DON'T GET SCROOGED : HOW TO THRIVE IN A WORLD FULL OF OBNOXIOUS, INCOMPETENT, ARROGANT, AND DOWNRIGHT MEAN-SPIRITED PEOPLE Carlson, Richard

The holiday season doesn't always bring out the best in everyone. Just listen to any conversation about the perils of the holiday season and you'll find that people always seem to be complaining about somebody else. Now, Richard Carlson takes a practical, entertaining look at how to survive and thrive in this mad, crazy world and not let the negativity get you down.

INNOCENT MAN : MURDER AND INJUSTICE IN A SMALL TOWN Grisham, John

Grisham's first nonfiction book has all the points of a bestselling thriller. How did Ron Williamson go from a major league draft in 1971 to death row for the murder of a 21-year-old cocktail waitress? If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, it will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, it will infuriate you.

JESUS : UNCOVERING THE LIFE, TEACHINGS, AND SURPRISING RELEVANCE OF A SPIRITUAL REVOLUTIONARY Borg, Marcus J.

Borg goes beyond his previous books to offer what he has learned about the 'pre-Easter Jesus' and the 'post-Easter Jesus.' In his latest, he introduces readers to a more revolutionary Jesus who confronted the social crises of his day. Borg also discovered, through a lifetime of work and study, a Jesus that continues to inspire, inform, and guide those who have grown beyond archaic doctrines. Within these pages readers will find a historically accurate Jesus, but one, Borg states, who is still worth following.

WHY WE WANT YOU TO BE RICH : TWO MEN--ONE MESSAGE Trump, Donald & Kiyosaki, Robert T.

While Donald Trump is a billionaire and Robert Kiyosaki is a millionaire, both continue to work. Their common concern brought them together to collaborate on this book. It explains how the two met, and their concern that the rich are getting richer but America is getting poorer. Soon, they fear, the middle-class will disappear and it will either be rich or poor. Trump and Kiyosaki want you to be among the rich and share financial advice that will move readers toward that goal.

ABUNDANCE : A NOVEL OF MARIE ANTOINETTE Naslund, Sena Jeter

Marie Antoinette was only 14 when her marriage was arranged to Dauphin, the future King Louis XVI, himself only 15. Far from home and thrust into the role of woman, wife, and queen, she lived a brief, but astonishing, life. Now, Naslund offers a fresh, vivid portrait of this compelling woman that goes beyond myth to reveal the Marie Antoninette who rebelled against the formality and rigid protocol of the court and who became a target of a revolution that decided her fate.

ACT OF TREASON Flynn, Vince

After Vice President Brian Baxter's motorcade is ambushed by terrorists who kill his wife and several Secret Service agents, it appears to be an open and shut case. That is, until a package appears on the doorstep of Special Agent Skip McMahon, lead investigator on the case, the contents of which are so toxic that he considers destroying the evidence. That's when he thinks of Mitch Rapp, the one man who's reckless enough to follow the evidence to its explosive conclusion.

COLLECTORS Baldacci, David

People are dying in Washington, D.C. First, the Speaker of the House is murdered by a hit man. Then, the director of the Library of Congress' Rare Books Room mysteriously dies in the book vault. Caleb Snow, Camel Club member, nearly becomes the third victim. As a con woman assembles an A-list team to pull off one of the most audacious scams ever, the worlds of Washington and the elite con collide head-on and the Camel Club unravels a secret that threatens to bring America to its knees.

CROSS Patterson, James

Alex Cross' life is finally getting back to normal following the shooting death of his wife several years earlier. He's set up a practice as a psychologist once again and even has a chance at a new love. Then Cross' former partner, John Sampson, calls in a favor. He's tracking a serial rapist in Georgetown that bears a similarity to a case the two worked on years earlier and reveals a connection to Alex's wife's death. Cross is about to go for the ride of his life.

DEAR JOHN Sparks, Nicholas

An angry rebel, John drops out of school and enlists in the Army. He meets Savannah and she is the girl of his dreams. Savannah can't wait for John to finish his tour of duty so they can be together. But 9/11 changes everything when John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. The long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. 'Dear John,' the letter read . . . and with those two words, a heart is broken and two lives are changed forever. John is back now and must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love. He has to face the hardest decision of his life.

HOUNDS AND THE FURY : A NOVEL Brown, Rita Mae

Book five of Rita Mae Brown's 'Foxhunting' series draws readers into the murky financial scandals of foxhunting society, including a sharp- tongued, wheelchair-bound hellion of a bookkeeper, Sister Jane's handsome, brilliant boyfriend, and a rich former hunt club donor who thinks he can outclass the intrepid Master of the Hunt by purchasing his own pack of hounds. Only Sister Jane and her animal friends, the foxes, hounds, birds, cats, and dogs, are able to uncover the mystery of the missing money, and the missing body!

HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY Parker, Robert B.

At first Spenser doesn't recognize April Kyle when she enters his PI office. He had twice previously rescued her from bad situations over the years, but hadn't seen her in quite sometime. Now, she is all grown up and a madam running her own brothel. With thugs threatening her business, she needs Spenser's help once more. This time however, Spenser might not be able to help her overcome her past.

LETHAL JUSTICE Michaels, Fern

Alexis had been a successful broker before she'd been wrongly imprisoned for fraud. Now she is spending time in prison while the true criminals, Arden Gillespie and Roland Sullivan, spend the profits from the scam. This is a good revenge mission for the Sisterhood, a vigilante organization who avenges crimes not punished by the legal system. All the Sisterhood has to do to be successful is to recruit the help of a recluse still mourning the deaths of her loved ones.

MOTOR MOUTH Evanovich, Janet

In her thunderous sequel to 'Metro Girl,' Evanovich brings back the spotter and R&D tech, Alexandra Barnaby to investigate the disappearance of the Huevo Motor Sports 69 car hauler, complete with two racecars it carried. The finger of blame is pointed at Sam Hooker, who had lost the last race of the season to the whiney rookie who drove the 69 car. Unfortunately, Alexandra, who works for Hooker, is also under suspicion. Before she realizes it, she and Hooker are knee deep in Mexican assassins and industrial espionage.

NATURE GIRL Hiaasen, Carl

Honey Santana has a scheme to get rid of telemarketers Boyd Shreave and his mistress, Eugenie, in a wildlife refuge off the coast of southeast Florida. What she doesn't know is that she's being followed by her obsessed former employer, Piejack, who's being followed by Honey's still smitten, ex-husband, Perry, and their 12-year-old son, Fry. What 'none' of them know when they arrive at tiny Dismal Key, is that they're intruding on Sammy Tigertail, a failed alligator wrestler and Everglades guide, who's trying to be a hermit.

SHEPHERD, THE ANGEL, AND WALTER THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE DOG Barry, Dave

It's 1960 in Asquont, N.Y., and Doug Barnes is excited at the prospect of portraying a shepherd in the Christmas pageant at St. John's Episcopal Church. His excitement is mixed with annoyance at his fellow shepherds who are hacking around, which makes the pageant's director angry. Also, the girl playing Mary opposite Joseph is distractingly cute, and the family dog is in failing health. With Christmas known as the season of miracles, perhaps the Barnes family is in line for a miracle of their own.

VIEW FROM CASTLE ROCK : STORIES Munro, Alice

This new collection of short stories from Munro is more personal than any she's written before. Through them she pieces her family's history into fully imagined fiction. They include stories about a boy who goes to Castle Rock to 'view' America and ends up catching a glimpse of his father's dream; two sisters-in-law who experience different kinds of passion on their voyage to the New World; a girl who's hired as summer help and is transformed by her employer's perceptive parting gift, etc.