In addition to being members of the media, The Bulletin staff members are also big consumers of media. The following list is a collection of books that inspired, excited or just plain kept staff members attention during the past year.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I still get chills when I think about this book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2006. McCarthys minimalist writing style wrapped me in this compelling and often horrifying story. The post-apocalyptic world is burned and dead in a nuclear winter some time in the future. A man and his young son journey over an ashen landscape to reach the ocean, hoping to find a way to survive. Following the highway, they scavenge for food and water while hiding from gangs of men who hunt human prey. The father grows weaker with illness as he tries to protect his child from starvation and exposure. This book has some of the best writing Ive read this year and will keep you up well past your bedtime.

Anna Sowa, business reporter

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

Named one of the 10 best books of 2006 by The New York Times, this book opens as the main character Blue Van Meer recounts finding her high school teacher and friend hanging from a tree during a bizarre camping trip, but Blue swears she saw someone else lurking in the darkness. This untimely death was the climax of the storys mysterious events, which Blue tries to comprehend, involving a group of young, spoiled socialites with questionable motives and dark pasts. Her single father, an extravagant college professor, becomes tied to the tragedy, making Blue question truths shes grown up with. The style is unique and engages readers with literary references, playful (but sometimes too drawn-out) side notes and hand drawings. Ultimately, the storys mystery drives the action and made me hurry to the ending.

Anna Sowa

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

This book takes place in present day, but floats in and out of a bending reality in which conceptual creatures are created by and subsist on ideas. Main character Eric Sanderson tries to preserve the memory of his dead girlfriend in one of these creatures, which leads to the release of a conceptual shark that hunts him, eventually devouring all of his memories. The sharks body literally is made out of letters and phrases. When Eric wakes up with no recollection of his lifes history, the story begins as he tries to piece it together, while also running from the word shark and working toward somehow destroying it. The book references The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca, and if youve watched the movie Jaws, you will recognize the final scene. The book is quick and easy to read; I have recommended it to many friends. The title is a play on the Rorschach (inkblot) test, a method of psychological evaluation.

Anna Sowa

The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson

Short, sad and beautifully written, The Red Parts captures a woman struggling to understand a long-ago murder and come to grips with her own life at the same time. Filled with vignettes, the book charmed me with its simple but poignant writing and honest exploration of the writers psyche.

Betsy Cliff, health and medicine reporter

Faithful, Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season by Stewart ONan and Stephen King

My father-in-law got this book for me in August not knowing that Madras local Jacoby Ellsbury and the Red Sox were marching to yet another World Series title. Mysteriously similar, BoSox fans Stephen King and Stewart ONan did not know when they began to document the 2004 season that it would be the famous year that the Red Sox would end the curse of the Bambino. The book, written with short diary-type entries from each of the duo, traces the pace as the 2004 season unfolds. This is a good read for budding or deep-rooted baseball fans waiting for spring training. The superstitious can even read this with an intention of a 2008 World Series.

Rob Kerr, photographer

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

I love this book because when you read it you realize you can create your own destiny with the power of your thoughts. The powers of attraction in our universe are incredible! This is in my opinion is a book everyone should read. It will change your life in a positive way.

Andy Tullis, photographer

Learning To Drive and Other Life Stories by Katha Pollitt

Poet and political columnist Katha Pollitt writes about experiences like becoming a mother, cyberstalking an ex-boyfriend, entering middle age and reading through the FBI files on her communist parents. I havent done any of those things, but this collection of personal essays kept me engaged as if all were immediately relevant to my own life. Pollitt is a wonderful storyteller and observer of life and herself. In the first essay, Pollitt learns to drive at the age of 52 (she lives in New York City). As she practices driving, she reflects on a long-term boyfriend whom she recently learned was cheating on her. She strikes a perfect balance between feminist and feminine, funny and serious, strong and vulnerable.

Lily Raff, Perspective reporter

What is the What by Dave Eggers

This is a trick of a novel: a fictionalized account of the true-life story of Sudanese refugee Valentino Achak Deng, told in the first person. Lost? Not a chance. Eggers ditches the pyrotechnics that put him on the literary map, using plain-spoken language to render a beautiful narrative: Every step toward war, every young friend lost to lions or crocodiles and soldiers, every demoralizing disappointment once this very human Lost Boy lands in the States is yours to suffer with him. But so are the minor victories; youll be on the edge of your seat. This is the kind of book you want to savor, and McSweeneys Books sturdy hardback is perfectly suited. And you know its a good book when Vintage publishes the paperback.

David Jasper, features reporter

The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders

This essay collection shows that Saunders has more ways of getting at the heart of what makes us humans so peculiarly funny than just biting satirical fiction. As evidenced in story collections such as Pastoralia and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, Saunders has a singular way of highlighting the lies and half-truths hidden in the fine print on the brittle, paper-thin facade that is modern American reality. Small wonder he frequently draws comparisons to Vonnegut, to whom he writes a heartfelt ode here. Saunders also offers an insightful travelogue about his visit to Dubai, and the title essay is the perfect deprogramming for anyone whos ever felt manhandled by marketing and advertising; something to consider at this time of year.

