Fiction
1. “World Without End”: by Ken Follett (Dutton: $35) Four children who witness a murder jockey for power and position as adults in 14th century England.
2. “Stone Cold”: by David Baldacci (Grand Central: $26.99) Adventurers try to outmaneuver a swindled casino owner and a mysterious killer.
3. “Double Cross”: by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $27.99) Alex Cross is called back to action when a flurry of murders causes terror in Washington, D.C.
4. “A Thousand Splendid Suns”: by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $25.95) Two Afghan women struggle to survive jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny.
5. “The Darkest Evening of the Year”: by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $27) A woman who runs a golden retriever rescue group is hiding a dark secret.
6. “Mister B. Gone”: by Clive Barker (HarperCollins: $24.95) A 13th century demon child’s memoir about his battle with an angel in disguise.
7. “War and Peace”: by Leo Tolstoy (Knopf: $37) A new translation of the epic tale of Russia before and after Napoleon’s invasion.
8. “Playing for Pizza”: by John Grisham (Doubleday: $21.95) A down-on-his-luck pro quarterback finds refuge on a football team in Parma, Italy.
9. “Loving Frank”: by Nancy Horan (Ballantine Books: $23.95) Scandal and tragedy haunt the intellectually driven lover of Frank Lloyd Wright.
10. “Tree of Smoke”: by Denis Johnson (Farrar, Straus &Giroux: $27) The saga of an undercover CIA agent, beginning with the Tet offensive in Vietnam.
Nonfiction
1. “Born Standing Up”: by Steve Martin (Scribner: $25) The groundbreaking comedian reflects on his childhood and the evolution of his art.
2. “I Am America (and so Can You!)”: by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central: $26.99) “The Colbert Report” star expounds on the forces destroying America.
3. “The Daring Book for Girls”: by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz (HarperCollins: $24.95) A girls’ handbook of skills and must-have knowledge.
4. “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.
5. “You: Staying Young”: by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press: $26) Doctors explain how the body ages and how to counter those effects.
6. “Good Dog. Stay”: by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $14.95) The bittersweet recollections of life with Beau, Quindlen’s black Labrador retriever.
7. “Musicophilia”: by Oliver Sacks (Knopf: $26) The medical storyteller explores the link between music and its myriad effects on the human brain.
8. “American Creation”: by Joseph J. Ellis (Knopf: $26.95) A look at the challenges facing the nation from the War of Independence to the Louisiana Purchase.
9. “The Secret”: by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy.
10. “Boom! Voices of the Sixties”: by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $28.95) Reflections on a decade of social change that swept America and its people.
&Copy; Los Angeles Times
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