Kristen Gilligan
Walking the Bible
by Bruce Feiler
Part adventure story, part archeological detective work, and part spiritual exploration, Walking the Bible describes Bruce Feiler's perilous, 10,000-mile journey across the Middle East in search of the Bible's roots. Camping in the desert, crossing the Red Sea, climbing Mount Sinai, and interviewing Bedouin and pilgrims alike, Feiler attempts to answer one burning question: Is the Bible just an abstraction, or is it a living, breathing entity? Feiler gathers the latest archeological research about each site and sits down to read the stories in their natural surroundings. In vivid, lively prose, he explores how geography affects the larger narrative of the Bible and ultimately realizes how much these places -- and his experiences -- have affected his own faith. Engrossing, thought-provoking, and adventurous, this book grabs you from the beginning and creates a level of reality that you never thought possible for such abstract ideas and narratives.

Jay Gesin
Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World
by Lawrence Goldstone, Nancy Goldstone
Co-author Nancy Goldstone began book collecting with a birthday-gift hunt for an inexpensive copy of War and Peace for her husband. From those inauspicious beginnings, the thrill of finding the perfect copy became first a hobby, and then a passion for the couple. Used and Rare chronicles the authors' true adventures scouting bookshops and rare book dealers. Beginning with their first trips exploring dusty barns full of books and ending with exclusive auctions in New York City, Used and Rare is full of book knowledge, history, and collecting tips ... and doubles as a quietly romantic story about sneaking away for weekends of book hunting and the memories stored in book collections.

Gavin Grant
Which Lie Did I Tell?
by William Goldman
What fun this book is! It continues in a similar vein to Goldman's earlier Adventures in the Screen Trade with Goldman spilling the beans on the films he has written for -- as well as dishing a good deal of gossip on the side. We get an insight into the happiest period of Goldman's life as a writer, when he was editing out the boring bits of S. Morgenstern's The Princess Bride; his dry period (he couldn't get a screenplay filmed for eight years); an analysis of great movie moments of recent years; and tips and tricks of the screen-writing and movie-making worlds -- and Goldman takes pains to point out that these are not the same thing!

John Son
Real Presences
by George Steiner
A thought-provoking and challenging inquiry into the meaning and significance of art -- literature, painting, music, et al. -- in our lives. There isn't a wasted sentence in here, meaning each sentence will set your mind off on numerous, concurrent paths of thought, feeling, and belief, about God, religion, art, death, morals. You may not agree with everything Steiner sets forth, but he'll definitely make you think something back. Personally, one of the most rewarding books I've ever read. (Coincidentally, a nice companion pick to Bruce Feiler's Walking the Bible, recommended above by Kristen Gilligan.)