Women and Children First, 5233 N. Clark St., Chicago, 773-769-9299
1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin, $15 paper): A memoir about trading the trappings of modern American success for what one truly wants from life.
2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $13.95 paper): A Depression-era novel about a traveling circus train, by a Chicago-area writer.
3. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America’s Soul by Karen Abbott (Random House, $25.95): Sex and opulence in turn-of-the-century Chicago.
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $25.95): The author of “The Kite Runner” explores the unlikely friendship between two women in Afghanistan.
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $34.99): The latest and final book in the series about the boy wizard.
