The holidays are upon us! Our December Beyond the Best Seller List is loaded with holiday treats.

In Fiction, Elizabeth Berg retells the biblical story of Mary and Joseph beginning with their courtship in Nazareth, in The Handmaid and the Carpenter. Country music singer and novelist Kinky Friedman has created a holiday fable about an autistic boy and a very special pig named Valerie in The Christmas Pig .

In Non-fiction, we have you covered mind, body, and soul: for the mind, Winter Blues by Norman E. Rosenthal will help you cure the seasonal blues. For the body, we've got cookbooks! Betty Crocker's Christmas Cookbook has been updated with lots of new recipes, and the Diva of Do-Ahead ( Diane Phillips) has a holiday entertaining book. Now, for the soul: Garry Wills takes a fresh look at the Life of Jesus in What Jesus Meant. And Jeffrey Goldberg's Prisoners: a Muslim and a Jew across the Middle East Divide reminds us that decent men of goodwill can bridge even the widest gulf.

Lastly, we are recommending Emily Posts's Etiquette to help you be your absolute best at all those holiday shindigs.

Happy Holidays from your Library!