The Top 10Books of 2008 according to Amazon.com

Amazon.com's Top 10 books of 2008

1. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
Stephenie Meyer - Avg Customer rating - 3 1/2 stars

2. The Last Lecture
Randy Pausch - Avg Customer rating - 4 1/2 stars

3. Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)
Christopher Paolini - Avg Customer rating - 3 1/2 stars

4. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (Oprah Book Club #62)
David Wroblewski - Avg Customer rating - 3 1/2 stars

5. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition
J. K. Rowling - Avg Customer rating - 4 stars

6. The Appeal
John Grisham - Avg Customer rating - 3 stars

7. When You Are Engulfed in Flames
David Sedaris - Avg Customer rating - 4 stars

8. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Michael Pollan - Avg Customer rating - 4 1/2 stars

9. The Revolution: A Manifesto
Ron Paul - Avg Customer rating - 5 stars*

10. The Host: A Novel
Stephenie Meyer - Avg Customer rating - 4 1/2 stars

Note: These are the top 10 books in sales. The avg customer has rated these books based on interest, story and or information. Five stars is the highest rating a book can receive. For more information on these books..and the top 100 books of 2008 visit Amazon.com and visit their "Books" section.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's Edition

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's Edition (Offered Exclusively by Amazon) (Hardcover)
by J. K. Rowling (Author)

Tucked in its own case disguised as a wizarding textbook found in the Hogwarts library, the Collector's Edition includes an exclusive reproduction of J.K. Rowling's handwritten introduction, as well as 10 additional illustrations not found in the Standard Edition or the original. Opening the case reveals a velvet bag embroidered with J.K. Rowling’s signature, in which sits the piece de resistance: your very own copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, complete with metal skull, corners, and clasp; replica gemstones; and emerald ribbon. As a special gift for fans, the Collector's edition also includes a set of 10 ready-for-framing prints of J.K. Rowling's illustrations, enclosed in a velvet-lined pocket in the lid of the outer case.

Offering the trademark wit and imagination familiar to Rowling's legions of readers--as well as Aesop's wisdom and the occasional darkness of the Brothers Grimm--each of these five tales reveals a lesson befitting children and parents alike: the strength gained with a trusted friendship, the redemptive power of love, and the true magic that exists in the hearts of all of us. Rowling's new introduction also comments on the personal lessons she has taken from the Tales, noting that the characters in Beedle's collection "take their fates into their own hands, rather than taking a prolonged nap or waiting for someone to return a lost shoe," and "that magic causes as much trouble as it cures."

But the true jewel of this new edition is the enlightening and comprehensive commentary (including extensive footnotes!) by Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who brings his unique wizard's-eye perspective to the collection. Discovered "among the many papers which Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives," the venerable wizard's ruminations on the Tales allow today's readers to place them in the context of 16th century Muggle society, even allowing that "Beedle was somewhat out of step with his times in preaching a message of brotherly love for Muggles" during the era of witch hunts that would eventually drive the wizarding community into self-imposed exile. In fact, versions of the same stories told in wizarding households would shock many for their uncharitable treatment of their Muggle characters.

Professor Dumbledore also includes fascinating historical backstory, including tidbits such as the history and pursuit of magic wands, a brief comment on the Dark Arts and its practitioners, and the struggles with censorship that eventually led "a certain Beatrix Bloxam" to cleanse the Tales of "much of the darker themes that she found distasteful," forever altering the meaning of the stories for their Muggle audience. Dumbledore also allows us a glimpse of his personal relationship to the Tales, remarking that it was through "Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump" that "many of us [wizards] first discovered that magic could not bring back the dead."

Both a wise and delightful addition to the Harry Potter canon, this new translation of The Tales of Beedle the Bard is all that fans could hope for and more--and an essential volume for the libraries of Muggles, wizards, and witches, both young and old.

Amazon.com

Newly Released Books

THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD
By J. K. Rowling
111 pages. Scholastic. $12.99.

This slim volume is a collection of stories supposedly beloved by wizard children — the equivalents of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella among Muggle (nonmagical) offspring. Readers of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books will recognize at least one of them, “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” which played a significant role in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” The book’s translator (from the ancient runes) is Hermione Granger; the commentary is by Albus Dumbledore. In the first story, “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” a young wizard inherits his father’s magic pot, which turns into a kind of portrait of Dorian Gray when the younger man refuses to help the local Muggles. “A simple and heartwarming fable, one might think,” Dumbledore notes in the commentary, “in which case, one would reveal oneself to be an innocent nincompoop.” Proceeds from the book — which has sold more than 2.6 million copies since its release on Dec. 4, according to the publisher — will go to a charity in Britain.

New York Times.