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In recognition of the Winter Reading issue, this week’s column is devoted to nine Vermont books that we’d not had a chance to read, or review, until now. But before we get to them, congratulations are in order to New Yorker and Seven Days cartoonist-illustrator Harry Bliss: Time magazine has named his book Diary of a Fly, with writer Doreen Cronin, one of the top 10 children’s picture books of the year.

Props to all the Vermonters who published books this year; just getting the words onto the page is a feat. We can relate.... Read more

Never mind those doohickeys that allow you to read a magazine while running on a treadmill — pages and perspiration have never been particularly good companions. Still, 2007 witnessed the publication of a mountain of books dedicated to getting buff, biking, brain-training, baking treats for hungry skiers, and more. For the outdoors-oriented and fitness- or sports-obsessed recipients on your giving list, here are a few of the most intriguing reads.

Backcountry Magazine
(http://www.backcountrymagazine.com
888-424-5857)... Read more

Cresting the hill into Middlebury on Route 30, it’s easy to overlook the nondescript wooden building perched beside the college’s pristine golf-course putting green. Unbeknownst to most local residents, that unassuming structure houses one of the country’s most respected literary magazines.... Read more

This is the time of year Norbert Ender should be baking Linzer cookies. Gugelhupf. Strudel. At least, that’s what you’d expect from an Austrian-born chef trained in classic European cuisine. But instead, he’s holed up in his Burlington secondhand store, called Speaking Volumes, seven days a week. And rather than being covered in flour, Ender, 44, is surrounded by books — from 16th-century tomes to recent paperbacks, and everything in between.... Read more

If you’ve read recent confessional memoirs by culinary luminaries such as Ruth Reichl and Gael Greene, you may be surprised by the staidness of Judith Jones’ contribution to the genre, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food. Reichl describes adulterous love affairs, while Greene delves into her trysts with celebs such as Elvis and Clint Eastwood.... Read more

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads." The same should also be said for those rare authors, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and civic leaders who play at the top of their games. If reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body, then maybe the rest of us could benefit from borrowing a page or two from the personal-training manuals of the experts.... Read more

"Men who kill and women who love them." That's how Anne Stuart's friends describe her popular romance novels. On a recent weekday, the 58-year-old Vermont novelist has gathered with four not-yet-published writers for an early lunch at the Asian Bistro in Williston. They discuss shopping for Christmas gear, grown kids, TV shows and Stuart's recent triumph: She just hit the New York Times best-seller list for the first time in her 32-year career as a romance novelist.... Read more

John and Happy had lived together for five years. They were very busy people. They lived in the suburbs and worked in the city and had as many friends as a busy life would permit. When they decided to go ahead and get married (in October, the only month with a little bit of room on both their calendars), they started searching for the right person to do the job.... Read more

It's Sunday, November 27, the tail end of Thanksgiving weekend. Muddy Waters is full of students returning for last classes and final exams. But the young people trying to wedge three laptops onto one table aren't students -- or if they are, that's not why they're here. They're participants in National Novel Writing Month, and they have about 48 hours to complete a 50,000-word manuscript they started on November 1.... Read more

With recreational reading out of fashion among teens, there's been a lot of talk about improving "young adult" fiction. That semi-amorphous category of literature aimed at the 11 to 17 crowd doesn't have to be juvenile -- most adult bookworms can recall at least one YA fave.... Read more