I'm horrible at "best of" lists. I have a tough time naming one favorite in any category let alone ten favorites. So, in effort to pull my weight as part of the Blogcritics community, I've put together a few of my favorite, if unrelated, things.

Best Parenting Advise Books

Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock

A practical, no-nonsense approach to the care and feeding of the child. No parental guilt here, no sir. If the baby's crying non-stop and you've made sure he isn't sick, and all his basic needs are met, it's his fault, not yours.

Touchpoints by T. Berry Brazelton

More gentle and loving than Spock, but just as no-nonsense. Highly recommended.

Best Books to Read While Walking on a Treadmill

The Horatio Hornblower Series by C.S. Forester

The stories don't require a lot of concentration, the print's big enough to see easily from the distance demanded by the treadmill, and the plot's riveting enough to make you forget how fast or how long you've been walking. I lost 2 to 3 pounds per book. Read them in the order they were written, beginning with
Beat to Quarters. Or, if you prefer, start with
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and read them in the chronological order of Horatio Hornblower's life.

Best Holiday Music of a Classical Bent - Thanksgiving to Easter

Home to Thanksgiving by Paul Hillier, et. al.

A collection of pieces previously recorded by Paul Hillier and his group, Theater of Voices, as well as the group His Majesties Clerkes, this disc brings together songs of thanks and praise from the 11th century (monastic chant) to the 20th century (John Cage), but mostly from the early American 18th century psalmody tradition.

Santa Claus Symphony by William Henry Fry

Written by the nation's first music critic, champion of American music, and the first American to write symphonic music, Fry's Santa Claus Symphony incorporates the familiar Adeste Fideles with the sounds of snowstorms, fighting angels, and sleigh bells to evoke the spirit of Christmas. The other pieces on the disc are worthwhile, too, especially the Niagra Symphony, which was written for a P.T. Barnum musical extravaganza and included eleven tympani drums to reproduce the Niagra Falls sound.