Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship That Saved the Revolution
By David A. Clary
Bantam, $18
Explores the relationship between George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Stealing Buddha’s Dinner
By Bich Minh Nguyen
Penguin, $14
A woman recalls how her family made the bewildering transition from South Vietnam to Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1975.
The Cleft
By Doris Lessing
HarperPerennial, $13.95
The Nobel Prize winner’s fictional look at the start of human life on Earth, where the original ancestors are females.
Supreme Conflict
By Jan Crawford Greenburg
Penguin, $16
A long-time Supreme Court correspondent, first for the Tribune and now for ABC News, looks to answer the enduring question of how Republicans have failed to attain a long-term majority on the court.
The China Fantasy: Why Capitalism Will Not Bring Democracy to China
By James Mann
Penguin, $13
Raises questions about China’s growing economy combined with the government’s hostility to democracy.
Family Romance
By John Lanchester
Penguin, $15
In this memoir, the author searches for more information on his parents’ past.
America at Night
By Larry J. Kolb
Riverhead, $15
An account by a former covert operative of his discovery of a political plot to steal the 2004 presidential election.
Grayson
By Lynne Cox
Harcourt, $13
The story of the author’s encounter with a baby whale and how she tried to reunite the lost animal with its mother.
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
By Dinaw Mengestu
Riverhead, $14
In this novel, an Ethiopian emigre is no stranger to the painful realities of being permanently displaced.
Skylight Confessions
By Alice Hoffman
Back Bay, $14.99
A melancholy novel of love and family heartbreak by the author of “The Ice Queen.”
Thomas Hardy
By Claire Tomalin
Penguin, $17
A biography of the novelist and poet.
Toussaint Louverture
By Madison Smartt Bell
Vintage, $14.95
A biography of the leader of the Haitian Revolution.
The Bloodless Revolution By Tristan Stuart
Norton, $17.95
The social history of vegetarianism from 1600 to today.
Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance
By Dr. Atul Gawande
Picador, $14
Essays about the struggle to achieve success in the medical world.
John Adams
By David McCullough
Simon & Schuster, $20
This Pulitzer Prize-winning biography is soon-to-be an HBO miniseries.
The Bastard of Istanbul
By Elif Shafak
Penguin, $14
A story straddling the worlds of modern Istanbul and contemporary America and two families that are linked through their Turkish homeland.
Tyrants
By Marshall N. Klimasewiski
Norton, $14.95
Short stories that explore historical and emotional tyrannies.
Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich
By Mark Kriegel
Free Press, $15
A biography of “Pistol” Pete Maravich, the basketball player who dazzled fans in the 1970s.
