Fiction
1. “A Thousand Splendid Suns”: by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $25.95) Two Afghan women struggle to survive jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny.
2. “Run”: by Ann Patchett (Harper: $25.95) A widower faces complications when one of his children is shadowed by the birth mother.
3. “Playing for Pizza”: by John Grisham (Doubleday: $21.95) A hack pro quarterback finds refuge on a football team in Parma, Italy.
4. “Exit Ghost”: by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin: $26) Nathan Zuckerman finds everything changed in post-9/11 New York City, his solitude challenged.
5. “Bridge of Sighs”: by Richard Russo (Alfred A. Knopf: $26.95) A dying Northeast factory town weighs on the lives of its inhabitants.
6. “Away”: by Amy Bloom (Random House: $23.95) A survivor of a Russian pogrom arrives in New York in 1924 and soon begins a search for her lost daughter.
7. “You’ve Been Warned”: by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Little, Brown: $27.99) Trouble ensues when a nanny falls for her employer.
8. “The Choice”: by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central: $24.99) A veterinarian determined to play the field falls hard for his next-door neighbor.
9. “Caspian Rain”: by Gina B. Nahai (MacAdam Cage: $25) Class, faith and tradition clash in this tale of love in pre-revolution Tehran.
10. “Blonde Faith”: by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown: $25.99) Easy Rawlins, torn up at losing his longtime love, must track down two missing friends.
Nonfiction
1. “The Age of Turbulence”: by Alan Greenspan (Penguin: $35) The enigmatic former Fed chief explains and rates his economic actions.
2. “The Nine”: by Jeffrey Toobin (Doubleday: $27.95) The New Yorker reporter and legal eagle details the inner workings and politics of the U.S. Supreme Court.
3. “The Zookeeper’s Wife”: by Diane Ackerman (W.W. Norton: $24.95) How the Warsaw Zoo director and his wife tried to shelter Polish Jews during World War II.
4. “The Coldest Winter”: by David Halberstam (Hyperion: $35) The late author charts the miscalculations that led to the Korean War and today’s stalemate.
5. “The Dangerous Book for Boys”: by Conn and Hal Iggulden (HarperCollins: $24.95) Learn how to tie knots, find true north and other essential skills.
6. “The Secret”: by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy.
7. “The Day of Battle”: by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt: $35) How U.S. soldiers became a formidable force fighting in Sicily and Italy during World War II.
8. “Giving”: by Bill Clinton (Knopf: $24.95) The former president and now foundation head describes how giving our money and time can change the world.
9. “My Grandfather’s Son”: by Clarence Thomas (HarperCollins: $26.95) The high court justice details his youth, early career and the battle for confirmation.
10. “Women Who Light the Dark”: by Paola Gianturco (PowerHouse: $45) The photojournalist shows how women around the world work together.
&Copy;Los Angeles Times
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