Archive for January, 2008

January Opening Letter

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

How do we begin to “Resolve?” There seems to be so many ideas, goals, and fervor pulling at us in this New Year! But…the excitement is building towards a new president, a new approach to health…and even, a new approach to being informed. Whether you have “resolved” to learn more about an issue/candidate, enroll in a continuing education class, participate in a book discussion, or learn a new hobby…it all begins with reading! We want to be a part of your 2008 goals for mental and physical health…stop by and begin it all at
An Open Book LLC!

Popularity: 48%

January New and Notable

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008


REMEMBERING THE BONES, By: Frances Itani
Invited to Buckingham Palace to attend the eightieth birthday celebration of Queen Elizabeth II, Canadian Georgina Danforth Witley is on her way to the airport to board a plane for London when her car goes off the road and plunges into a ravine, leaving Georgina stranded and injured as she reflects on her life, family memories, wit, lost loves, and secrets to survive.

New Hardcover Fiction


PLUM LUCKY, By: Janet Evanovich
Just after Valentine’s Day, Diesel returns to once again turn New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s world upside down, in a novel marked by the presence of such familiar characters as Lula, Grandma Mazur, Connie, Ranger, Joe, Tank, Valerie, and Albert Kloughn. 1,250,000 first printing.


THE SECRET BETWEEN US, By: Barbara Delinsky
Picking up her sixteen-year-old daughter Grace after a party, Deborah Monroe accepts responsibility for hitting a man with the car on the way home, even though Grace had been driving, a deception that takes on a life of its own, threatening their family and the bond between mother and daughter. 225,000 first printing.


DUMA KEY, By: Stephen King
Renting a house on an eerily undeveloped stretch of the Florida coast after suffering a crippling accident and ending his marriage, construction millionaire Edgar Freemantle obsessively creates works of art that lead him to discover unsettling elements from his landlady’s enigmatic family history. 1,500,000 first printing.


THE SENATOR’S WIFE, By: Sue Miller
Two unconventional women, neighbors in adjacent New England townhouses–Meri Fowler, pregnant, newly married, and discovering the gap between reality and expectation, and Delia Naughton, wife of a notoriously unfaithful liberal senator–confront the costs and challenges of love. 150,000 first printing


KYRA, By: Carol Gilligan
The turbulent love affair between Kyra, an architect involved in a project to design a new city, and Andreas, a director staging an innovative production, has a profound impact on both their lives as a shocking betrayal and Kyra’s fierce determination to uncover what is true and real leads her to Greta, a therapist who helps her come to a larger undertanding of love. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.


MARMAID IN THE BASEMENT, By: Michael Lee West
Struggling with the loss of her mother, a bad case of writer’s block, and a her boyfriend’s highly publicized affair with a famous actress, Renata DeChavannes travels to her Gulf Coast family home, where she faces ghosts from her past and struggles to become the empowered woman her formidable grandmother believes her to be.


LIGHT OF THE MOON, By: Luanne Rice
Feeling adrift in the wake of her mother’s death and a failed love affair, anthropologist Susannah Connolly leaves Connecticut to travel to the French Camargue to see its fabled white horses and to investigate a saint linked to her family’s history, but her life is changed forever by an encounter in the marshes with a lonely man and his wounded daughter. 200,000 first printing.


BLASPHEMY, By: Douglas Preston
Built by Nobel laureate William North Hazelius, the Torus, the world’s largest supercollider, has been constructed with the intent of unlocking the secrets of creation, the Big Bang, but when twelve scientists are sent to turn it on, they stumble upon a secret that must be hidden at all costs, unless ex-monk and CIA operative Wyman Ford can unlock the truth. 300,000 first printing.


BLUE HEAVEN, By: C.J. Box
Fleeing the killers whom they witnessed committing murder, twelve-year-old Annie and her younger brother William escape into the woods of northern Idaho, not knowing whom they can trust and pursued by the murderers and a group of dirty cops seeking to prevent the youngsters from revealing what they know. By the award-winning author of the Joe Pickett mysteries. 100,000 first printing.


HARD TRAIL TO FOLLOW, By: Elmer Kelton
In the seventh volume in the popular Texas Ranger series, former Texas Ranger Andy “Badger Boy” Pickard leaves his fiancée’s north central Texas farm to pursue Luther Cordell, the outlaw ringleader he believes responsible for the death of his friend, Sheriff Tom Blessing. 30,000 first printing.


