FICTION
Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward
The winner of the 2011 National Book Award for fiction takes you deep into the lives of a family in Mississippi just before hurricane Katrina. A brutally honest story told with the beautiful prose that’ll make you see and understand the soul of a family challenged by poverty and by the forces of nature.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Pilgramage, by Annie Leibovitz
I don’t think I need to tell you about Leibovitz and her beautiful portraits, but I should tell you that this new book’s subject is not about faces. Leibovitz takes a journey to discover and photograph the places and things that define some of the greatest names in history, the ones that mean the most to her. For example, she photographs the homes and rooms of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott, and the Yosemite Valley of Ansel Adams. This is some of her best work yet.

ART
Sketching San Francisco’s Neighborhoods, by Eleanor Burke
This is a wonderfully drawn and whimsical collection of sketches that capture the look and feel of each unique neighborhood in our diverse city. Self-published by local Eleanor Burke, this is a perfect gift for natives as well as all those want-to-be-natives from around the world.

STAFF PICK FOR KIDS
The Umbrella, by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert
This is the story of a little dog whisked around the world on a red umbrella. Told through gorgeous watercolors full of light and movement, this nameless dog is an adventurer we can all relate to, full of turns of wonder and fear. – Anna Logan