Gift guide 2012: Authors recommend best books

Gift Guide: For your reading pleasure

As gifts, books have no equal. No other tidy package can deliver such a sense of escape, a sprawl of diversion and hours of private pleasure. Except maybe a round-trip ticket to Italy.

A book can be read one time or many times, and can be passed on to another worthy reader next week or next year. No batteries or assembly are required.

The Sacramento Bee sought advice from best-selling, prize-winning authors and savvy book-industry professionals. If they were to give a fiction and nonfiction book (other than their own, of course) as a gift, what would they choose? Here are their recommendations.

Read the entire story and recommendations

Compiled by The Bee's Allen Pierleoni; gallery by Brandon Trammel
John Lescroart of Davis
Author of 21 legal thrillers ("The Hunter") in three series

Fiction pick
"The Panther" international thiller, by Nelson DeMille: "He is the most entertaining fiction writer on the planet."
John Lescroart of Davis
Author of 21 legal thrillers ("The Hunter") in three series

Nonfiction pick
"The Last Lion" by William Manchester: Third volume of Manchester's biography of Winston Churchill. "Churchill was the greatest man of the last century, and this is the greatest biography of him."
Jane Smiley of Carmel Valley
Author of 16 novels ("Private Life") and six nonfiction titles ("A Year At the Races")

Fiction pick
"Turn of Mind": by Alice LaPlante: "(It) is a fascinating, informative murder mystery told from the point of view of a woman with dementia. It's the most mysterious mystery ever."
Jane Smiley of Carmel Valley
Author of 16 novels ("Private Life") and six nonfiction titles ("A Year At the Races")

Nonfiction pick
"American Nations" by Colin Woodard: "(It) is about the 11 different cultures that coexist in the U.S. It's my favorite book of the year."
Max Byrd of Davis
Author of 10 novels ("The Paris Deadline")

Fiction pick
"'The Leopard" by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa: "A forgotten classic . . . and is the only novel he wrote. It's about the last years of a great Sicilian aristocrat in a decaying culture in the 1860s. Burt Lancaster played (Prince Don Fabrizio Salina) in the (1963) movie."
Max Byrd of Davis
Author of 10 novels ("The Paris Deadline")

Nonfiction pick
"Twenty-Four Hours In the Life of a Woman" by Stefan Zweig: "Zweig was an absolutely great writer. His 'Twenty-Four Hours In the Life of a Woman' is about amorous obsession. It's short, and that's a virtue, too."
Rivkah Sass of Sacramento
Director of the Sacramento Public Library

Fiction pick
"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte: "I've read 'Jane Eyre' . . . at least 40 times. Jane is one of the truest and bravest characters in literature. The story is a metaphor for life."
Rivkah Sass of Sacramento
Director of the Sacramento Public Library

Nonfiction pick
"How the Heather Looks" by Joan Bodger: "(The) author . . . chronicles her family's summer adventure as they sought (the real settings of fictitious books by children's authors) Beatrix Potter, A.A. Milne, Kenneth Grahame and others. I go back to it whenever I need a little food for my soul."
Chris Enss of Grass Valley
Author of 27 nonfiction Westerns ("Object Matrimony")

Fiction pick
"The Ballad of Frankie Silver" by Sharyn McCrumb: "Based on a true story. It's about a murder that takes place in the Old West, and the use of modern-day practices to solve it."
Chris Enss of Grass Valley
Author of 27 nonfiction Westerns ("Object Matrimony")

Nonfiction pick
"Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the Making of a Myth" by Shirley Leckie: "Explores her life and marriage to Gen. George Custer, and her influence as his widow (to create the Custer legend)."
James Rollins of El Dorado Hills
Author of the nine-book "Sigma Force" thriller series ("Bloodline")

Fiction pick
"World War Z" by Max Brooks: "(It) is a cautionary tale about a zombie apocalypse. Considering that the Centers for Disease Control recently produced 'Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic' (a graphic novel emphasizing the importance of emergency preparedness), maybe Mr. Brooks' novel should be re-classified as nonfiction."
James Rollins of El Dorado Hills
Author of the nine-book "Sigma Force" thriller series ("Bloodline")

Nonfiction pick
"The Lost City of Z" by journalist David Grann: "Tells the tale of a turn-of-the-century British explorer who vanished into the Amazon jungle while searching for a fabled lost city. It's both a dark mystery and a real-life 'Indiana Jones' adventure story."
Eileen Rendahl of Davis
"The “Messenger” urban-suspense series (“Dead on Delivery”)

