BWW's TOP TEN BOOKS Of 2013

Just in time for Christmas, whether you're shopping online or in a brick-and-mortar bookstore - yes, some places still boast such things - we bring you Broadway World's book shopping list for everyone. It's the traditional Top Ten list, with just a few added books for those just-in-case-they-got-it-for-their-birthday gift recipients. Whether you order online or buy it printed on paper, or you get the e-book edition, these books should keep the season bright for the book lovers on your list.

Best Mystery: SPEAKING FROM AMONG THE BONES by Alan Bradley. The current installment of the delightful Flavia de Luce mysteries. The eleven-year-old answer to Miss Marple boasts her own chemistry laboratory, awful sisters, and a knack for irritating adults on a regular basis. That corpses show up for her to investigate is almost a bonus. This time, it's the church organist. On an ancient tomb. Wearing a gas mask. Mystery fans have never had it so good.

Best Young Adult Book: BETTER NATE THAN EVER by Tim Federle. Yes, it's more middle-grade than YA, but it's delightful. A wonderful story about being different, and that it just might be great. Nate, who lives in a small town, yearns to be on stage... on Broadway. When "E.T.: The Musical" issues a casting call, how does a guy who lives where show tunes aren't cool get a crack at an audition? While the plot seems simple, it's a tale about taking risks, getting a second chance, and dealing with the pains of growing up.

Best Political Book: COLLISION 2012 by Dan Balz and James Silberman. The man who brought you Collision: 2008 and his collaborator look at Obama, Romney, and America's political and cultural shifts since the last book. Strong research, strong opinions, and an important topic.

Best Science Fiction: THE SHINING GIRLS by Lauren Beukes. The South African science fiction author, winner of the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award, brings on a tale of time travel and other journeying. This is what science fiction is supposed to be.

Best Music Book (TIE): VERVE: THE SOUND OF AMERICA by Richard Havers, and BEDSIT DISCO QUEEN: HOW I GREW UP AND TRIED TO BECOME A POP STAR by Tracey Thorn. Both UK imprints, one about America's great jazz label, the other about the heyday of disco and the vagaries of the British pop scene. Thorn's book, lightweight as it sounds, is a critical darling in England, the US, and elsewhere - possibly better than her musical work she's half of Everything But the Girl and part of Marine Girls). Havers documents and illustrates the history of one of our finest record labels. Don't just buy these for gifts.

Best Theatre Book: YEAR OF THE KING: AN ACTOR'S DIARY AND SKETCHBOOK, 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Anthony Sher. The great South African actor's memoir of the historic RICHARD III at the RSC. Great when it was written, and still one of the best theatre memoirs ever. That Sher is a fine illustrator as well as actor and writer is part of the joy of this book.

Best Nonfiction: THE BULLY PULPIT: THEODORE ROOSEVELT, WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF JOURNALISM by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Unless you don't like Goodwin or despise history, this is the book you want. The historian's insights into an often disregarded time of America's past are not only fascinating but compelling.

Best Biography: JOHNNY CASH: THE LIFE by Robert Hilburn. Yes, this could also be a Best Music Book winner. Well-researched and well-written; if you have to ask who this is about, turn in your claim to knowing anything about 20th Century America. Buy one for a gift and one for yourself. The appeal is definitely not limited to country music fans.

Best Cookbook (TIE): SMOKE AND PICKLES: STORIES AND RECIPES FROM A NEW SOUTHERN KITCHEN by Edward Lee; THE HEART OF THE PLATE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES FOR A NEW GENERATION by Mollie Katzen. Food memoir lovers and Southern food fans, rejoice for Lee's writing. If your chicken comes out dry, he's got your solution, too. Stories, advice, calories, and yet not your mama's Southern food. Katzen, beloved to many for the legendary MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK, is back with another brilliant work, this one set to meet the modern vegetarian view that your cooking doesn't have to mimic omnivore cooking where one protein-based entrée dominates the plate. Both will change your views on their areas of cooking.

Best Romance Novel: TWO OF A KIND by Susan Mallery. Part of her popular FOOL'S GOLD romances, it was nominated for an RT Reviewers' Choice Best Book Award. It's a contemporary, and it has no supernatural characters - it's a straightforward romance between the brilliant and socially inept Felicia and the emotionally scarred Gideon, a former Special Forces fighter and POW. Overcoming both of their sets of issues is touching and funny.

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