Index by node type AND include top node type page

I'm wanting an index by node type similar to the taxonomy_dhtml or taxonomy_html overview page. So instead of displaying my taxonomy it would display nodes segregated according to book, forum, story, static, etc.

I'm also wanting to include /book/ on my home page. Notice, I do not want to change the home page to /book/ -- I still want a cascading list of the most recent posts. But I'm wanting the contents of the /book/ node and perhaps the /story/ node to appear on the home page as static sections.