BEST OF2006
MOVIES AND BOOKS
Year-end "Best of" lists are something of a guilty pleasure for those who deal in books and movies - but they're also a helpful exercise

in review. For all of you who've felt you've been negligent staying on top of your multi-media this year, your local purveyors of movies and books have been able to tap into a year's worth of bestsellers and sleeper favorites to determine their own "best of" lists. See, there. The work has been done for you.

MITCHELL'S BOOK CORNER 54 MAIN STREET 228-1080

"The Road" by Cormack McCarthy

(Fiction)

This book is a life-changing experience about a father and son walking down a road at the world's end.

"The Zero" by Jess Walter

(Fiction)

This risk-taking novel about lawenforcement officers post - 9/11 is beautifully written and complex.

"The Echo Maker" by Richard Powers

(Fiction)

The amazing Nebraska plains and their migrating cranes make an appropriate backdrop for this novel about memory and the brain.

"The Other Side of the Bridge" by Mary Lawson

(Fiction) The key to this book are the characters and sense of place. "Blood and Thunder" by Hampton Sides

(Non-fiction)

An especially readable, terrific Western history focused around Kit Carson.

Mayflower by Nat Philbrick

(Non-fiction)

Nat Philbrick knocks the myth of Plymouth, the rock, the meal and the Indians right out the window with this revisionist history.

"The Lost: ASearch of 6 Million" by Daniel Mendelsohn

(Non-fiction)

A man employs memoir, history and reportage as he documents his research of family members killed during the Holocaust.

"Reading like a Writer" by Francine Prose

(Non-fiction)

One of the few how-to books to ever make an MBC list. Enough said.

"The Great Deluge" by Douglas Brinkley

(Non-fiction)

Let's not forget about Katrina, and reading this book you never will.

- Mimi Beman, owner, Mitchell's Book Corner

NANTUCKET BOOKWORKS 25 BROAD STREET 228-4000

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

(Fiction)

A father and son travel through the chaos of a post-apocalyptic America. A stark, beautiful novel, haunting in its hellishness and despair.

"The Sea" by John Banville

(Fiction)

A beautiful, moving novel, in which memories of a fateful childhood summer by the sea haunt a newly widowed man seeking solace in the same holiday resort of his youth.

"The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield

(Fiction)

Engaged as the biographer of an aged, dying woman author, a bookseller's daughter enters a gothic, perilous world to find the truth of the woman's life. A wonderful, old-fashioned literary mystery, the kind that makes you keep reading into the night.

"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

(Fiction)

A beautifully told story, narrated by a man in his nineties, recalling the time when as a young student in the 1930s he joined a traveling circus due to circumstances beyond his control. "Gallatin Canyon" by Thomas McGuane

(Fiction)

These 11 American stories, set from Montana to the Caribbean, are brimming with brilliant language and wit. Character and landscape are delineated by sharp, often hilarious, dialogue, and by McGuane's careful, offbeat observations.

"Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" by Lawrence Wright

(Non-fiction)

A revealing and riveting look at the key planners of the 9/11 disaster, including the formative years of Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization, as well as detailed information about other key figures in the plot. A book of broad scope, it answers many questions about little-publicized details in the background to the tragedy.

"The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion

(Non-fiction)

In this painfully heartfelt and un-romanticized look at life after her husband, John Gregory Dunne, died suddenly, and her daughter was stricken by a serious disease, Joan Didion examines her grief and loss, her coming to terms with the reality of a death, her understanding of the feeble hold we sometimes have on sanity. A beautiful and compelling book.

"Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song" Edited by Les Beletsky (Non-fiction) The music is the thing. Each page of this book contains a full-color illustration of a bird with a very good, brief natural history of the species; an audio player allows you to hear the song of the bird you're viewing. An unusual, stunning presentation.

"Horse Latitudes" by Paul Muldoon

(Non-fiction)

Poems full of Muldoo''s wonderfully rich play with language and forms, memorializing lost loves and friends, the country of childhood, and the metaphorical (and real) wars that beset us all.

"Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

(Non-fiction)

The author's journey around the world to refine her life by exploring sensual pleasure and spiritual understanding, and trying to find the balance between them, is a good introduction to the work of this fine, insightful writer.

