Memoir
As Consciousness Harnessed to Flesh, by Susan Sontag. A collection of journals and notebooks kept by the essayist and philosopher from 1964-1980.
Lulu in the Sky, by Luong Ung. A Cambodian genocide survivor chronicles her transition from a war-torn childhood to a new life in Vermont.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson. A popular blogger (theblog ) recalls her redneck childhood, anxious adolescence and bumpy ascension into adulthood.
American History
Land of Promise, by Michael Lind. An imaginative account of the 200-year tug of war between Alexander Hamilton’s and Thomas Jefferson’s economic philosophies. Publishers Weekly
America’s Great Debate, by Fergus M. Bordewich. A historian spells out the intricate story of the historic Compromise of 1850.
City of Scoundrels, by Gary Krist. During a two-week stretch in 1919, Chicago saw race riots, a transit strike, a spectacular blimp disaster and a sensational child murder.
Politics
The Presidents Club, by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. The complicated personal and political relationships between modern American presidents.
In the Wake of the Crisis, edited by Olivier Blanchard, David Romer, Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz. A who’s who of leading economists take stock of — and offer solutions to — the current economic crisis.
Overreach, by George C. Edwards III. A Texas A&M professor looks at the nature of, and limits of, presidential power.
Nonfiction
Heaven on Earth, by Sadakat Kadri. An attorney looks at Shari’a law through history, and assesses its impact across the globe.
No Worse Enemy, by Ben Anderson. A gritty, brutal, realistic account of British and American troops on the Afghan frontlines. Publishers Weekly
Fiction
Truth Like the Sun, by Jim Lynch. A cat-and-mouse story of urban intrigue in Seattle from the acclaimed author of “Border Songs.”
The Lord God Bird, by Tom Gallant. The elusive Ivory Billed Woodpecker is the catalyst for this story of one man’s quest to find it.
A Land More Kind than Home, by Wiley Cash. A tragic story of misplaced faith and love gone wrong, set in the mountains of North Carolina.
Thriller
What Doesn’t Kill You, by Iris Johansen. Hong Kong native Catherine Ling becomes a CIA operative and takes on a group of villains.
The Innocent, by David Baldacci. Hitman Will Robie thinks his latest commission will be a breeze — until he crosses paths with a mysterious teenage girl.
The Witness, by Nora Roberts. The author’s 200th novel (yes, that’s 200 novels) centers on a mysterious security-system programmer named Abigail Lowery.
