THE CHRISTMAS READER

BOOKS MAKE GREAT GIFTS. THEY REQUIRE A LITTLE more thought than the standard bathrobe, but in the end, they are certainly more appreciated.

Jeffrey Yarborough, proprietor of Liberty and one of our contributors to this list, explains it best: “I love giving books as gifts because I know the person will not just read it and put it on a shelf,” he says. “Long after people have rushed to the malls to exchange all the ties, suspenders, and scented soap sets, books will be continuously read, enjoyed, and passed on-ready for the next reader to take the journey.”

Here is our list of recommendations, from businessmen, academics, clergy, artists, and the media. May you find the perfect selection for everyone on your list.

DR. KERN WILDENTHAL

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER IT WAS PUBLISHED, THE LIVES OF A CELL BY LEWIS Thomas remains the best available introduction for laymen to the wonders and beauty of biology and medical science. At the same time, it provides scientists with fresh and intriguing perspectives on the complexities and mysteries of their field.

Dr. Thomas, who was my teacher and mentor when I was a medical intern at Bellevue Hospital in New York, was not only a brilliant scientist, but also an elegant writer. His quick intelligence, creativity, and gentle sense of humor permeate these gracefully crafted essays. For anyone interested in bridging the “two cultures” of science and the humanities, this book is a must.

Kern Wildenthal is the president of UT Southwestern Medical Center.

JEFFREY YARBOROUGH

MY FIRST CHOICE IS UNDER THE Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. Mayes is a writer and a gourmet cook, so the book is part travel guide, part cookbook. Giving this book as a gift is like sending your friend a plane ticket and picking up the tab for the best meal of his life.

My second choice is The Bible because it can truly change someone’s life. It can be read as deep as the ocean or as shallow as a creek. 1 have my father’s Bible that was given to him as a little boy. This book is one item that families often pass down from generation to generation. I love the idea of a gift that lasts for a long time.

I also recommend Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl, a book that reminded me of my days as a child at the dinner table. As kids, we learned much-needed lessons at the 6 p.m. nightly board meeting Mom called “Dinner.” Watching people eat will help you figure out who they really are. I can remember when some of my friends shared a meal with us, after they left, my mother would tell my father, “That kid must have been raised by wolves.”

Jeffrey Yarborough is the proprietor of Liberty.

THOMAS Q. ROBBINS

RECOMMEND THE DIARY OF A Country Priest by Georges Bernanos, which is the portrayal of the life and work of a clergyman written with absolute integrity and authenticity. 1 stumbled upon this book unexpectedly during a crisis time in my vocation as a minister and in my faith as a Christian. Such a discovery was, I am convinced, not an accident; it was an act of God’s marvelous grace. The book now rests in a drawer of the nightstand beside my bed. It is read frequently and referred to often by me in reflecting upon my own life and work in relationship to Jesus Christ. 1 also refer to it frequently in preaching and teaching.

Thomas Robbins is the pastor at University Park United Methodist Church.

RUTH SHARP-ALTSHULER

Since visiting Emily Dickinson’s homestead in Amherst. Mass,, I am thoroughly enjoying a biography of hers, The Life of Emily Dickinson by Richard B. Sewall, winner of the National Book Award. To stand in her small, spare room where she did her writing made me want to learn more about her life and her works. Only seven of her poems found their way into print during her lifetime. Since Emily Dickinson’s life was her work, this posed a problem for her biographer. He said, “As usual, when such a vacuum exists, and especially with such an enigmatic figure as Emily Dickinson.. .myth and legend rush in to fill it.” I am enjoying this fascinating book and will try my hand in figuring out the “puzzle.”

Ruth Sharp-Altshuler is chairman of SMU’s board of trustees.

GERALD TURNER

A PEACE TO END ALL PEACE: THE Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin is very informative for one wishing to understand the history of problems in the Middle East. This book outlines the history of the creation of the borders that currently exist for countries within the Middle East and explains the ancestry of those who live within those boundaries.

This past summer, Gail and I were privileged to be part of a group of university presidents and spouses who visited Israel as a part of Project Interchange of the American Jewish Committee. In discussing our observations with Ken and Ruth Altshuler on our return, Ken mentioned this book as an excellent historical foundation for several of our observations and questions. Before I could buy it, he sent it to me as a gift. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to understand the complexities these countries face and for those who wish to somehow understand, if not help resolve, the intractable problems of that area of the world.

Gerald Turner is the president of SMU.

RAMONA AUSTIN

David Robertson, IN DENMARK Vesey: The Buried Story of America’s Largest Slave Rebellion and the Man Who Led ft, creates a mesmerizing and balanced study of one of American history’s most fascinating figures. In 1822, in Charleston, S.C., former slave Denmark Vesey led the “most elaborate and well-planned slave insurrection in the history of the United States.” The complexity of his legacy and the effect that he and other insurrectionists, like Nat Turner, had on the social developments of their times is rarely explored, if at all, in history books of the nation’s primary and secondary schools.

Robertson’s book is a must for any American interested in the complexity of our national history. Burying the history of slave insurrections sanitizes our cultural discourse and ill serves the nation’s efforts to move forward on the difficult issue of race. Without this history the true nature of the African-American experience cannot be understood, nor will African-Americans know they have been agents in their own history.

Ramona Austin is an art historian and theater performer.

DEAN FEARING

MY FAVORITE BOOK IS JULIA Child’s The Way to Cook. The title says it all. To me, it’s a modern Joy of Cooking. It carefully guides you all the way through the kitchen-from listing needed equipment to the appropriate aperitif with dessert. It’s easy to read and follow the step-by-step recipes, which makes it great for the novice cook. Yet, it is also a fabulous source for the more experienced cook, I use it all the time when I’m researching new recipes,

Dean Fearing is the chef at The Mansion on Turtle Creek.

ROBIN OLDHAM

THE FIRST BOOK I RECOMMEND IS Webster’s Dictionary. I asked for a dictionary for Christmas for several years because I am the worst speller in the world. A friend finally gave me one last year, a recycled dictionary from the year that I was born. I love learning something new every day from a very old source.

I also recommend a Reader’s Digest “do-it-yourself book, Home Made Best Made. I’m not a big fan of reading directions, and I usually lose interest after about two sentences. But this book held my attention and offers easy directions to make really great and useful things. I love a book that can give you a recipe for a good facial mask and also tell you how to make a compost pile.

The third book I recommend is Reflections in the Light: Daily Thoughts and Affirmations by Shakti Gawain. What I like best about this book is that it makes me think about treating others that way that I want to be treated. 1 think sometimes in our society we are so busy that we forget to take a few minutes oui of each day and be kind to each other. This is my daily reminder.

Robin Oldham is the co-owner of Smashing Times.

TOM ADAMS

TRUMAN CAPOTE’S A Christmas Memory is an autobiographical remembrance of his childhood in rural Alabama and the bond of love and friendship he had with his childlike 60-year-old cousin. It begins in “fruitcake weather” and ends on Christmas Day. Although they are poor, they are rich for the experiences they share, not the circumstances within which they live. When I was a high school teacher, I would read it to my classes and ask them to write about their Christmas memories and consider making it a literary gift to their parents or friends. Nothing gave me more pleasure than to hear from a parent that this gift was one they would always cherish. Capote knows it is the gift of one’s self that is the greatest gift of all, Some editions have a photograph of 7-year-old Truman and his cousin, Sook, on the cover. Try to locate one of these. No matter how many times 1 have read A Christmas Memory, 1 have laughed and wept each time.

Tom Adams is she founder of TITAS.

BRANDT WOOD

Rising Tide BY JOHN M. BARRY makes a memorable gift to anyone because ii is a dynamic, dramatic, and truthful account of the largest natural disaster in U.S. history and its profound impact on the social, political, and economical landscape of the 20th century. Spanning the period from post-Civil War Reconstruction to the ascendancy of Herbert Hoover to the presidency in the 1920s. Rising Tide is the riveting story of the great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 and its implications of class struggle, racial tension, pride of Man vs. Mother Nature, back door politics, and political shift. Although this may seem like the backbone of a good novel, it is our own history unfolding.

Brandt Wood is the president of the Entertainment Collaborative, parent company of Trees, The Green Room, and Gypsy Tea Room.

BOB ROGERS

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT BY MARGERY Williams is my favorite book. This story is about a child’s Christmas toy rabbit and its evolution–ignored, loved, discarded, and reincarnated. But more than thai it emphasizes a simple, yet beautiful, lesson. Simply stated. “To become Real, you must be willing to take risks.”