- Dick Burns, Nantucket Bookworks

CAMERA SHOP & NANTUCKET VIDEO 32 MAIN STREET 228-0101

"The Queen" (Rated PG-13)

The film deals with the week following the death of Princess Di and the Palace's reaction - or nonreaction - to what happened. Helen Mirren is flawless. (DVD due in after Oscars.)

"Little Miss Sunshine"

(Rated R) A touching and sweet, dysfunctional road trip comedy. (Due in Dec. 19)

"Volver" (Rated R)

Two sisters deal with the return of their dead mother in visible life. There's already early Oscar buzz for star Penelope Crux. The film is also Pedro Almodovar, and you can't go wrong with him. (DVD due in after Oscars.)

"Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"

(Rated R)

Sasha Baron Cohen will keep you laughing in this hilarious mocumentary about a Khazakistani reporter coming to the U.S. to report on the greatest country in the world. (DVD due in spring.)

"Akeelah and the Bee" (Rated PG)

A young, urban girl discovers self-worth in her quest to compete in the Scripps Nation Spelling Bee. A wonderful film for all ages. (In store)

"Deep Blue" (Rated G)

A documentary of the ocean that's a cinematic feast for the eyes to remind us of just how beautiful our planet can be. Narrated by Pierce Brosnan, the film was edited from over 1,000 hours of footage from the ocean, and the cinematography is amazing. (In store)

"Inside Man" (Rated R)

Spike Lee's slick bank-heist thriller starring Clive Owen, Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster has a great twist at the end. (In store.)

The Devil Wears Prada (Rated PG-13)

Viewers can look forward to a superb performance by Meryl Streep in this dishy comedy about the fashion industry. It's just a witty, sassy, fun comedy. (Due out Dec. 12)

"Water" (Rated PG-13)

This controversial foreign film by director Deepa Mehta relates the moving and beautiful but sad drama of an 8-year-old Indian girl who is married, widowed and then cast away. Everyone who has seen the movie things it's amazing. (In store now.)

"The Departed" (Rated R)

Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and, most importantly, Jack Nicholson star in this film about cops, mob guys and informants. The terrific ensemble cast features Jack Nicholson as the ruthless head of the Irish mob in Southie. (DVD due out in Spring.)

- Laurie Donovan, Manager

Nantucket Video

Orange Street Video 117 Orange Street 228-5806

10. "Good Night, and Good Luck"

(Rated PG)

About Edward R. Murrow's investigation into the McCarthy trials. Even more compelling for the black and white filmmaking and the use of smoke.

9. "Pride and Prejudice" (Rated PG)

This adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel makes it to the list because Matthew Macfadyen is the best Darcy ever.

8. "Monster House" (Rated PG)

A Polar Express-type film about a house that's alive and attacks children. It's great because its not a coddling animation.

7. "Pirates of the Caribbean:

Dead Man's Chest" (Rated PG-13)

Jack Sparrow has to live up to his bargain with Davy Jones. This is a top film, because it's pirates and it's Johnny Depp.

6. "The Chumscrubber" (Rated R)

This film relates a death in a suburban town and the different reactions from the teenagers and the adults. It's a brilliant satire that shows how parents often completely misunderstand their children.

5. "Mini's First Time" (Rated R)

A character-driven film about a teenager who is rather messed up in the head and manipulates everyone around her. It has great actors and excellent writing without all the Hollywood hoopla.

4. "The Ice Harvest" (Rated R)

This genre-bending suspenseful comedy is about a heist gone wrong.

3. "Hard Candy" (Rated R)

This is a suspenseful drama about a teenage girl and her interactions with a pedophile. You don't really want to watch it, but you're compelled to.

2. "Thank You for Smoking" (Rated R)

About a tobacco lobbyist and his gift for spin. Satire is the hardest kind of movie to make, and this one is done perfectly.

1. "Kiss, Kiss Bang" (Rated R)

A classic murder mystery tale in modern day Hollywood. So fabulous. The genre-bending is really, really funny. Val Kilmer stars as a gay private eye, and Robert Downey Jr. is his gun-shy sidekick. There was

no other movie out there like it this year. I

- Kate O'Brien, manager,

Orange Street Video