The ultimate airplane reads

Hudson Booksellers, the company that runs bookstores and newsstands in airports all over North America, has announced their best books of 2006. Not surprisingly, there are few if any surprises on the list, below.  Still, it's great that they're promoting excellent writers like Richard Ford and Sara Gruen.  But can they please stop gouging us on those $4 bottles of water, especially now that the authorities have forbidden us to bring our own from home?


Hudson Booksellers' Book of the Year: 

Thirteen Moons by Charles
Frazier

Best Fiction Books
The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
The March by E.L. Doctorow
The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The People’s Act of Love by James Meek
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart

Best Nonfiction Books

The Great Deluge by Douglas
Brinkley
The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda
Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Places in Between by Rory Stewart
Blind Side by Michael Lewis
Collapse by Jared Diamond
The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood

So now you know what to pick up for that long flight to Bangkok.  Meanwhile, if you're grounded or just plain cheap, Bookburger has you covered: you can win a copy of Janet Fitch's bestseller White Oleander and  her new one, Paint It Black, set in the LA punk scene of the 1980s. Just sign up for our free monthly burger bulletins (in the "we deliver" box on the sidebar) and you'll be entered to win.