Could your family “unplug” for six months? Juan Canales from the English section of the Payot bookstore in Geneva has a story of one family that did it, plus a book based on behind-the-scenes interviews with the Madoff family and a harrowing memoir by a British journalist about his son’s descent into schizophrenia:

• Truth and Consequences: Life inside the Madoff Family by Laurie Sandell
• The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart
• Henry’s Demons: Living with Schizophrenia, a Father and Son’s Story by Patrick and Henry Cockburn

Mark Parkin from the Orell Füssli English bookstore in Zurich brings us three books about staying alive—and a few choice life-saving tips from their pages:

• The Wilderness Survival Guide: The Practical Skills You Need for the Great Outdoors by Joe O’Leary
• SAS Survival Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere by John “Lofty” Wiseman
• How to Avoid Being Killed in a Warzone: The Essential Survival Guide for Dangerous Places by Rosie Garthwaite

Helen Stubbs from OffTheShelf English bookstore in Geneva brings us three great reads looking back on very different lives:

• Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller
• Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
• War Child by Emmanuel Jal

Matthew Wake from Books, Books, Books in Lausanne tries to cheer you up with a list of funny reads bound to chase away those post-holiday season blues. These include a collection of awkward personal ads, an inter-species laugh by well-known radio personality David Sedaris and a fictional story about a protagonist who burns down Emily Dicken’s house by mistake:

• Sexually, I’m More Of A Switzerland: Personal Ads From The London Review Of Books by David Rose
• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Wicked Bestiary by David Sedaris
• An Arsonist’s Guide To Writers’ Homes In New England by Brock Clarke

WRS’s Alex Helmick looks back at just four of the best reads from 2011 reviewed by Speed Read contributors Mark Parkin, Matthew Wake, Juan Canales and Helen Stubbs:

• Pole To Pole by Michael Palin
• The Watchers by Jon Steele
• A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
• How To Save An Hour Everyday by Michael Heppel

Juan Canales from the English section of the Payot bookstore in Geneva picks some of his favorite reference books on art, music and a huge bestselling biography about a family of bankers:

• The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal
• The Penguin Guide to the 1000 Finest Classical Recordings by Ivan March and Robert Layton
• The Art Instinct by Dennis Dutton

Mark Parkin from the Orell Füssli English bookstore in Zurich reviews three books written with ladies in mind, but not necessarily only for ladies to read: a lady detective story, a light humored comedy about a stag and hen weekend, and a witty, sophisticated account of the pressures of modern life, which has been made into a movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Pierce Brosnan:

• The Sunday Philosopher’s Club by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Stag and Hen Weekend by Mike Gayle
• I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson

Matthew Wake from Books, Books, Books in Lausanne is back with three great non-fiction picks, including his favorite of 2011:

• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• The Corpse Walker by Liao Yiwu
• Jonny: My Autobiography

Johanna Jutzet from the Stauffacher English bookstore in Bern brings us three fantastic and sometimes fantastical reads:

• Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• Sad Monsters by Frank Lesser

Juan Canales joins us from the English section of the Payot bookstore in Geneva with three fantastic gift ideas this giving season:

• My Bibliofile: A Reading Journal for Book Lovers
• Book Love: A Celebration of Writers, Readers, and the Printed and Bound Book compiled by James Charlton and Bill Henderson
• The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs