As always, I've stuck (though with some frustration and a great deal of difficulty) to only three hardcover and three paperback titles per genre - all published in 2004. Hope you find choices here to suit your own reading taste and to light up the eyes of everyone on your shopping list ...

Recommended 2004 Hardcovers

Contemporary	Fantasy	Historical
Islands Soul City The Windmill	Fool's Fate Going Postal The Last Light of the Sun	Garden of Beasts Hadrian's Wall Holy Fools
Mystery	Non-Fiction	Romance
Absolute Friends Beautiful Ghosts Wolves Eat Dogs	Ancient Wine Faint Echoes, Distant Stars On Intelligence	Charming Grace The Ocean Between Us White Hot
SF	Travel
Edenborn Forge of Heaven Predator's Gold	Breaking the Limit So Many Enemies, So Little Time To the Heart of the Nile
Teens	Kids
Airborn Assassin The Golem's Eye	The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish The Hungry Coat You Read to Me, I'll Read to You (Very Short Fairy Tales)

Recommended 2004 Paperbacks

Contemporary	Fantasy	Historical
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time The Lovely Bones Lucia, Lucia	The Language of Power The Usurper's Crown Wolfskin	Dreaming the Eagle Ragtime in Simla Render Unto Caesar
Mystery	Non-Fiction	Romance
Bangkok 8 Last Car to Elysian Fields No Second Chance	A Mighty Heart The Search for Nefertiti A Short History of Nearly Everything	Birthright Cry No More The Killing Hour
SF	Travel
Angelica The Companions Sims	Nine Hills to Nambonkaha The Sex Lives of Cannibals The Storyteller's Daughter
Teens	Kids
Abhorsen Taylor Five The Wee Free Men	A Fine, Fine School Gotta Go! Gotta Go! Mammalabilia
For more great reading suggestions, check out our Reviewer Faves 2004. Happy Holidays to all of you from all of us at BookLoons!!