This time of year I am often asked to recommend books.  My list has some titles familiar to anyone who listens to the show, and some new names as well.

But first, for small children, try one or all of the five DVDs in the Life at the Pond series.  Like VeggieTales, the Pond is a hit with parents who want their younger children to get a message as well as a laugh and a story.

Now, to a list twenty books that should provide something for everyone on your list.

For those who wonder where this world is headed, send them one or all of the six books that explain this world:

Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower:             














Mark Steyn's America Alone



Norman Podhoretz's World War IV



Robert Kaplan's Imperial Grunts and Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts



                                                                            
And Bernard Lewis' The Crisis of Islam



For those who love history, two books about FDR:

Jonathan Alter's The Defining Moment




Amity Shlaes' The Forgotten Man



One book detailing 60 years of CIA history:

Timothy Weiner's Legacy of Ashes




One book explaining the past 300 years

Walter Russell Mead's God and Gold



For Supreme Court watchers:

Clarence Thomas' My Grandfather's Son 



Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine



For those who want to laugh, or at least smile:

Lileks' Gastroanomolies, Gallery of Regrettable Food, Mommy Knows Worst, and Interior Descecrations






Anything and everything by Joseph Epstein, including his most recent, In a Cardboard Belt, or his fine assessment of friendship, Friendship: An Expose.



And for those who really want to know what is happening in the presidential race (and wll continue to happen)

A Mormon In The White House: Ten Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney.