Often the best book recommendations come from people who are reading a book that they can’t help but gush about They want to tell others how interesting, moving or just plan fun it is to read. Well, I for one am listening — and sharing with you.

So each Friday, I will try pass along a good book tip —just in time for the weekend. Get ready to settle in and make sure that reading light is full charged.

As a reporter I speak to lots of people during the week. I will pick out someone very fascinating and find out what he or she is reading and get a recommendation. Your job is to comment if you know the book or have read it. Also, feel free to share a related title of your own — with some pithy description, please.

Last week, I interviewed Gary Knell, president and chief executive officer of Sesame Street Workshop. He is a big fan of libraries saying he grew up using ones in California and now that he lives in Westchester really likes the Mt. Kisco and Katonah libraries. Scroll down and find an interview with him about how the children’s television programming can work with libraries to encourage learning and reading.

When we talked, Knell said he was currently reading the new David Halberstam book about the Korean conflict, “The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War.�

“I am finding it absolutely fascinating. It tells a history we did — or a least I did not —learn in school. I was born too late and am catching up now. It is a terrific book with detail and insights,� he said of the more than 700 page tome, by the Pulitizer Prize winning author.

Ramapo High School graduate, M. Sindy Felin got some serious literary attention this month.

Her debut novel, “Touching Snowâ€? was nominated in the Young People’s Literature category of the National Book Awards and now the book will have the gold sticker on its jacket from the NBA folks. She didn’t win, but being nominated is quite a fabulous recognition — especially for a new novelist.

The 58th annual awards were announced Nov. 14 in New York City.

“Touching Snow” is about a young girl’s coming-of-age in suburbia—a story that has the courage to ask: How far will you go to protect the ones you love, according to a description from Simon & Schuster. It is a complicated tale about a seventh grader whose family is from Haiti and is facing struggles in their New York community.

Fein graduated from Ramapo High School in 1990 and received a scholarship from the Rockland County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Looking for a great holiday gift? Try a book, I always say. It works for mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, even parents and babysitters. And you don’t need to know any sizes or color favorites — just topics. Wrapping is also very easy and most stores will do it for you.

The New York York Times has come out with its “10 Best Books of 2007” which will make any book giver seem well-read and in the know. Some titles are familiar to me, others aren’t, which reminds me that there are so many books and so little time to crack open a book.

On the list in nonfiction is Jeffrey Toobin’s “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court,” which local booksellers have said is selling briskly already. On the fiction side, is “Man Gone Down” a first novel by Michael Thomas which I’ve been meaning to pick up. It is a current day tale of searching for identity and the American dream. Check out the Times’ complete list with the originally published NY Times book reviews online or in the print edition to be published Dec. 9. There is also a related article on the 100 Notable Books of 2007 in case you need a longer list of suggestions.

•Other nonfiction titles are “Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone” by Rajiv Chandrasekaran; “Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression” by Mildred Armstrong Kalish; “The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History” by Linda Colley; and “The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century” by Alex Ross.

•Other fiction titles  are “Out Stealing Horses” by Per Petterson, translated by Anne Born; “The Savage Detectives” by Roberto Bolano, translated by Natasha Wimmer; “Then We Came to the End” by Joshua Ferris; and “Tree of Smoke” by Denis Johnson.

There’s lots to read and plenty to shopping ideas.

For a compilation of book-related gift selections, send me an e=mail noting your favorite title at bnackman@LoHud.com. I bet you readers out there can come up with old favorites as well as new sleepers that will really entice booklovers.

Gary Knell, president and chief executive officer of the Sesame Street Workshop, (shown on the right in photo) believes libraries and children’s television programmers should work side by side to encourage reading and learning. They each have the attention of parents and educators, and cooperatively should find new ways to work on their common goal. Knell spoke at this month’s annual meeting of the Westchester Library System (Shiobhan Reardon, the executive director of the system, standing with Knell in the photo). He talked about technology changes in children’s television programming and public libraries.

The New York State Library Association has named state Sen. Vincent Leibell III, R-Patterson, as the 2007 recipient of its Outstanding Advocate of Libraries Award. The senator, who has represented the 40th senate district since 1994, serves on the Senate’s Subcommittee on Libraries. The state association identified him as a key player in the Legislature’s successful efforts to increase funding for libraries over the past three years.

