PW's Best Books of 2006

It’s a little early for this sort of thing, but PW, probably looking toward bookstore displays for the holidays, has announced their choices for the very best novovels, comics, cookbooks, poetry, children’s books, and more.

Here are a few of PW’s nonfiction choices that I heartily endorse. I’ll list more in future posts.

Flaubert: A Biography, by Frederick Brown. "A superb portrait of a literary master, full of passion and tragedy, overflows with keenly portrayed characters." I haven't read this book, but I've been mesmerized by Brown's Zola: A Life (1995.)

At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968, by Taylor Branch. “The final volume in Branch’s brilliant trilogy, this magisterial work is a fitting tribute to a magisterial man.” The other volumes are Parting the Waters: 1954-1963 (1988) and Pillar of Fire: 1963-1965 (1998.)

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, by Nathaniel Philbrick. “Another masterpiece from Philbrick, a myth-breaking narrative of American origins and the first, tragic colonial-Native clash.”