NYT 100 Notable Books of 2006

If you're going out shopping tomorrow instead of honoring Buy Nothing Day (remember, you were not born to shop), the least you can do is get the loved-one on your list a book. And just in time for the holiday shopping season, the New York Times has released its notable books list for 2006 (please note these are only the books they have reviewed, which is in no way representative of the great books to be found on the shelves of your local independent bookstore).

That said, here are a few books from their list that have made it onto my list of books to read.

Poetry

AVERNO. By Louise Glück. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $22.) Poems inspired by the underworld of myth confront our most intractable fears.

COLLECTED POEMS, 1947-1997. By Allen Ginsberg. (HarperCollins, $39.95.) A hefty, brilliant volume that shows Ginsberg (1926-97) to be not only a legendary protest writer but also a lyric poet preoccupied with passion, place and fate.

STRONG IS YOUR HOLD. By Galway Kinnell. (Houghton Mifflin, $25.) Kinnell's first collection of new poems in more than a decade revisits themes of marriage, friendship and death, with long, loose lines reminiscent of Whitman.

Non-Fiction

CONSIDER THE LOBSTER: And Other Essays. By David Foster Wallace. (Little, Brown, $25.95.) Magazine articles with a moral framework.

THE COURTIER AND THE HERETIC: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World. By Matthew Stewart. (Norton, $25.95.) An unlikely page-turner about a 17th-century metaphysical duel, fought in deceit and intrigue, that continues to this day.

Look for more "best of" lists in the coming weeks as the year draws to a close.

Tags: New York Times Book Review, 100 Notable Books, best of lists, holiday shopping, Buy Nothing Day