THREE SHIRT DEAL, By: Stephen J. Cannell
Asked by beautiful Internal Affairs detective Secada “Scout” Llevar to help investigate the claims of small-time crook Truit Hickman, convicted of killing his mother, that he has been framed by the police, Shane Scully takes on a violent Hispanic gang, a millionaire powerbroker, and a frontrunner in L.A’s mayoral race, risking his family, his job, and his life to uncover the truth. 100,000 first printing.


SIZZLE AND BURN, By: Jayne Ann Krentz
A latest work by the author of White Lies finds lonely and reluctant psychic Raine Tallentyre targeted for recruitment into the secret Arcane Society by attractive fellow psychic Zack Jones, an effort that is complicated by Raine’s painful memories of how the organization shattered her family through an act of betrayal years earlier. 200,000 first printing.


SIN NO MORE, By: Kimberla Lawson Roby
Resolving to turn over a new leaf after cheating on his wife once again, the Reverend Curtis Black is blackmailed by both his former mistress and a substitute pastor, a situation that further tests his marriage and reveals additional painful secrets.


BLEEDING KANSAS, By: Sara Peretsky
The pious late-twentieth-century descendants of anti-slavery emigrants worry about maintaining religious superiority over a rival family while launching an active harassment campaign against a Wiccan newcomer, an effort that is challenged by a young man’s military service and the birth of a promising cow. 150,000 first printing.

HISTORICAL FICTION


THE AGE OF SHIRA, By: Manil Suri
Marrying in order to escape an overbearing father, Meera is further victimized by her physically demanding husband and lustful brother-in-law, a circumstance from which she finds fleeting escape through her relationships with her sister-in-law and young son. By the author of The Death of Vishnu. 70,000 first printing.


RHETT BUTLER’S PEOPLE, By: Donald McCaig
Paralleling the events of Gone with the Wind, an authorized novel chronicles the life and times of dashing hero Rhett Butler and the people who shaped his world–his unyielding father Langston Butler, sister Rosemary, best friend and onetime slave Tunis Bonneau, former love Belle Watling, and the headstrong, passionate Scarlett O’Hara. 2,000,000 first printing.


SWORD SONG, By: Bernard Cornwell
A fourth installment in a saga of early England that includes Lords of the North finds Alfred of Wessex surviving the Danish invasion, only to find the Saxons targeted by Vikings, a conflict during which he harnesses the abilities of the formidable warrior Uhtred.

NEW HARDCOVER – NONFICTION


MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT ELECT, By: Madeleine Albright
A former Secretary of State presents a wide-ranging set of recommendations for the next U.S. president, posing such suggestions as selecting a top-rate foreign policy team, avoiding the mistakes of previous presidents, and employing strategic tools to garner international support for American objectives. 200,000 first printing.


IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, By: Michael Pollan
The best-selling author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma cites the reasons why people have become so confused about their dietary choices, counseling readers on the importance of enjoyable moderate eating of mostly traditional plant foods. 200,000 first printing.


REAL CHANGE, By: Newt Gingrich
From the Inside Flap:
Are you fed up with bickering politicians, self-satisfied bureaucrats, and a government that never seems to address the real problems facing our country? Can we create a government that is small, efficient, and responsive–from the state house to the White House? Is that kind of real change even possible? Newt Gingrich, architect of the Contract with America, says it’s time for citizens to demand results from our elected officials. In this revealing and exciting new book, he shows how America can achieve transformational change–from a government of bureaucratic failure to a government that can meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. As a first step, Gingrich busts the pernicious myth that America is divided between conservative red states and liberal blue states. As Gingrich points out, the American people are united on almost every important issue facing our country–including immigration, taxes, defending America, and freedom of religion. The real division is between red-white-and-blue America and a fringe on the left. Red-white-and-blue America believes overwhelmingly–by majorities of 70 percent or more–that we need a change in course. But our politicians aren’t listening. Gingrich reveals why the Democratic Party can’t deliver real change and why the Republican Party won’t. He provides answers and a step-by-step, issue-by-issue toolkit for building a better America–the safe, innovative, and dynamic America we all want. What will take us from the world that fails to the world that works? Real change–the kind of change that happens when politicians drop their own agendas and respond to the will of the people. Newt Gingrich shows us how we can make real change a reality.


THE ALL NEW ATKINS ADVANTAGE, By: Stuart L. Trager
A comprehensive, twelve-week plan on how to lose weight and achieve optimal fitness shares specific strategies in the areas of personal motivation, nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle makeover while creating a customizable eating plan, recipes, personal progress tracking tools, and more. 100,000 first printing.


THE BUSH TRAGEDY, By: Jacob Weisberg
An objective political portrait of George W. Bush, his presidency, and its impact on the world offers a revealing study of Bush’s conflicted relationships with his father and with major figures in his administration, the roots of his political philosophy, his early life, and the evolution of his world view over the course of his political career and the events of 9/11. 150,000 first printing.


HOW NOT TO LOOK OLD, By: Charla Krupp
A quick-reference compendium of beauty tips and self-care practices draws on the insider secrets of makeup and hair artists, cosmetic dentists, and other fashion professionals to counsel readers on maintaining a youthful and polished appearance


MY MISTRESS’S SPARROW IS DEAD, By: Jeffrey Eugenides
A collection of love story excerpts from classic literary works, culled by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Middlesex, includes selections by such writers as Alice Munro, William Faulkner, and Milan Kundera, in a volume published to benefit the McSweeney literacy project 826 Chicago. 35,000 first printing.


GOD SAVE THE FAN, By: Will Leitch
A founding editor of the popular blog Deadspin presents an irreverent assessment of the negative influence of money-driven owners, corporate media, and egocentric figures on professional sports, in a whimsical manifesto that addresses such topics as fantasy leagues, the steroid debate, and fan empowerment. 40,000 first printin


SOLDIER’S HEART, By: Elizabeth D. Samet
A West Point English professor offers an intimate portrait of teaching literature to young men and women preparing for war and assesses the various ways in warfare has transformed her relationship with literature, describing the changes that have occurred since September 11, what it means to be a civilian teaching at a military academy, and what books and movies mean to her students.


INSIDE THE JIHAD, By: Omar Nasiri
A gripping account of life inside Al Qaeda traces the rise of the terrorist organization from an insider’s perspective, documenting his role as a double agent working for the UK and French intelligence to infiltrate the group’s training camps, detailing his own illegal activities with Al Qaeda, and profiling the top terrorist leaders, including Osama bin Laden. Reprint.


WHY MARS & VENUS COLLIDE, By: John Gray
The best-selling author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus outlines positive strategies for maintaining healthy relationships in spite of stressful professional lives and polarizing gender differences, in an accessible guide that explains how biological factors play a key role in conflict. 100,000 first printing.


STRONG AT THE BROKEN PLACES, By: Richard Cohen M.D.
An inspirational testament to living with chronic illness is presented through the experiences of five individuals who have battled such conditions as ALS, Crohn’s disease, and bipolar disorder, in a tribute that offers insight into how their diseases affected their lives and personal relationships. By the author of Blindsided.

NEW BIOGRAPHY


THE MIDDLE PLACE, By: Kelly Corrigan
Traces a San Francisco newspaper columnist’s life experiences as evaluated during her late thirties, describing her relationships with her husband, children, and Irish-American father before and during her battle with breast cancer and describing her establishment of the CircusOfCancer.org Web site. 100,000 first printin


GANG LEADER FOR A DAY, By: Sudhir Venkatesh
Recounts the full story of a young sociologist whose infiltration of a Chicago drug gang was originally introduced in the work Freakonomics, in a firsthand account that describes the author’s grad student idealism, his friendship with gang leader JT, and his seven-year witness to the organization’s complex crack-selling trade


DID LINCOLN OWN SLAVES? By: Geraold J. Prokopowicz
A Lincoln scholar shares biographical details about the life and times of America’s sixteenth president in an engaging and informative study that answers both frequently asked and unusual questions about Abraham Lincoln, in a chronologically arranged volume that illuminates Lincoln’s life, work, and legacy. 35,000 first printing.

NEW PAPERBACK


BODY SURFING, By: Anita Shreve
Struggling to start over again after being divorced and widowed while still in her twenties, Sydney tutors the daughter of a wealthy couple during a New Hampshire summer but finds herself caught up in a bitter family squabble involving her charge’s two grown brothers. By the author of The Pilot’s Wife. Reprint. 500,000 first printing.


BLAZE, By: Richard Bachman
Originally written thirty-five years ago but never published, an evocative crime novel chronicles the life and times of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr.–the crimes committed against him and the crimes he himself commits, including a kidnapping he is doomed to attempt. Reprint.


NINETEEN MINUTES, By: Jodi Picoult (February 5, 2008)
In the aftermath of a horrific small-town school shooting, lawyer Jordan McAfee finds himself defending a youth who desperately needs someone on his side, while intrepid detective Patrick DuCharme works with a primary witness in the daughter of the superior court judge assigned to the case. By the author of The Tenth Circle. Reprint. 800,000 first printing.


THE 6TH TARGET, By: James Patterson
When a horrifying attack leaves one of the four members of the Women’s Murder Club struggling for her life, the others fight to keep a madman behind bars before anyone else is hurt. And Lindsay Boxer and her new partner in the San Francisco police department run flat-out to stop a series of kidnappings that has electrified the city: children are being plucked off the streets together with their nannies–but the kidnappers aren’t demanding ransom. Amid uncertainty and rising panic, Lindsay juggles the possibility of a new love with an unsolvable investigation, and the knowledge that one member of the club could be on the brink of death. And just when everything appears momentarily under control, the case takes a terrifying turn, putting an entire city in lethal danger. Lindsay must make a choice she never dreamed she’d face–with no certainty that either outcome has more than a prayer of success.


ONCE IN A PROMISED LAND, By: Laila Halaby
Jassim Haddad, a Jordanian, has come to Arizona to pursue his career as an hydrologist, but after the events of September 11th, he and his wife find themselves under investigation by the FBI as their marriage begins to unravel. Reprint.

AWARD WINNING FIRST IN MYSTERY SERIES


THE BEEKEEPER’S APPRENTICE, By: Laurie R. King
A chance meeting with a Sussex beekeeper turns into a pivotal, personal transformation when fifteen-year-old Mary Russell discovers that the beekeeper is the reclusive, retired detective Sherlock Holmes, who soon takes on the role of mentor and teacher. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.


THE MEANING OF NIGHT, By: Michael Cox
Convinced that he is destined for great wealth, power, and influence, Edward Glyver–booklover, scholar, and murderer–will to anything to reclaim a prize that is rightfully his, following a trail from the underworld depths of Victorian London, to the posh estate of Evenwood and all-consuming love for the enigmatic Emily Carteret, to an ultimate showdown with his rival, poet-criminal Phoebus Rainsford Daunt. 100,000 first printing.

OTHER BOOKS OF NOTE…


77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age, By: Terry Frei
Documents the successful football season of the 1977 AFC champion Denver Broncos on their quest to their first Super Bowl in terms of the dramatic changes that occurred in Denver, Colorado, during the late 1970s related to the city’s political, cultural, economic, and social intitutions, and offers profiles of such legendary players as Lyle Alzado, Craig Morton, and others.


The Ghost Mountain Boys: their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea – the Forgotten War of the South Pacific, By: James Campbell
An in-depth chronicle of a little-known episode during the Second World War describes how the America’s “Ghost Mountain Boys” endured hardship, malnutrition, disease, and harsh environmental conditions in a forty-two-day march from New Guinea’s south coast across jungle and mountain terrain to the north coast battlefields of Buna. 50,000 first printing.


Baby Doe Tabor: The Madwoman in the Cabin, By: Judy Nolte Temple
Long before her body was found frozen in the Leadville shack where for decades she had guarded the Matchless Mine, Elizabeth McCourt “Baby Doe” Tabor was the stuff of legend. For thirty-five years, Baby Doe, who was considered mad, lived in solitude high in the Colorado Rockies. Baby Doe Tabor left a record of her madness in a set of writings she called her “Dreams and Visions.” These were discovered after her death but never studied in detail–until now. In Baby Doe Tabor: The Madwoman in the Cabin, author Judy Nolte Temple retells Lizzie’s story with greater accuracy than any previous biographer. She unpacks the mythology to uncover Lizzie’s actual experiences as told in her fragmentary writings and correspondence. Undertaking the first close analysis of Lizzie’s writings, Temple reveals a story more heartbreaking than the legend and, for the first time, gives voice to the woman behind the myth.

Popularity: 100%

This Month Review By “A Pair of Page Turners”

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

themaytrees.jpg

Popularity: 81%

New and Notable, Mind, Body and Spirit

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

The Book Sense Mind Body Spirit Bestseller List
January 09, 2008
For the eight-week period ending January 8, 2008, and based on sales in independent bookstores nationwide.

  1. The Secret
    Rhonda Byrne (Ed.), Atria/Beyond Words, $23.95, 9781582701707
  2. The Four Agreements
    Don Miguel Ruiz, Amber-Allen, $12.95, 9781878424310
  3. The Power of Now
    Eckhart Tolle, New World, $14, 9781577314806
  4. 90 Minutes in Heaven
    Don Piper, Revell, $12.99, 9780800759490
  5. Sage-Ing While Age-Ing
    Shirley MacLaine, Atria, $26, 9781416550419
  6. 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl
    Daniel Pinchbeck, Penguin/Jeremy Tarcher, $14.95, 9781585425921
  7. A New Earth
    Eckhart Tolle, Plume, $14, 9780452287587
  8. Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings
    Sue Monk Kidd, Penguin, $14, 9780143112327
  9. The Secret Gratitude Book
    Rhonda Byrne, Atria Books/Beyond Words, $19.99, 9781582702087
  10. Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
    Thich Nhat Hanh, Bantam, $14, 9780553351392
  11. Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires
    Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks, Hay House, $14.95, 9781401904593
  12. What on Earth Have I Done?: Stories, Observations, and Affirmations
    Robert Fulghum, St. Martin’s, $22.95, 9780312365493
  13. The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham
    Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks, Hay House, $14.95, 9781401912277
  14. Awakenings: Asian Wisdom for Every Day
    Danielle Follmi, Olivier Follmi, HNA, $29.95, 9780810993792
  15. The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life
    Deepak Chopra, Three Rivers, $14.95, 9781400098347
  16. The Hidden Messages in Water
    Masaru Emoto, Atria, $16.95, 9780743289801
  17. Way of the Peaceful Warrior (20th Anniversary Ed.)
    Dan Millman, H.J. Kramer, $12.95, 9780915811892
  18. Spook
    Mary Roach, Norton, $13.95, 9780393329124
  19. Many Lives, Many Masters
    Brian L. Weiss, Fireside, $14, 9780671657864
  20. Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui
    Karen Kingston, Broadway, $10.95, 9780767903592
  21. The Astonishing Power of Emotions: Let Your Feelings Be Your Guide
    Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks, Hay House, $24.95, 9781401912451
  22. The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Destiny
    Janet Attwood, Chris Attwood, Hudson Street, $23.95, 9781594630422
  23. Be Here Now
    Ram Dass, Three Rivers, $14.14, 9780517543054
  24. Psychic Children: Revealing the Intuitive Gifts and Hidden Abilities of Boys and Girls
    Sylvia Browne, Dutton, $25.95, 9780525950134
  25. Insight: Case Files From the Psychic World
    Sylvia Browne, NAL
    1. Popularity: 78%

Friends of Baseball

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

We are very excited to be a part of the FRIENDS OF BASEBALL organization.

The 21st Annual Breakfast of Champions will be February 2, 2008. This year’s guest speaker is hall of fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. The raffle tickets (for great, great prizes) are $10 and can be used for free admission to the breakfast. We have tickets on sale at our store!! Let’s support this wonderful organization that helps kiddos achieve their dreams!!

www.friendsofbaseball.info

Popularity: 58%

Share a Dinner and a Book

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

This is not a book club! Our idea is to meet at a cozy restaurant, have a quiet dinner and share the latest book we are reading. Sound like the perfect winter evening? Then, call the store and reserve a spot. We are planning our first dinner at Youngs Restaurant in Greeley. 6:30PM would be the time to arrive…bring your $ and your book! But…call the store (330-7879) and reserve your chair!

Popularity: 55%

Edgar Allen Poe

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

Poe is “Evermore!”

edgarallenpoe.jpg

January is Mystery Month in honor of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday, January 19th. Poe is considered the father of the modern detective story. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe’s detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed. Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?" The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars ), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America . They honor the best in mystery - fiction, nonfiction, television, film, and theatre published or produced in the past year.

Stop by our bookshop on Saturday, January 19th as all mysteries will be 20% off!!

