Summary: Let the BOTNS Book Elves help with your holiday shopping (on our Facebook page). What books do you turn to when life gets tough? In segment 3, Michael talks about Maureen McHugh's After the Apocaloypse, and Ann discusses P.D. James' Austen-inspired Death Comes to Pemberley. Before the show... I realize that we've forgotten to mention two important things. First, the 2011 BOTNS Holiday Gift Guide (http://booksonthenightstand.com/2011/11/book-recommendations-for-the-holidays-botns-2011-gift-guide.html) is available for you to download. We hope that you find some great gift ideas. Secondly, we recently announced that we would be writing a free monthly email newsletter, available only to subscribers. We'll begin in January. We're still playing with the types of content that we want to include, but we know that it will feature a snapshot of the manuscripts we've been reading. If you like hearing about books that will be published far in the future, this is the email for you. Sign up here (http://eepurl.com/hkZUU). We promise we will never spam you. Book Elves are Back on Duty (http://booksonthenightstand.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/3106128994_94dc2c576e_m.jpg) Last year, Michael and I played "book elves," and asked BOTNS listeners to call in and give us their "gift giving challenges". We came up with book recommendations for those tough-to-buy-for people, and we had a great time doing it. This year we've decided to play Book Elves on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BooksOnTheNightstand). Post your holiday gift challenges on our wall there, and Michael and I will try to come up with some great book suggestions -- but we'd love for you to chime in with your recommendations, too! It starts on December 1st, so please join us there! Books as Warm Blankets We got an email message asking us to talk about "security blanket books" -- those books that we turn to in time of stress or turmoil. Others have called these "comfort reads." Michael and I confess that neither of us have specific books that we turn to, but we do have genres that we rely on. Michael of course loves superhero comics, and I run for mysteries and thrillers, especially Lee Child (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5091.Lee_Child)'s Jack Reacher series. What are your comfort reads or "security blanket books"? Let us know in the comments. Two Books We Can't Wait for You to Read Michael recommends After the Apocalypse (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11249375-after-the-apocalypse), a collection of short stories by Maureen McHugh. The stories are all very different and don't fit the typical post-apocalyptic mold. My pick for this week is P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12980723-death-comes-to-pemberley), which I confess I have not yet read--but I will drop whatever I'm reading when my copy arrives. P.D. James has set her latest mystery at Pemberley, the estate from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It's an homage to Austen that I can't wait to read. (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Y69qBVTUL.jpg) (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41DX0qAvlqL.jpg)