“Libraries,” he said in a release about the award, “are such an integral part of our communities and provide a wonderful resource for all residents to sue. I will continue to support not only the local libraries in my district, but all of those throughout the state.”

There are lots of books out about adoption and personal, inspiring stories.

But here’s a slim, trim paperback, “Dreams Come True: A Story About the Blessings of Adoptionâ€? that is a bit different. It is geared to the thousands of children, particularly those from Eastern Europe and Western Asian counties, who have been adopted by American families. It is a story about a 6-year-old boy named Grisha who wishes for parents to adopt him.

The book is written by Lisa S. Clerman and Amy H. D’Elia, whose sister Jenny Higgons is a writer for The Journal News’ magazine division. D’Elia grew up in Irvington and wrote the book with her friend Lisa. Between them, the book’s authors have five Russian and Kazakhstian children, reports Higgons, who boasts that they are “beautiful.� The book had illustrations are by Krista Weiss Tretick.

All proceeds from the sale of the book, said Higgons, will go to Russian orphanages in need. Copies can be purchased from Cradle of Hope Adoption Center, 8630 Fenton St., Suite 310, Silver Spring, Md 20910; 301-587-4400 or at www.cradlehope.org

November is National Adoption Month, so this might be a perfect month to check out this book.

With the passing of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer at age 84, bookstores and libraries in the lower Hudson Valley are preparing for renewed interest in the works by this venerable author. Some have already experienced new inquiries.

Not all of his titles are still in print, notes Sean Carroll, manager of Borders Books in Mt. Kisco. The store had many of Mailer’s books on hand so by Saturday afternoon when news of his death was reported, staff had assembled a small display. “People are requesting them more. This is what traditionally happens,� said Carroll when I called to ask. Mailer, he added, was still in people’s minds, because he recently published a nonfiction book, “On God: An Uncommon Conversation� and last year had come out with a novel “The Castle in the Forest.� He said the two most popular books, remain “The Executioner’s Song� and “The Naked and the Dead.�

For Roy Solomon, co-owner of Village Bookstore in Pleasantville, his personal favorite is “The Armies of  the Night� about the anti-war protest at the Pentagon for which Mailer won a Pulitzer Prize. Unfortunately this afternoon the store didn’t have a copy on hand, but had other Mailer tomes.

Ruth Bolin, director of Suffern Free Library, said Rockland County libraries have a total of 50 copies of Mailer’s latest novel and others are also on the shelves. The New City library, she said, had assembled a display of his books. Bolin said her staff hadn’t noticed a particular increase, but she hoped they would soon. “I would encourage people to read him for old time sake. He made quite an impact with his writing years ago,� she added.

Actor Charles Grodin has a book out, “If I Only Knew Then,” — and according to a really good piece today in The Journal News by my colleague Chris Serico, the dry-witted humorist will talk about his part in this literary effort at 8 p.m. Saturday at the North Castle Public Library, 19 Whippoorwill Road East in Armonk.

Check out the article and if you are fan or just want some real life lessons, put this library event on your calendar.

The book consists of 80 autobiographical essay and Grodin is one of the celebrity contributors, who also include Art Garfunkel, Goldie Hawn and Ben Stiller.

Admission to the book talk is free.

We just got word of a rare gathering that book lovers in the Hudson Valley might really soak up.

Millbrook Vineyards & Winery is hosting a book signing with 25 Hudson Valley authors and inviting the public to well, come north and sip and schmooze with authors from noon to 5 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 10.

Ever wonder about the history of numbers? Some of the secrets are out with the publication of a new book “Perfect Figures: The Lore of Numbers and How We Learned to Count” by Rockland County resident Bunny Crumpacker. Later this month, she will be featured at her hometown library in Valley Cottage, where librarians say she often comes in to browse and do her own research. On Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. she will talk about her new book and sign copies.

According to the library’s Web site “Perfect Figures” tells the history of each number 1-12 and how numbers are viewed in many cultures. Crumpacker explores the prevalence of figures in our lives, and how they came to be in different places and at different times. Her previous book was the “Sex Life of Food.”

Registration is required because of limited seated, so contact the Valley Cottage Library, 110 Route 303, 845-268-7700.