Boh Rogers is the president and CEO of TXU.

TOM LUGE

RECOMMEND LEFT BACK: A Century of Failed School Reforms by Diane Ravitch. This book is a grim reminder of the absolute necessity for high academic standards for every child.

I also recommend Stephen Ambrose’s new book. Nothing Like It in the World, the fascinating story of how the transcontinental railroad was built. It reminds us that we are not the only generation that has dealt with enormous change.

Tom Luce is the founder of For the Kids.

TIM ROGERS

MY FIRST RECOMMENDATION IS Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. There is no way to describe this book succinctly. It is 1,088 pages long, much of it agate-sized end notes. Once I picked up this book, I had to give over about a month of my life to it. When I finally finished it. I was sad that there wasn’t more to read. Honestly, infinite Jest is about entertainment and drugs and tennis and a bunch of other stuff I didn’t understand. D readers will presumably not enjoy the parts about drugs, but they will like the tennis parts. I cadged my copy of the book from Eric Celeste, the founding editor of The Met.Eric and I have a very competitive relationship. I don’t believe Eric has finished this book yet, even though I returned it to him more than a year ago, and this gives me great joy.

I also recommend Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife. I’m only halfway through this book, so I probably shouldn’t recommend it. Maybe the second half is awful. Then my integrity would be compromised. But on the strength of the first half of Zero, I will say it’s a great book. It’s about the number 0 and the concept of nothingness. As the dust jacket says, “Zero is a compelling look at the strangest number in the universe-and one of the greatest paradoxes of human thought.” I couldn’t have said it better. No one gave me this book. I saw it in Borders and thought, “A book about the number 0? Now that’s sexy.”

Tim Rogers is the co-host of KKZN-FM 93.3’s “Early Merge with Tim and Yvonne. “

GEORGE TOOMER

MY FIRST RECOMMENDATION IS THE History of God: A 4,000-year quest of Judaism. Christianity, and Islam. In what could be called Religion for Dummies, former Catholic nun Karen Armstrong goes past the romance of religion and superstition to offer a history of major civilization’s need for a central god for a central government. Armstrong’s effort does not diminish the value of faith, but rather offers an understanding of the part religion plays in practical government ideology.

I also recommend The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959. While the “Beat Generation” is generally regarded as a bunch of bongos, berets, goatees, jazz, and pot, it was, in fact, the origin for anti-nuclear war movements, civil rights, gay rights, legal rights, the military draft demise, and environmental responsibility. At its core were Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, all three of whom had the sensational eye of the hungry press. In presenting the letters exchanged by these “beat icons,” Oliver Harris lets us see everything from their mundane thoughts to important moments and ideas that would change history. None of them was a great writer, especially Burroughs, but he was important. In writing to Ginsberg, he wrote, “Maybe the real novel is letters to you.”

George Toomer is a social critic and author of Before I Forget.

MICHAEL CAIN

MY FIRST RECOMMENDATION IS 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. When I was 9. I saw the movie. I watched as Captain Nemo and Ned Lang explored the secret underwater city of Atlantis. My parents gave me a collector’s edition of the book for a Christmas gift that year and I was hooked. I sat down on Christmas day and read the entire thing. I discovered that the greatest stories can take place in our minds and that a film could only barely touch upon those stories.

I also recommend Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. When I started the film festival, I was very unsure of my path. A close friend of mine sent it to me for guidance. I discovered a beautiful book about self-fulfillment and our place in this hectic world. The reason I love this book is that it speaks of real people, people who are unsure of their lives and why we are all here. It has helped me to push myself to look inside and figure what higher cause we should all listen to. When we find that higher cause, we can face life without hesitation. When we decided to make the festival a way to raise funds and awareness for cancer, it was largely because of this book.

My third suggestion is The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D. This book was given to me the week after my father’s death. It was a great solace and I highly recommend it. This book, written by a Westerner, documents meetings and lessons learned from his lime with the Dalai Lama. The ideas are so incredibly basic that it makes you realize that we spend far too much time worrying and overanalyzing things. The art of happiness is being still, and truly living in appreciation for each day and each person that crosses our path. If that is not a Christmas Wish for the world I don’t know what is.