The Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler

For the Father Who Will Always Say You're Daddy's Little Girl
The Council of Dads
By Bruce Feiler
256 pages; William Morrow


Diagnosed with a serious illness, journalist Feiler gathers six of his best friends to be there in their own ways for his daughters.

Get the guide to start your own council
The Lost Books of the Odyssey

For the Classics Lover
The Lost Books of the Odyssey
By Zachary Mason
240 pages; FSG


Homer's classic revisited, expanded upon, played with. A brainiac's take that's not just for scholars.

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

For the Man Who Longs for a Metropolis to Call His Own
Chronic City>
By Jonathan Lethem
480 pages; Doubleday


Friction, charisma, unpleasantness, and threat are key to this tale of scintillating misfits... Read more

Under the Dome by Stephen King

For the Guy Who Loves Stories Where Someone Goes Into the Basement and???
Under the Dome
By Stephen King
1,072 pages; Scribner


Trust Stephen King to create more hellish scenarios, in the 1,072 pages of Under the Dome, than you could ever imagine, yet still have you wanting more.... Read more

Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin

For the History Buff
Hellhound on His Trail
By Hampton Sides
480 pages; Doubleday


A meticulous account of the last days of Martin Luther King Jr. and the capture of the man who stalked and eventually killed him.

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

For the Guy Who Asks "What If?"
The Other Wes Moore
By Wes Moore
256 pages; Spiegel & Grau


Born just a year apart in the same rough Baltimore neighborhood, both Wes Moores were raised by single mothers. One became a Rhodes scholar and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence for murder... Read more

Imperial by William Vollmann

For the Activist
Imperial
By William Vollmann
1,344 pages; Viking


Not only electrifying in the news it brings of ongoing injustice and pain but also a magnificent ballet of fragments, a huge, endless labor, a book of unimaginable skill and inspired genius. Read more

Essays by Wallace Shawn

For the Conversationalist
Essays
By Wallace Shawn
186 pages; Haymarket


Playwright and actor Wallace Shawn's Essays is full of what you might call conversation starters: tricky propositions about morality...politics, privilege, runaway nationalist fantasies, collective guilt, and art as a force for change... Read more

Literary Life by Larry McMurty

For the Good Ol' Boy
Literary Life
By Larry McMurtry
192 pages; Simon & Schuster


Whether ogling racecars with Susan Sontag or waxing skeptical about winning the Pulitzer Prize, McMurtry, now 73, is the master of the showstopping anecdote... Read more

Backing Into Forward by Jules Feiffer

For the Comics Fan
Backing Into Forward
By Jules Feiffer
464 pages; Nan A. Talese/Doubleday


The loopy, octogenarian cartoonist tells his own story, this time in words. Well, mostly.

Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco

For the Graphic Novel Aficionado
Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
By Joe Sacco
432 pages; Metropolitan


A comic book that gives new meaning to the term "graphic novel": about critical conflict in the Middle East.
Three Days Before the Shooting by Ralph Ellison

For the The Lover of Loose Ends
Three Days Before the Shooting...The Unfinished Second Novel
By Ralph Ellison
1,136 pages; Random House


Compiled from 3,000 manuscript pages and other notes left by the late author of Invisible Man.

The Autobiography of an Execution by David R. Dow

For the Law & Order Addict
The Autobiography of an Execution
By David R. Dow
288 pages; Twelve


A riveting memoir by a thinking, feeling lawyer whose clients are on death row.

Cheating Death by Sanjay Gupta

For the Medicine Man
Cheating Death: The Doctors and Medical Miracles that Are Saving Lives Against All Odds
By Sanjay Gupta, MD
304 pages; Grand Central


"Let me let you in on a little secret: When the heart stops beating, it's not the end." If you can read that sentence and not devour the rest of Cheating Death, by neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta, you're probably not breathing... Read more

Open by Andre Agassi

For the Sports Fan
Open
By Andre Agassi
400 pages; Knopf
 

Agassi's style is open, all right, and his book, like so many of his tennis games, is a clear winner. Read more

True Compass by Edward Kennedy

For the Politically Minded
True Compass
By Edward M. Kennedy
532 pages; Twelve
 

True Compass, by the late senator Edward M. Kennedy, leaves the impression of a complicated, passionate man who spent most of his life dealing with a legacy he never sought... Read more

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer

For the Truth Seeker
Where Men Win Glory
By Jon Krakauer
416 pages; Doubleday
 

Krakauer's account of the way the Bush administration tried to turn pro-football player turned solider Pat Tillman's story into pro-war propaganda is both meticulous and passionate... Read more

Noir Anthologies

For the Detective
Noir Anthologies
Akashic Books


From Brooklyn to Boston, from Phoenix (where "sunshine is the new noir") to pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans, each volume in the series—featuring stories by the likes of Lee Child, Maggie Estep, Stewart O'Nan—reveals a city's distinctive inner darkness... Read more

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