Booking it

Four times a year, I spearhead a book guide at MSNBC.com. It's a lot of fun, but also a lot of work, and I'm always happy and relieved when the latest one goes live and I have a few minutes to read books of my own choosing before jumping back into planning for the next guide.

I'd love it if you checked it out.

FICTION: Powerhouse authors deliver new novels
My co-worker Paige reviewed the latest crop of new literary fiction. Her review of Chuck Palahniuk's "Haunted" makes me determined never to read it, because I do not need those kinds of grotesque images stuck in my head.

BEACH BOOKS: Because it’s too hot for Tolstoy
My friend Kim Rollins reviewed a bunch of fluffy beach books for me, and you can just tell from the covers of some of them that they're the kind of books it's OK to spill Coppertone on.

COOKBOOKS: Summer heats up with cool cookbooks
Jon, Hannah and Joan all helped with this roundup, which meant I ended up reviewing only one cookbook. But I did get to make a jillion different kinds of gelato and sherbet for it, so it was a book well-chosen.

NONFICTION: Travel from NASCAR to rodeos
I reviewed almost all of the nonfiction myself (Jon did two), and enjoyed most of what I read immensely. Although "Garbage Land" really did start me thinking more carefully about what I throw away, my favorite book of the group was Jeff MacGrego's "Sunday Money," a book all about ... NASCAR. I've never watched a race in my life, but I couldn't put the book down.

COFFEETABLE BOOKS: Art books get a summer makeover
I reviewed all of these save one (done by Jon), and they are not, for the most part, traditional coffeetable books. One, like a blog, displays photos of every single thing its author ate for a year. Another is a history of cuteness in art, as narrated by Michael J. Nelson of "Mystery Science" fame. For some fans, that's all I need to say about that.