in flame,
with bale and brand.                                                         —Beowulf XXXI

Remember to clean your house from top to bottom for good luck in the coming year.

Meanwhile, we're quite pleased to see two of our books appearing on the big screen very soon. Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and enjoy a good story without your popcorn-buttery fingers staining the book pages...

The book: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
(Available with the movie tie-in cover in paperback and mass market, as well as with the original cover in paperback and mass market.)

Unemployed and newly-divorced Stephanie Plum lands a job at her cousin's bail-bond business, where her first assignment puts her on the trail of a wanted local cop from her romantic past.

The movie: In theatres January 27, 2012. Starring Katherine Heigl.

The book: Big Miracle by Tom Rose

In small town Alaska, a news reporter recruits his ex-girlfriend - a Greenpeace volunteer - on a campaign to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.

The movie: In theatres February 3, 2012. Starring Drew Barrymore, Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, Tim Blake Nelson, John Krasinski, and Vinessa Shaw.

Thomas Frank burst onto the political scene back in 2004 with the publication of What's the Matter with Kansas? which, it's fair to say, became one of the iconic political books of the last few years, much discussed and widely reviewed.  With the US Republican primaries in full swing and a new book just out on the shelves, Tom is back in the spotlight.

The presidential primaries matter in Canada: with the Liberals floating a proposal for US-style primaries at this week's upcoming convention, following the American primaries is both entertaining and a topical refresher on the politicals of our southern neighbour. 

"Thomas Frank is the thinking person’s Michael Moore." -New York Times

"You ought to read this book" -The Huffington Post

"[T]he fact that the right could be furious with anyone but itself is an astonishing story and one that Thomas Frank was born to cover." -The Guardian

Check out Tom's recent appearance on Democracy Now!

Join author Brian Herbert at the launch of his new novel The Sisterhood of Dune — the latest book in the international bestselling Dune series — at 2pm on Sunday January 15th (THIS SUNDAY!!) at Chapters Metrotown in Burnaby. 

Brian Herbert, Sisterhood of Dune
January 15th at 2pm
Chapters Metrotown
Metropolis, Metrotown 4700 Kingsway
Burnaby, British Columbia
V5H 4M1
Tel: 604-431-0463
 

This is my first year at Raincoast and already it’s hard to choose a favourite. There have been plenty of non-fiction recommendations from everyone, so I’m going to recommend some good fiction from this year.

For the mystery lovers, A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny is a pretty sure bet. Written by a Canadian author and set in Québec, this is the seventh and latest in the mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. This mystery features two worlds:  the world of art and the world of a small town. It makes for an interesting and engaging cast of characters and the central mystery itself is not an easy one to solve. Having grown-up in small town Québec myself, the setting of Three Pines was an added incentive to me to pick up this book. 

I enjoyed it enough to pick up a copy of the previous novel in the series, Bury Your Dead, that I plan to read over Christmas. 

This next one isn’t a new pub, but I haven’t managed to read much (read: none) of the new science fiction that was published in 2011. But if you like science fiction and you haven’t read Ender’s Game, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel, it’s a classic and the first in the series about Andrew “Ender” Wiggin. It’s in the process of being adapted into a movie by Odd Lot and Summi that will feature Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Ben Kingsley.  It was first published in 1985 and is still available from TOR.

And since Jamie’s already gone and recommended both an older book and one we don’t have here at Raincoast, I’m going to add my favourite science fiction book of them all: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. This is part science fiction (time travel is central to the plot) and part comedy of manners (most of the novel takes place in Victorian England). It’s a very funny book, with plenty of literary references slipped in alongside the laws and physics of time travel.

Ok if you really want to twist my arm. Here are a few of my MANY favorite books from 2011. I should also say that I love all of the kids books that my collegues chose, but decided not to have any repeats. 

Not For Parents Travel Book

I first heard that Lonely Planet was planning a line of Children's Books at sales conference 4 years ago. I waited for 4 long years for a Lonely Planet Children's Book to chomp my Kids Publicity teeth into. This book did not disappoint. Like the adult version of The Travel Book it features a page for every country in the world. Fun facts will keep kids turning page after page, trying to find new, gross things to gross mom out, while not even realizing their learning. An example: When Queen Elizabeth II visited Belize in 1985, she was served a local rodent called a gibnut, which some people say looks a bit like a giant rat without a tail (picture below). It tastes like rabbit.

Yeah. Gross. 

When I Was Small

This beautiful picture book is all the lovelier because the author (Sara O'Leary) and illustrator (Julie Morstad) are both really fabulous Canadian women. I also love that the little girl looks an awful lot like my daughter, Bella, if she would only allow me to have her hair chopped off into a bob. The story is of a mother telling her son the story of what it was like when she was little, however she takes it one step further and tells a fantastical story about her not only being little (young) but also little (tiny). My favorite spread is the one below where she feasts upon raspberries.

Zeal Of Zebras

I confess. I have a shelf in my sewing studio of children's picture books that inspire me creatively. I don't let me daughter play with these books (mostly because I know that she will steal them and bring them to her own room.) Zeal of Zebras is one of the books that graces my sewing studio bookshelf. Created by Woop Studios (the graphic designers for the Harry Potter movies) this book of collective nouns is visually stimulating, educational and just plain entertaining. Really who knew that a group of pandas is called an embarrassment of pandas? The page below is the one that I find myself turning to most often as it reminds me of my time snorkeling with the sea turtles on The Big Island.

Glow

I affectionately call this title "The Book That Almost Ruined My Summer Vacation". It was just so good that I couldn't put it down! My husband and daughter were pretty upset that my nose was buried in my book the entire time instead of playing with them in the sand. Like Hunger Games in space, this book is a must read. Here is a trailer to give you a sneak peek.

Embrace

Last but definitely not least I'm going to cheat a little bit. One of my favorite things about being a Children's Book Publicist is that I get to read a lot of books well before they hit bookstores.

Embrace is a book coming in March but I read it a few months ago and just can't get it out of my head. Here is a link to a blog post that I wrote on the day that we did the Embrace Cover Reveal. Sourcebooks also created a Making The Cover video which I found to be really fascinating. So much goes into creating a book cover.

Embrace Cover Shoot from Sourcebooks Inc on Vimeo.

Wishing you happy reading this holiday season and into 2012!

Crystal 

Favourite to share

Favourite book to give

Paola Opal's Simply Small board book series is too cute for words, so naturally I couldn't help but give it to babies who are too cute for words. In Saffy and Ollie, two characters finally meet and realize how much fun it is to share with friends! Simply adorable.

Favourite book to escape with

When I read Glow, the first book in Amy Kathleen Ryan's Sky Chaser series, I could not be pulled away (to the annoyance of my traveling partner). Excellent YA writing + spaceships + scientific/religious conspiracies + layered characters = a great read.

If you know me, I'm a bit of a cat person. So this is why Meow made it on my list. This book's full of pictures of these adorable creatures with cute captions. Easy. Oh this is Dash -

Being in sales I really love the numbers this beauty puts up in any edition, but it does so because it is epic and people immediately grasp that when they see it, and don’t want their coffee tables to look super lame so they buy it in droves. Lonely Planet is a truly inspiring company, and The Travel Book is distilled travel inspiration. Tony Wheeler — the indomitable founder of Lonely Planet — sums this book up nicely: “It just reminds me how much of the world there is still to see” —  That's Tony Wheeler, Lonely Planet founder, 145 countries visited and counting ...

There is so much of the world to see, and I like to be reminded every time I pick this book up that I need to get out there and see more of it. It really is THE travel book.

PS: I’d also like to quickly remind anyone who hasn’t read Shantaram written by Gregory David Roberts and published by St. Martin’s to do so post-haste. It has fought off a lot of great fiction to stay in my top 10 for years. It’s an excellent read — if you like stories you’ll love it.

David Frum does something similar for contemporary culture and politics by excavating the shift in mentalités brought about by the nineteen seventies. He argues in How We Got Here: The 70's: The Decade That Brought You Modern Life—For Better or Worse that our current attitudes about authority, equality, work, ambition, sex and politics were shaped in the crucible decade of the nineteen seventies and the backlash that came after. The sixties are the glamour decade, but really the influential decade on a mass level is the seventies.

