Books, Books, Books

Today's NYT's offers many book recommendations for gifts or for your own reading pleasure. Here are their recommendations for coffee table books. Here are 100 notable books from 2008. Book critics Michiko Kakutani and Janet Maslin each list their 10 favorite books of 2008 (more info). The NYT is not alone of course, there are plenty of other lists around the web. See Tyler Cowen too, of course.

In related news, it looks like 2008 was a good year for e-books (ars technica):

There are a number of trends that have skyrocketed in popularity this year despite the otherwise muted economy. One of those trends is the growth of e-books, popularized by the Amazon Kindle and aided by the already-established popularity of Apple's iPhone. As the 2008 holiday season descends upon us, news about both devices continue to drive a shift that historians have long feared: people are ditching the printed page for handheld screens and loving it.

The Kindle, Amazon's surprisingly well-received e-content reader, has apparently completely sold out for the rest of the holiday season already, despite the fact that US Thanksgiving has yet to hit. The company confirmed to Silicon Alley Insider yesterday that the current Kindle is on backorder for at least another 11 to 13 weeks, and Amazon definitely won't be able to ship any before December 24. Amazon has since placed a notice on its site saying, "Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is sold out."