Pity the book bloggers who abandoned their electronic abode for two weeks. We meant no offense—we were drowning in books, reviews, Christmas candy, and hateful administrative tasks. We wanted to blog our way into oblivion, but we had consumed too much sugar and had crashed out in our cubicles. But now we’re back (sans Mirela and Willy), diabetic, and badder than ever.

First on the agenda for this staffer is my Wish List of books that I would personally like to see published over the coming year. These titles sometimes serve selfish purposes, though they also undoubtedly interest a sizable portion of the public. Take, for instance, my hope for a decent biography of recent Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductees Blondie. I’ve been griping about the lack of intelligent literature on this seminal group since my arrival in 1998, and I’m not going to stop until I get something on the scale of Phoebe Hoban’s excellent Basquiat: The Life and Death of an Art Star, something that digs deep into the punk, hip-hop, and art culture of ’70s and ’80s New York—and doesn’t forget to reflect on singer Deborah Harry’s still-powerful influence today.

The many photo books are nice (e.g., Mick Rock’s Picture This, Roberta Bayley’s Blondie: Images, 1976–1980) but in a way reinforce the idea that Blondie was only a pin-up when its founding members pioneered sampling disparate musical streams like disco, calypso, and rap.

And now for something completely different: I also am desperate to see a demystification of the American healthcare system for readers aged 20-something and up. If you are lucky enough to have coverage, there should be breakdowns of HMOs and definitions of lingo like primary care physician and deductible. If you don’t have diddly but want to scrape some together, there should also be a strategy to that end, not to mention a history of how America developed its abysmal system—and how other countries take care of their own. Fred Brock’s recent Health Care on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Getting Affordable Coverage came close, but no cigar.

I can go on, dear readers: Where, oh, where, is a field guide to the various head-shrinking therapies (do I want to go the way of Freud, or cognitive-behavioral techniques)? Why is there no manual for communicating with the “pod people” (those who sleep, eat, and commute wearing headphones plugged into MP3 devices)?

Before this turns into a desperate rant, I’d like to turn the discussion over to you and my fellow editors.