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Real Life: Preparing for the Seven Most Challenging Days of Your Life. By Philip C. McGraw. Oct. 2009. 336p. Free Press, paper, $15 (9781439131565). 158. On his television show, McGraw [...]

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son. By Michael Chabon. Oct. 2009. 320p. Harper, $25.99 (9780061490187). 813. Known for his works of fiction in [...]

The Encyclopedia of Punk. By Brian Cogan. 2008. 304p. illus. Sterling, paper, $24.95 (9781402759604). 781.6603. Punk rock is dead. Or is it? Pop-culture and media scholar Cogan believes that, although [...]

Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself. By Alan Alda. Read by the author. 2007. 6hr. Books on Tape, CD, $70 (9781415943137). Following Alda's best-selling memoir, Never Have Your Dog [...]

The Deportees and Other Stories. By Roddy Doyle. Jan. 2008. 242p. Viking, $24.95 (978067001845 I). General Fiction. Doyle, a former Booker Prize winner best known for his Barrytown trilogy of [...]

Brother One Cell: An American's Coming of Age in South Korea's Prisons. By Cullen Thomas. Read by Dan Woren. 2007. 12hr. Books on Tape, CD, $110 (9781415937853). Cullen Thomas was [...]

Read the Beatles. Ed. by June Skinner Sawyers. Nov. 2006. 358p. Penguin, paper, $16 (0-14-303732-3). 782.42166092. Someone saying that they don't like the Beatles is like saying they don't like […]

Garcia, Jerry. Jerry Garcia: The Collected Artwork. Oct. 2005. 208p. illus. Thunder's Mouth, $60 (1-56025-791-1); paper, $37.50 (1-56025-755-5). 759. An innovative and prolific musician, Jerry Garcia was the driving force [...]

Cooper, Dennis. God Jr. Aug. 2005. 144p. Grove/Black Cat, paper, $12 (0-8021-7011-0). Jim has been an emotional mess ever since that terrible day a year ago when he got into [...]

Hudgens, Dallas. Drive Like Hell. Feb. 2005. 336p Scribner, $23 (0-7432-5163-6) When Luke Fulmer was just 10 years old, his father--an amateur stock-car driver--taught him to drive, saying, 'It's best [...]

Harris, John. Britpop! Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock. Nov. 2004. 464p. Da Capo, paper, $18 (0-306-81367-X). 782.1. Noted music journalist Harris examines in exquisite detail the [...]

Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong. By Terry Teachout. Dec. 2009. 512p. illus. Houghton, $30 (9780151010899). 781.65092. Teachout played jazz professionally before becoming a writer and drama critic for the [...]

You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas. By Augusten Burroughs. Oct. 2009. 224p. St. Martin's, $21.99 (9780312341916). 813. Burroughs' latest collection of Christmas vignettes offers about as much holiday 'cheer' [...]

The Women. By T. C. Boyle. Read by Grover Gardner. 2009. 18hr. Blackstone, CS, $85.95 (9781433260605); CD, $110 (9781433260612). In his latest novel, Boyle returns to a familiar subject, that [...]

'What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?': Jimmy Carter, America's 'Malaise,' and the Speech That Should Have Changed the Country. By Kevin Mattson. July 2009. 272p. Bloomsbury, $25 [...]

* The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture. By Nathan Rabin. July 2009. 368p. Scribner, $25 (978i416556206). 306.09. In Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity (1995), the [...]

How I Became a Famous Novelist. By Steve Hely. July 2009. 224p. Grove/Black Cat, paper, $14 (9780802170606). Pete Tarslaw hates his life. He has been laid off from his job [...]

* American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime. By Teri Thompson and others. May 2009. 464p. Knopf, $26.95 (9780307271808). 796.357092. By now [...]

Paul Newman. By Shawn Levy. May 2009. 496p. illus. Harmony. $29.99 (9780307353757). 791.43 As many diverse roles as Paul Newman played on the silver screen, he occupied nearly as many [...]

Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. By Seth Shostak. Mar. 2009. 320p. National Geographic, $27 (9781426203923). 576.8. If there is one question that has preoccupied [...]

Telex from Cuba. By Rachel Kushner. Read by Lloyd James. 2008. 13hr. Tantor, CD, $69.99 (9781400138340). Two American children come of age during a time of revolution in this story [...]

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. By Alice Schroeder. Read by Kirsten Potter. 2008. 37hr. Books on Tape, CS, $129 (9781415950272); CD, $129 (9781415948002). Most seven-year-old children [...]

Man in the Dark. By Paul Auster. Read by the author. 2008. 4.5hr. BBC/Sound Library, CD, $49.95 (9780792756422). Auster's latest is a complex story within a story. The framing narrative [...]

The Unknown Knowns. By Jeffrey Rotter. Mar. 2009. 272p. Scribner, $25 (9781416587026). Two crackpots are on a collision course in this Vonnegut-esque tale delusion, violence, and homeland security. Jim Rath [...]

Pharmakon. By Dirk Wittenborn. Read by Mark Deakins and Lincoln Hoppe. 2008. 15hr. Penguin, CD, $39.95 (9780143143291). It is 1951, and Will Friedrich is a brilliant, young Yale psychology professor [...]