Popularity: 57%

English Reader

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

The interest has begun…now, we need to see how many of you would like to join this energetic and “eclectic” group of readers and students. We are planning our next gathering on February 5, Tuesday…but would like to hear from those of you planning on attending. If you did not already purchase a book, you should still come!

Please call the store with your interest! We need at least 5 to respond and then Sue and John will lead you in a lively discussion! 330-7879

Popularity: 49%

January Book Club News

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008



T.A.R. (Teachers as Readers)

Mary Mrs. A. Lincoln
By: Janis Newman


NUMBER ONE LADIES BOOK CLUB

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
By: Lisa See


WINE AND SPINE

Oh, My Stars
By: Lorna Landvik


ESCAPE BETWEEN THE COVERS

Love in the Time of Cholera
By: Gabrielle Marquez


NOVELS AND NOSH

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By: Junot Diaz
and
The Marble Faun
By: Nathaniel Hawthorne


FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

The Glass Castle
By: Jeanette Walls


DORKS

Emperor’s Children
By: Claire Messud


WAW-AS

Atonement
By: Ian McEwan


SOMETIMES TUESDAYS

The Worst Hard Times
By: Timothy Egan


DELTA KAPPA GAMMA

Beach Music
By: Pat Conroy


OUR SAVIOR’S LUTHERN

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World
By: Joanna Weaver

Popularity: 64%

New York Times New and Notable

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

The New York Times

10 Best Books of 2007

(Our customers have an eclectic and far-reaching range of interests.   Most of the following books were purchased at An Open Book LLC this past year!)

Hooray for your excellent tastes…

Hooray for your support of literacy!!

HOUSE OF MEETINGS by Martin Amis.

  This harrowing, deeply affecting novel recounts the story of two brothers interned at one of Stalin’s slave labor camps, taking the reader on a frightening journey deep into the heart of darkness that was the Soviet gulag.

THE SECOND CIVIL WAR: HOW EXTREME PARTISANSHIP HAS PARALYZED WASHINGTON AND POLARIZED AMERICA by Ronald Brownstein.

  A veteran political reporter provides a shrewd election-year assessment of the growing partisanship in American politics, looking at the roots of this polarization and its alarming consequences for the country at large.

THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN’S UNION by Michael Chabon

. A clever, engaging and fully imagined epic cum detective story based on this historical what if: What if a temporary safe haven for Jews had been created in Alaska in the wake of the Holocaust?

NIXON AND KISSINGER: PARTNERS IN POWER by Robert Dallek.

A fascinating portrait of President Richard M. Nixon and his chief foreign policy honcho, Henry A. Kissinger , a book that not only deftly deconstructs their emotionally fraught relationship and their policy making on Vietnam, the Middle East and China, but also underscores the historical lessons of their decisions and missteps.

THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Díaz.

  A dazzling debut novel that unfolds from a comic portrait of a second-generation Dominican geek into an unnerving meditation on Dominican history and the relationship between political and personal dreams and losses.

THE UNKNOWN TERRORIST by Richard Flanagan.

  This Tasmanian novelist has written a dark, unsparing thriller about a case of mistaken identity, using his Hitchcockian heroine’s plight as a launching pad for an examination of a post-9/11 world in which fear is a valued commodity for terrorists and governments alike.

WHEN A CROCODILE EATS THE SUN: A MEMOIR OF AFRICA by Peter Godwin.

  A haunting and deeply evocative memoir about a writer’s discoveries about his father’s hidden past and his family’s life in Zimbabwe, a country that has seen its bright post-revolution dreams of a multiracial society give way to violent hatred and strife.

SCHULZ AND PEANUTS by David Michaelis.

  A revealing and sympathetic new biography of the creator of “Peanuts,” which highlights the autobiographical sources of the cartoonist’s art: how Charles M. Schulz gave his own wishy-washiness and determination to Charlie Brown, his sarcasm and anger to Lucy, his dignity and “weird little thoughts” to Linus and his frustrations and daydreams to Snoopy.

THE NINE: INSIDE THE SECRET WORLD OF THE SUPREME COURT by Jeffrey Toobin.

  A vivid narrative of the Supreme Court’s recent history and an intimate portrait of the individual justices that shows how personality, judicial philosophy and personal alliances can inform decisions that affect the entire country.

Popularity: 66%