As a right-wing thinker Frum has an obvious agenda; he pines for world before the tumult of the seventies, and sees the Age of Jimmy Carter as the time when the Keynesian consensus finally snapped to be replaced by the ascendancy of the Right. But the book is no less enjoyable book for his politics. His politics are not mine, but he put forwards his position with such clarity and eloquence, it can only help me to sharpen my own thinking. And as a child of the seventies it is good fun to see my own personal attitudes and foibles historicized.

How We Got Here is neither our book nor a new book, but I heard an interview with Frum on CBC's Ideas a few months back and was struck by (a) CBC interviewing at length someone who sits so far outside the moderate consensus of Canadian conventional wisdom and (b) how well Frum speaks. I popped into central branch of the Vancouver Public Library and picked up a copy.

Public libraries are a great thing. My New Year’s resolution is to find myself in a library at least once a week all year. And for what it is worth, public expenditure on libraries in Canada peaked in the nineteen seventies. So it was far from a lost decade. 

You would think this means I would start with a cookbook, and it does. I will. Two of them actually, both beautifully designed and produced by Chronicle Books.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s (love that name), Plenty, has fast become the must-have foodie cookbook of the year. It is filled with stunning visuals and consistent recipes that promise to sway even the most ardent eaters of faun and fowl into dedicated vegetarians. Five words; Caramelized fennel with goat cheese. Much like with my wife, I fell in love when I saw this book. That love has developed and deepened as I have cooked.  Awkward metaphor? Yes. Great cookbook? Definitely. 

Ruhlman’s Twenty taught me more about salt and water than a day trip to First Beach. I am a better cook for having read, and re-read this book, and you will be too.

Owing to my four year old nephew and six year old niece, both of whom have developed a taste for my next pick, I have read and reread Herve Tullet’s, Press Here, more times than I care to admit, more times than I have the Lord of the Rings. That is saying something. It’s not often a book can elicit visceral responses from me within the first few pages. Even rarer are those books that can engage the reader, young or old, to pick it up, shake it out, turn it sideways, push on brightly painted circles and alternate between clapping, laughing, clapping faster, and laughing noisily in a rising crescendo as the book nears its end. The answer to TV and the internet is in this 8x8 board book, published first in France in 2010, and then picked up by Chronicle Books and brought to the Canadian market in 2011. 

Grandpa Green is Lane Smith’s newest children’s title after It’s a Book. It is a memoir, a personal narrative on growing old and on being young, on imagination and forgetting, on the ingenuity of telling a story, whether your own or someone else’s, in a way that remains true to the heart. This book has my heart in its pages, for the beauty of the story and the images both. It’s one I’ll read to my child and savor for myself in the quiet moments.

Among Others, by Jo Walton treads softly, using echoes of the fantastic and a decidedly non-urgent magic to tell a fictional tale that could be otherwise completely more or less mostly real. It is a fairy tale and an elegant curtsy to the great stories and writers of the sci-fi and fantasy genres. Thanks to Dan for pointing this book out to me – I’ve never read anything quite like it. Here is what I emailed him after I was finished:  “The way in which she weaves magic into the fabric of her life, and the story reminds me of the film Pan's Labyrinth, where, as the audience you aren't sure if magic really does exist or if her telling is something that is purely fantastical and without truth. The complexity of that question has kept me gnawing at it the last few nights, it's definitely a book I'll pass on to some friends for discussion when I'm done. PS — I think I saw a fairy this morning.”

Lastly, Paula Scher MAPS, Published by Princeton Architectual Press, surprised me with its beauty and with its complexity. Whether you take to this book for its visuals or prefer to delve into the theory behind the project, there is no doubting its resonance as an artifact of modern culture, and a remembering of an art form quickly becoming anachronistic.  Sher uses language to (re)create her maps; some familiar and some less so. They are drawn from, “memory, from impressions from media, and from general information overload”, and her brief introduction, titled “All Maps Lie” outlines how all maps are fallible objects influenced by factors as trivial as personal preference, inaccurate information, and imagination. The maps themselves keep me coming back to them with new questions in mind, curious as to how the world looks through her copious and particular lens. Every page engages and invites us to follow along and recognize the unfamiliar in what is quite clearly a familiar landscape. 

