Last night Nancy Pearl did not disappoint her audience at the University Book Store. Pearl had just returned from a whirlwind trip to Miami for a book fair and still managed to deliver a slew of book recommendations for the holiday season (or for yourself!). Below is the list of books she recommended. I’ve placed an asterisk next to the ones she seemed most intrigued by. Here it is!

• The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine by Paul Collins; the author is a historian who has also written Banvard’s Folly: Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous Anonymity and Rotten Luck and Sixpence House
• * A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell; also recommended is her previous novel The Sparrow, which Nancy says is “a philosophical novel about good and evil”.
• 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann; Mann is a writer for “The Atlantic”
• * Confessions of a Teen Sleuth by Chelsea Cain; a funny novel in which Nancy Drew tells her “true story”
• Origin of Haloes by Kristen Den Hartog; Canadian author
• Runaway short stories by Alice Munro
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson; Nancy highly recommends her earlier novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum
• * Oblivion by Peter Abraham; an intelligent thriller with similarities to the movie “Memento”
• * Persuader by Lee Child; an older title, but one Nancy highly recommends if you like thrillers
• Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach; also recommended is her previous book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
• Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel
• * All This Heavenly Glory short stories by Elizabeth Crane
• * On Beauty by Zadie Smith; Pearl said that White Teeth was a good first novel, but it dragged on in spots and had one family too many
• Descent : The Heroic Discovery of the Abyss by Brad Matsen
• * Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier; the novel doesn’t come out until January, but Nancy loved it so much she wanted to give everyone a heads-up on this one

According to Nancy, the following would be good for book groups to read all three in a row. Each deals with women and Muslim law/faith.

• * Minaret by Leila Aboulela
• Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam
• Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie

Although Nancy is not particularly fond of memoirs, she did name three good ones:

• * The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
• A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana by Haven Kimmel
• The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr

An audience member asked Nancy for good books that have been translated from other languages. Here’s her answer:

• A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami; Japanese author; this is a good title if you like “off the wall books”
• Blindness by Jose Saramago; Portuguese author
• Borges and the Eternal Orangutans by Luis Fernando Verissimo; Brazilian author
• Snow by Orhan Pamuk; Turkish author; also recommended is his previous book My Name Is Red

Another audience member asked Nancy if it’s worth going back and reading all of Alice Munro’s works. Nancy replied “yes,” then listed out the following (all by Alice Munro):

• * Friend of My Youth; short stories
• Open Secrets; short stories
• Lives of Girls and Women

Nancy is writing a new book tentatively called Book Crush, which lists books for children and teens. She gave these recommendations for that age group, though she says they are great for adults, too:

• The Witch’s Boy by Michael Gruber; an excellent teen fantasy book, especially for those who enjoy the Harry Potter series; Nancy strongly dislikes the cover of the book
• * Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner; a great picture book that Nancy loves to give as gifts
• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert; picture book
• Luna by Julie Anne Peters; teen book about a transgender teen from the perspective of his sister
• * The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin by Peter Sis; beautifully illustrated book about Darwin (not about evolution) that would be perfect for a 4th or 5th grader
• Whales on Stilts by M. T. Anderson and Kurt Cyrus