Meg Keenan grew up a few blocks away from Maple Street Book Shop. Her tiny home is filled with books, and the pile by her bed is almost four feet high. Although her husband, Kevin Tucker, has obligingly built bookshelves for her, the overflow continues. She once almost missed a flight home from London because her suitcases were too weighted with books. She's also a British historian and is currently teaching at Tulane University and William Carey College.

Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of the Onion by Robert Siegal et al. (Humor)
The Onion's latest is a wondeful and acerbic book filled with "funny fake news" that will make you laugh until it hurts. I showed it to Jan and Cindy and they thought it was hilarious.

Yellow Jack by Josh Russell (fiction)
This utterly original and fiercely erotic novel is set in New Orleans during the yellow fever epidemic of the 1840s. The protagonist, dagurrotypist Claude Marchand, is caught up in the corruption and squalor of mid-ninteenth century New Orleans. You'll be fascinated as Marchand finds himself torn between wife and mistress, sanity and madness, principle and depravity.

London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (history)
Biographer and novelist Ackroyd guides us through London, century by century and street by street. This sumptuous book blends social history, urban legend, and anecdote into rich and satisfying account of the city. The chapters on the development of London's dialects and the medical history of the city are particularly impressive.

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain (Cooking/Nonfiction)
I devoured Kitchen Confidential in one sitting. Chef Anthony Bourdain's insider's view of the world of cooks and chefs is intriguing, humorous, and revealing. Whether you have worked in a restaurant or not, you'll find yourself thoroughly entertained by Bourdain's escapades and captivated by his scathing wit.