I got my hands on a copy of Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty earlier this year and I've been cooking my way through it ever since.  Usually when I buy a cookbook, if even one recipe makes it into my personal collection I call it a success—but with Ottolenghi it's recipe after recipe after recipe that I make over and over again.  We'll even be doing his pear crostinis as appetizers for Christmas dinner this year—and a recipe has to be pretty fabulous for my family to break with tradition on such a special occasion!

My favourite, though, has to be the saffron taggliatelle with spiced butter.  This is to die for, my friends.  I felt compelled to buy a pasta maker just to do justice to the pine nuts.

Green bean salad with mustard seeds and tarragon.  The fun part is when he directs you to pop the mustard seeds like popcorn!

Sadly, I don't have a picture handy, but I can tell you that there is nothing more exquisite than caramelized fennel with goat's cheese.  I had my doubts about fennel—it's a weird looking vegetable don't you think?—but this recipe is delicious.

What are you all cooking this week?  Have you ever changed anything about Christmas dinner or is always the same?

If I had to pick just one book for this season... and that's almost impossible with the choice we have here at Raincoast... it would be the Chronicle children's book Press Here. It's a book that is difficult to describe because it has to be experienced. It is an action book that requires your full participation and attention. With so many electronic games, and plastic toys with batteries taking the attention of young brains these days (goodness I sound like my Grandmother...) this book is a delight for kids and adults alike. I read it to my 5 year old Grandson and he was so delighted he wanted to read it over and over again. My 12 year old Grandson was watching and then wanted to read it with us as well. It's good for all ages. The long lost art of imagination is alive and well in this special book by Hervé Tullet.

Originally published in France in 2010, Chronicle bought rights for North America. Give yourself and treat and take a few minutes to play...cover to cover in Press Here. 

Monday. We all know what Mondays are like. The day you need a hit of inspiration. And a cup of coffee. This book will give you a double shot of the former (sorry, you'll have you grab your own latte.) Paper Cutting: Contemporary Artists, Timeless Craft is totally gorgeous and full of amazing work by talented artists working with paper.

Tuesday is when you really start to wake up for the week. And you'll need your wits about you when you grab your scissors and a fresh sheet of paper, then fold, pleat and crumple your way to creating the incredible shapes in Folding Techniques for Designers: From Sheet to Form.
(P.S. If you're into paper folding, you'll love this documentary I recently saw on the Knowledge Network, Between the Folds.)

Wednesday is a funny day. Come on, hump day. Time for the brilliance and hilarity that is Hark! A Vagrant. If you don't already know Kate Beaton from her website, trust me, your life will be better once you do.

By Thursday, your work week is in full swing, and you can take on anything. You can even build a toaster... from scratch! As in, hey, let's dig up some precious metals out of the ground with my own two hands and make some wire, then figure out how to make plastic... Or at least you can read about a guy who really did this in The Toaster Project: Or a heroic attempt to build a simple electric appliance from scratch.
 

Friday is when you start to wind down, dream about the weekend that's oh-so-close.... a dream which involves owning a big old house in the country with chickens running around the yard, and your husband making you breakfast in bed, with poached eggs laid by your very own chickens. (Reality: let's just go out for brunch downtown.) Chicken and Egg: A Memoir of Suburban Homesteading with 125 Recipes is full of lovely design and photos,  stories about keeping chickens, and recipes for both cooking up eggs ... and chickens (sorry, chickens!)

A Saturday behind the pottery wheel is a good, good day. If you don't have clay or a kiln on hand, check out The Ceramics Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques.

Sunday is a perfect treat. Much like Miette: Recipes from San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop. These are some of the cutest, most perfect looking cakes you'll ever see (and maybe even bake). The book's pages are also scalloped for an added dose of cuteness.

And last but not least, for a litttle extra on Sunday (cause you know everyone wants to extend the weekend just a little bit more), I'm also going to include my favourite non-book item from 2011. I am admittedly biased here, but hey, this is my list. Shoegazing Notecards were put together by the gorgeous and always inspiring UPPERCASE magazine, based on a photo story they did in their magazine: UPPERCASE asked readers to send in photos of their feet. I was lucky enough to have a couple of photos in the spread... and now UPPERCASE partnered with Chronicle to put 20 of those photos onto notecards. Mine's the one on the red carpet with all the brightly coloured shoes. A friend of mine also has her feet on one of the notecards, wearing her roller derby skates. Here's the spread from the magazine - the notecards are also super cute and designed with classic UPPERCASE style.

