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This holiday season, instead of settling for the standard martini, historian Lesley Blume suggests you reach for a taste of bygone cocktail culture. She offers tips for picking the right antique elixir, as well as the original recipe for one of Ernest Hemingway's favorites.

The rebels, rule breakers and renegades who rule this year's Top 10 list aren't looking for a Ph.D. in Traditional Cooking. They're pleasure seekers whose books are filled with quirky facts, gorgeous pictures and ingredients deployed in unexpected places.

Four novels for the year's end: a new Raylan Givens adventure from Elmore Leonard, a story of psychology and obsession from Ellen Ullman, Thomas Caplan's latest spy thriller and Alex Gilvarry's debut set in the fashion world and Guantanamo Bay.

It was a strange and wonderful year for young adult fiction, says critic Maggie Stiefvater. This list rounds up five magical books for young adults and grown-ups alike.

Femmes fatales and their crafty female creators dominate this year's mystery and thriller picks. Critic Maureen Corrigan wonders whether it takes a woman to capture the evil that can hide behind a lip-glossed smile and pair of shining eyes.

The "Giving What We Can" campaign urges members to donate 10 percent of their incomes to effective charities. Over many years, the group's calculators suggest, such giving could improve far more lives than you might imagine.

Negotiations continued between the White House and House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday to avoid the fiscal cliff. Earlier in the day, Boehner prepared his fellow House Republicans for the likelihood that taxes will have to rise on top earners. He's also now talking about a "plan B" if talks fail to come to a deal. Tamara Keith joins Melissa Block from Capitol Hill.

Many residents and officials say New Jersey beach towns with bigger sand dunes suffered the least damage during Hurricane Sandy. The federal government's been working on building up dunes along the coast. On Long Beach Island, N.J., the town's mayor is eager for the beach replenishment work to move forward as soon as possible. But some oceanfront residents oppose federal dune-building. They say it's their land and they don't want the government to build up the dunes in front of their homes, unless they're compensated.

Many airports send their discarded french fries, burgers and Cinnabons to the landfill. But Charlotte Douglas International plans to transform that garbage into fertilizer for flower beds. All it needed was a couple of million red wiggler worms.

Now the White House chief of staff, Lew finessed the 2011 deal that set up the automatic spending cuts and tax hikes set for the new year — and did it in a way that put President Obama in the catbird seat for the current talks. Now he's a possible pick to be the next Treasury secretary.