Demons in the Spring. By Joe Meno. Sept. 2008. 300p. illus. Akashic, $24.95 (9781933354477). Meno, with five novels and one previous short story collection under his belt, shows his mastery [...]

Summer on a Plate: More Than 120 Delicious, No-Fuss Recipes for Memorable Meals from Loaves and Fishes. By Anna Pump and Gen Leroy. June 2008. 240p. illus. Simon & Schuster, [...]

Valfierno: The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa. By Martin Caparros. Tr. by Jasper Reid. July 2008. 340p. Atria, $24 (9780743297936). In 1911 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen [...]

When You Are Engulfed in Flames. By David Sedaris. June 2008. 336p. Little, Brown, $25.99 (9780316143479). 814. With essay collections such as Naked (1997) and Me Talk Pretty One Day [...]

Hubert's Freaks: The Rare-Book Dealer, the Times Square Talker, and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus. By Gregory Gibson. July 2008. 304p. illus. Harcourt, $24 (9780151012336). 770. Hubert's Museum was [...]

The Abstinence Teacher. By Tom Perrotta. Read by Campbell Scott. 2007. 10hr. BBC/Sound Library, CD, $89.95 (9780792750383). Perrotta's latest proves he is an excellent observer of suburban angst. Divorced and [...]

* The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting; An Oral History. By Jim Walsh. Nov. 2007. 304p. illus. Voyageur, $21.95 (9780760330623). 782.42166092. The Replacements were a careening indie rock band [...]

The Yiddish Policemen's Union. By Michael Chabon. Read by Peter Riegert. 2007. 13.5hr. Recorded Books, CS, $92.75 (9781419375736); CD, $123.75 (9781419375750). Chabon's latest is a creative reinvention of history in [...]

Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See. By Robert Kurson. Read by Doug Ordunio. 2007. 10hr. Books on Tape, CS, $90 (9781415940464); [...]

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific. By J. Maarten Troost. Read by Simon Vance. 2007. 8.5hr. Blackstone, CS, $54.95 (9781433202865); CD, $63 (9781433202872). Following six years [...]

Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer By Chuck Thompson. Dec. 2007. 336p. Holt, paper, $14 (0-8050-8209-3). 910.4. Thompson is an international travel writer who was sick [...]

* Talking Jazz: An Oral History. By Ben Sidran. 2007. 24hr. CD Baby, CD, $249. Offering music lovers a fascinating peek into the creative minds of the masters, this boxed [...]

City Lights. By Dan Barry. 2007. 304p. St. Martin's, $25.95 (0-312-36718-X). 974.7. Barry wrote a weekly column for the New York Times called 'About New York,' in which he covered [...]

Father Knows Less; or, 'Can I Cook My Sister?' One Dad's Quest to Answer His Son's Most Baffling Questions. By Wendell Jamieson. Sept. 2007. 272p. Putnam, $24.95 (0-399-15442-6). 306.874. When [...]

The Abstinence Teacher. By Tom Perrotta. Oct. 2007. 336p. St. Martin's, $24.95 (0-312-35833-4). General Fiction. As is evident from his previous novels Election (1998) and Little Children (2004), Perotta seems [...]

Crashing Through: A Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See. By Robert Kurson. June 2007. 308p. Random, $25.95 (9781400063352). 362.4. By the time he turned 44, [...]

Myers, Mitch. The Boy Who Cried Freebird: Rock and Roll Fables and Sonic Storytelling. May 2007. 336p. HarperEntertainment, $25.95 (0-06-113901-7). 809.933. Music journalism is a tricky animal to tame, but [...]

Reavill, Gil. Aftermath, Inc.: Cleaning Up after CSI Goes Home. May 2007. 304p. Gotham, $25 (9781592402960). 363.25. Thanks to the popularity of TV crime shows such as CSI and Law [...]

* Thomas, Cullen. Brother One Cell: An American's Coming of Age in South Korea's Prisons. Mar. 2007. 347p. Penguin, $24.95 (9780670038275). 365.6. In 1994, Thomas was a bright young man [...]

Mamet, David. Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business. Feb. 2007. 288p. Pantheon, $22 (9780375422539). 384. By anyone's measure, Mamet is a prodigious writer, [...]

The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.) I took a basic editing class this year, and its text was CMOS. A classic in its genre (more tightly plotted than most […]

McMurtry, Larry. When the Light Goes. Mar. 2007. 195p. Simon & Schuster, $24 (1-4165-3426-1). General Fiction. In his now-classic debut novel, The Last Picture Show (1966), McMurtry introduced readers to [...]

The Playboy Interviews: Larger Than Life. Ed. by Stephen Randall. Dec. 2006. 400p. M Press, $22.95 (1-59582-045-0). 070.449. Since Playboy's inception in 1953, guys have been telling their sweethearts that [...]

Rapp, Adam. The Year of Endless Sorrows. Jan. 2007. 488p. Farrar, paper, $15 (0-37429343-0). Some authors are inclined to use similes and metaphors as liberally as if they were salt [...]

Dann, Trevor. Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake. Oct. 2006. 288p. index. Da Capo, paper, $16.95 (0-306-81520-6). 782. Nick Drake, the English songwriter who has come [...]