Fiction pick
"The Proper Treatment of Bloodstains" by Catriona McPherson: "(McPherson) has eight books in her ‘Dandy Gilver’ historical-mystery series, and you can jump into it through ‘The Proper Treatment of Bloodstains.’ It’s got that ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ feel to it.”
Eileeen Rendahl of Davis
"The “Messenger” urban-suspense series (“Dead on Delivery”)

Nonfiction pick
"The Quarter-Acre Farm" by Spring Warren: "(The novel) is the perfect book for anyone, because this is the time to start planning a garden.”
Hut Landon of San Francisco
Executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association

Fiction pick
"Telegraph Avenue" by Michael Chabon: "Captures the essence of Berkeley and Oakland, and that urban East Bay feeling of community. If you're a fan of language, he is always a pleasure to read."
Hut Landon of San Francisco
Executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association

Nonfiction pick
"Season of the Witch" by David Talbot: "A fascinating look at San Francisco in the '60s and the '70s, which was a culturally and politically pivotal time in the city."
Karen Joy Fowler of Santa Cruz
Author of seven novels ("The Jane Austen Book Club") and four short story collections

Fiction pick:
"Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" both by Hilary Mantel: "I am taken with both of Hilary Mantel's historical-fiction novels (about Oliver Cromwell and King Henry VIII), 'Wolf Hall' and 'Bring Up the Bodies.' "
Karen Joy Fowler of Santa Cruz
Author of seven novels ("The Jane Austen Book Club") and four short-story collections

Nonfiction pick
"Moby-Duck" by Donovan Hohn: "(The book) follows a (maritime) accident in which 28,000 children's bath toys were lost at sea. He tracks them to all the places (around the world) where they washed up."
Malcolm Margolin of Berkeley
Publisher and founder of Heyday Books

Fiction pick
"San Miguel" by T.C. Boyle: " 'San Miguel' is a terribly poignant novel with a carefully wrought plot. Boyle displays the nuance, empathy and craft of some of the best writers of the West."
Malcolm Margolin of Berkeley
Publisher and founder of Heyday Books

Nonfiction pick:
"What Light Can Do: Essays on Art, Imagination and the Natural World" by Robert Hass: "For the pleasures of reading a first-rate mind, the beauty of the sentence structure, and his thoughts that are both surprising and sound."
Amanda Scott of Folsom
Author of 58 historical-romantic adventures ("The Laird's Choice")

Fiction pick
"Taken" et al by Robert Crais: "Any thriller by Robert Crais (author of the Elvis Cole series), especially the ones (starring) Joe Pike ('The Watchman,' 'The First Rule,' 'The Sentry, 'Taken')."
Amanda Scott of Folsom
Author of 58 historical-romantic adventures ("The Laird's Choice")

Nonfiction pick
"In an Instant" by Bob Woodruff and Lee Woodruff: "(It) is the story of journalist Bob Woodruff's ongoing recovery from injuries suffered in Iraq when an (improvised explosive device) exploded under his vehicle. (They) make people believe in miracles."
William Vollmann of Sacramento
National Book Award-winning author of eight nonfiction books ("Imperial") and 10 novels ("Europe Central")

Fiction pick
"Don Quixote" by Miguel De Cervantes: "I like the new translation of 'Don Quixote,' and a lot of people haven't read it. It's funny and sad, all about life and death."
William Vollmann of Sacramento
National Book Award-winning author of eight nonfiction books ("Imperial") and 10 novels ("Europe Central")

Nonfiction pick
"Sahih Al Bukhari" by Abi Abdullah Bin Al-Bukhar: "For the literary crowd, how about the nine volumes of 'Sahih Al Bukhari'? That's all the sayings and doings of the prophet Muhammad. This is the hard-core militant one, the one the Taliban would like."
Brenda Novak of Carmichael
Author of 42 romance novels ("When Snow Falls")

Fiction pick
"Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn: "I like that the voice in (the mystery) 'Gone Girl' . . . weaves the reader's sympathies from one character to another."
Brenda Novak of Carmichael
Author of 42 romance novels ("When Snow Falls")

Nonfiction pick
"'The Barbarous Years" by Bernard Bailyn: "(It) is such a great overview of the historical beginnings of the American dream."

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