David Jasper

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

It surprised me to think I had not read this classic many years ago, but when my sister-in-law recommended it, I found an old copy on my shelf (priced $1.50, so imagine how long ago I must have bought it). Although not Steinbecks most famous, I found it the most powerful. First published in 1952, it examines issues of good and evil through the story of several generations of an extended family that goes from Connecticut to California, with remarkably complex characters and thoroughly American themes.

Denise Costa, features editor

The Best of Mike Royko: One More Time by Mike Royko

If you were not fortunate enough to enjoy Chicago columnist Mike Royko when he was syndicated across the country from the 1960s into the 1990s, heres your chance. A brilliant writer with firm roots in his citys blue-collar ethnic neighborhoods, hes full of insight and common sense. Take a look especially at his reaction to the election of Chicagos first black mayor, to Jackie Robinsons debut in Wrigley Field, his indictment of a nation after the death of Martin Luther King, and his story of Mary and Joseph in 1960s Chicago.

Denise Costa

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

She was born in Somalia, escaped to The Netherlands to avoid an arranged marriage, became a legislator in her adopted country, and then was chased away after arousing the ire of Muslim fundamentalists. Published earlier this year, this harrowing personal account is an important window into a part of the world we need to understand.

Denise Costa

The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World 1788 – 1800 by Jay Winik

An unusual and engrossing book, looking at three broad revolutionary periods in America, France and Russia. Winik, the author of April 1865, one of the best books about the Civil War in the United States, explores the political, emotional and philosophical ties between the American and French revolutions, and their impact on czarist Russia. Its a wonderfully written narrative filled with excellent character and scene descriptions.

John Costa, editor in chief

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam and The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943 – 1944 by Rick Atkinson

With our nation at war, and badly divided over it, these two books look at two different wars in our history. The Day of Battle is the second volume the first won the Pulitzer Prize in Atkinsons promised Liberation Trilogy, the story of the American Army in Europe in World War II. These are the best to date to combine the strategy of the allied principally American leadership, and the day-in, day-out realities of a front-line soldier.

Halberstams book has a different, though no less important subject. He describes the reality of daily combat and strategy in a very unpopular war in a god-forsaken place. But he also details the incredible tension between the politicians and Washington generals, led by President Truman and Gen. Douglas MacArthur, a tension that costs the five-star general his job and spilled over in to U.S. politics for decades.

They are both excellent books.

John Costa

Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case by Stuart Taylor Jr. and KC Johnson and Sacco and Vanzetti: the Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind by Bruce Watson

The cases are wildly different in so many ways it is difficult to see the similarities. Privileged athletes at a prestigious university are eventually cleared of rape charges, while Italian immigrants who are anarchists are accused, convicted and executed for murder. What draws these two superb examinations of the criminal justice system together is the common fear and political correctness of generations separated by nearly a century, and the corruption of the officials in the system. The two books together reinforce the observation of Albert Einstein, who was reflecting on Sacco and Vanzetti when he said, They remind us of the fact that even the most perfectly planned democratic institutions are no better than the people whose instruments they are.

John Costa

The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman

It was refreshing to read ideas of what can be done to make America a better place for the rest of us. Concepts like universal health care, the power of the unions and a better minimum wage to equalize peoples quality of life.

Pete Erickson, photographer

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

I have bought, read and given away this book several times. It consists of a series of letters from Rilke to Franz Krappus, advising on what it takes to be an artist. Its a great gift, especially for an aspiring artist, musician or writer.

Jenny Harada, features assistant

The Hermits Story by Rick Bass

Over the years, Rick Bass has become one of my favorite authors of nonfiction. Hes written about ghost grizzlies in the San Juan Mountains, the exquisite Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana, moose, elk, wolves and Colter, the best dog he ever had. But The Hermits Story, a collection of remarkable short stories, showcases this writers considerable talents in a way that his essays about nature and place cant. The title story has a man and a woman walking in a surreal zone beneath the frozen surface of a dry lake. The Fireman is about a mans unquenchable thirst for fighting structure fires. In Swans, a woman tends fires along a frozen pond to protect the swans living there. There are 10 stories in all, about people and nature intersecting and the inevitable change that results. Throughout, the reader senses hes in capable hands.

Jim Witty, outdoors reporter

The New Best Recipe from Cooks Illustrated

This hasnt been a great year book-wise for me, but this is one book that Ive looked at almost every day and have already given out as a gift twice. This cookbook is from the editors of Cooks Illustrated magazine, who also host the PBS show Americas Test Kitchen. These guys (and gals) are obsessive in the best sort of way. They take each recipe and test it about 30 different ways until they get it right. And these recipes are perfect. I am no chef, but when I make something out of this book, it tastes as if I trained for years in the culinary arts.

The recipes are for true food lovers. Theres no skimping on cream and butter (which is also why everything tastes so good), but there is a companion book – The Best Light Recipe – for those on a more restricted diet.

Jenny Pedersen, archivist

Knots by Gordon Perry

If you dont know your half hitch from your bowline, check out this instructive guide to tying more than 100 knots. Perry outlines the uses for each knot (a half hitch plays a supporting role to other knots, a bowline forms a fixed loop at the end of a line) and illustrates each knot with step-by-step drawings and a photo of the finished knot.

The book is comprehensive to say the least you are unlikely to use even a quarter of the knots in the book but when you absolutely, positively need to know how to tie a blood loop dropper knot, look no further.

Julie Johnson, assistant features editor