By Madeleine Albright
176 pages; Harper

In Madeleine Albright's offbeat illustrated memoir, Read My Pins, the diplomat explains how, as President Clinton's secretary of state, she often let her elaborate collection of brooches do (some of) the talking, whether she wore vibrant zebras for a meeting with Nelson Mandela, a bluebird to mourn the victims of a downed aircraft, or a bejeweled snake after a Saddam Hussein loyalist called her a "serpent"—a masterstroke of elegant defiance.

— Jessica Winter