The Almost Moon
By Alice Sebold
Back Bay, $14.99
A middle-age woman examines her past after killing her mother.
Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life
By Steve Martin
Scribner, $15
The comedian’s memoir reveals his personal and professional lives through his stand-up years.
The Careful Use of Compliments
By Alexander McCall Smith
Vintage, $13.95
From the author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, this is the fourth installment of his “Sunday Philosophy Club” series.
Chaos: Making A New Science
By James Gleick
Penguin, $20
Insights based on computer analyses that reveal distinctions between noise and “chaos” in this 20th anniversary edition.
Elvis is Titanic: Classroom Tales from the Other Iraq
By Ian Klaus
Vintage, $14.95
The Rhodes scholar tells of his experiences teaching English and history in Arbil.
Engleby
By Sebastian Faulks
Vintage, $14.95
A psychological portrait of a man suspected of killing a fellow college student, who was the object of his obsession.
First Class Citizenship
Edited by Michael G. Long
Holt, $18
A collection of Jackie Robinson’s letters that reveal his talent as a writer and commitment to exposing and combating racism.
My Columbian War
By Silvana Paternostro
Holt, $16
A journalist returns to her native Columbia after having left as a teenager.
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
By Jeffrey Toobin
Anchor, $15.95
The New Yorker legal writer examines the inner workings of the U.S. Supreme Court.
One Drop: My Father’s Hidden Life — A Story of Race and Family Secrets
By Bliss Broyard
Back Bay, $15.99
A woman raised as a Connecticut WASP describes how her father — a New York Times literary critic known to be particularly harsh on black writers — spent his life denying his mixed-race heritage.
Pontoon
By Garrison Keillor
Penguin, $14
Another Lake Wobegon novel from the author and host of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Promises to Keep
By Joe Biden
Random House, $15
The vice-presidential candidate’s best-selling memoir.
The Secret Life of Bees
By Sue Monk Kidd
Penguin, $15
A novel about a 14-year-old haunted by the accidental death of her mother.
Shakespeare Unbound: Decoding a Hidden Life
By Rene Weis
Holt, $20
Biographer analyzes Shakespeare’s writings for clues about his personal life.
Sons and Other Flammable Objects
By Porochista Khakpour
Grove, $14
Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, an Iranian-American family struggles to maintain equilibrium between its new home and its old ways of life.
The Terror Dream: Myth and Misogyny in an Insecure America
By Susan Faludi
Picador, $16
How the terrorist attacks of 9/11 infected our culture, from anthrax antidotes to Victorian-style clothes to new national slogans.
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
By Alan Alda
Random House, $15
The actor grapples with the big questions of life after near-fatal emergency surgery.