So, that's my week in books for 2011. Looking forward to 2012!

The bookstore I used to work at has sadly gone the way of many great independent bookstores in Canada and shuttered-up shop. It used to be on Toronto's Queen West in the days when the street was, well, "grungier" for want of a better word.  

If you don't know the area, the store was near the Art & Design District and the Fashion District. It was right above Blackmarket, a vintage t-shirt store, across the street from MuchMusic, and around the corner from the AGO and OCAD. It rubbed shoulders with boutique stores like Fluevog, small eclectic music stores, a hip urban bike shop and 24-hour grocery store. The owner loved the Beats and was a film critic on the side. Unsurprisingly, a lot of our customers were interested in art, design, film, music, photography and style.

One thing I would get asked quite frequently (apart from "where's the washroom?", "can you turn the music down?" and "where have they towed my car?") was "do you have any books on Saul Bass?"

Along side Paul Rand, Saul Bass was one of the greatest designers of the 20th Century. Even if you don't recognise the name, you would certainly recognise Bass' distinctive (and much imitated) work on films like Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, Otto Preminger's The Man With The Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder. And if you don't, you should: they revolutionized film title sequences.

If that weren't enough, Bass also designed logos and corporate identities for AT&T, Quaker Oats, United Airlines, Minolta and the Girl Scouts of America.

His output was remarkable.

Strangely, there were no (zero, zip, nada) books available on Bass for the longest time. It seemed almost unbelievable and customers would always look at me skeptically when I told them there was nothing on the shelves. I have to admit that most times I didn't even bother to look it up (which may have contributed to the skepticism) but that's because I knew there weren't any — I would be first in line if there was. You see, I love Saul Bass' work, especially his film work and his use of hand-drawn lettering. Bass' work is truly like no one else's. He was a design original. 

You can imagine, then, how excited I heard about Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design. From seeing it in the Lawrence King catalogue in April to when it was published last month, there was little doubt what my favourite book would be this year. Designed by Bass' daughter Jennifer, written by design historian Pat Kirkham, and weighing in at over 400 pages, the book doesn't disappoint. It is STILL the only book on Bass's work and is must-have for anyone interested in the history of design or film.

If you're only going to buy one honking great big book on American mid-century modern design for your coffee table this year, make sure it's this one. I'm just sorry my old bookstore isn't there to sell it to you. 

Here are a couple of new romance novels from Sourcebooks that'll make you want to hang up mistletoe all round the house.

Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish
by Grace Burrowe, author of The Heir, Soldier and Virtuoso.

A luminous holiday tale of romance, passion, and dreams come true from rising star Grace Burrowes, whose award-winning Regency romances are capturing hearts worldwide.

All she wants is peace and anonymity… Lady Sophie Windham has maneuvered a few days to herself at the ducal mansion in London before she must join her family for Christmas in Kent. Suddenly trapped by a London snowstorm, she finds herself with an abandoned baby and only the assistance of a kind, handsome stranger standing between her and complete disaster.

But Sophie’s holiday is about to heat up… With his estate in ruins, Vim Charpentier sees little to feel festive about this Christmas. His growing attraction for Sophie Windham is the only thing that warms his spirits—but when Sophie’s brothers whisk her away, Vim’s most painful holiday memories are reawakened.

It seems Sophie’s been keeping secrets, and now it will take much more than a mistletoe kiss to make her deepest wishes come true…

Darn Good Cowboy Christmas
by Carolyn Brow, author of Red's Hot Cowboy and Love Drunk Cowboy and Honky Tonk Christmas.

Just in time for Christmas, a scorching-hot cowboy romance from a rising star author.

Carolyn Author of #1 bestselling Christmas romance in 2010 (Honky Tonk Christmas) creates a new installment in her sexy contemporary cowboy romance series that showcases her amazing Southern voice.

Born and raised in a traveling carnival, all Liz Hanson ever wanted for Christmas was a home that didn't have wheels. After she was old enough to date she added one more item: a sexy cowboy.

She'd about given up on Santa ever bringing either one when her father dies and leaves her an ugly house and twenty acres in Texas. Then rancher Raylen O'Donnell walks onto her property.

It's easy to forget how to enjoy the season with holiday shopping and wallet stress but I've narrowed down ten of my favourite things with Raincoast to give you some ideas - whether it's a gift for someone else or for YOU!

Here's my “little” wish list:

1.  Moleskine:
   
   Who doesn’t love the feel of a new notebook waiting for your pen to scribble ideas and thoughts down? One of my top wishes from Moleskine, other than their pens, sketchbooks and new bag line, is their Passions Journal line. There’s one for everyone: the cinephile, the bookworm, the traveler etc.
   
   I definitely want the Book Journal, here’s a great YouTube trailer:
    
2. Zombie Lovers!
   First it was vampires, then werewolves and now everyone's current obsession is ZOMBIES!
   Raincoast offers two great books for anyone who is a zombie fanatic. First, is the humorous “Dead Inside” which is like PostSecret mixed with the Zombie Apocalypse.
   
   Then there's The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor, a back story graphic novel which explores one of the series' most sinister characters. (The Walking Dead is currently an acclaimed TV Series airing on AMC.)
   
    
3. Ivy & Bean Paper Doll Play Set: Some great gift ideas for any Ivy and Bean fan! There's the Paper Doll Play Set where you can play out your own Ivy and Bean scenarios or the Mini Notes set which combines creative stationary with your two favourite trouble makers!
   
   
   
   
   
    
4. Grandpa Green:
   What is greater than the gift of a good story and beautiful illustrations? Grandpa Green is a heartwarming book that you can give to anyone at any age. I am a personal fan of this book and think it would make a great gift for any loved one!
   
   The book trailer:
   
    
5. The Cheesemongers Kitchen: For any foodie or cheese fan is a fantastic cookbook with creative recipes for everyone's favourite dairy product: CHEESE!
   Recipes include delicacies like Foccacia with Venetian Black Truffle and Squash Tuscan Devil's Pecorino with honey. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
6. Your Playlist Can Change Your Life: For anyone looking for some inspiration or going through any life changing events I would recommend this lovely little book that states simply, music can change your life. 
    
7. The Art of Pixar: I don't know a single person who has not loved at least one Pixar movie. As storytellers they have transcended animation from being just for kids or families to anyone. They have rooted their characters, their art and their stories deeply in our hearts. I love this large book that shows you the making of their films:
   
    
8. Darker Still: Some good YA Fiction coming your way, this is a great read for anyone who enjoys sinister magic and fantastic situations. Imaginative and with an original concept this is a great stocking stuffer!
   
   "Many teens will be reeled in by the romance, but will also be left thinking about how different things were for women a century ago, trapped by gender and birthright. This smart novel will have wide appeal." (Shelf Awareness)
   
    
9. Animals With Hangovers:
   A great and humorous photobook of animals with HANGOVERS! Share this with the animal lover in your life, you know the one – they always forward you cute animals on YouTube or are constantly posting funny cat photos on Facebook.
   
   
   
   
   
    
10. Lonely Planet's Best of Travel 2012:
    Travel junkies will enjoy this book with its great tips and beautiful photography! The book includes:

• Lonely Planet ranks the top 10 countries, regions and cities to visit in 2012.
• The best travel experiences for the year ahead, from feeling the football fever in Ukraine to awaiting the Apocalypse on the Ruta Maya.
• Over 35 events mapped out month by month in the 2012 travel planner.

Happy Holidays!

Raincoast Books will also accept returns of Owlkids product until March 31, 2012.

Canadian sales will be handled by ampersand inc., formerly known as Kate
Walker & Company.

Owlkids Books and Maple Tree Press ISBN prefixes are:
978-1-897066
978-1-897349
978-1-926818
978-1-926973
978-2-89579

New distribution contact information:
University of Toronto Press
5201 Dufferin Street
Toronto, ON, M3H 5T8

(PH) 1-800-565-9523 (North America) / (416) 667-7791
(FAX) 1-800-221-9985 (North America) / (416) 667-7832