Fiction

1  PLUM LUCKY, by Janet Evanovich.  Stephanie’s mother finds a bag of cash and goes gambling in Atlantic City, pursued by the money’s owner.  

2 A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS, by Khaled Hosseini. A friendship between two women in Afghanistan against the backdrop of 30 years of war.

3 PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, by Geraldine Brooks. A rare-book expert unlocks the secrets of a medieval manuscript.

4  BLASPHEMY, by Douglas Preston.  A C.I.A. operative tracks scientists with a huge supercollider who are poised to discover the secret of creation. 

5 WORLD WITHOUT END, by Ken Follett. Love and intrigue in Kingsbridge, the medieval English cathedral town at the center of Follett’s “Pillars of the Earth.”

6 THE SHOOTERS, by W. E. B. Griffin. An Army officer on the trail of a missing drug enforcement agent is undermined by the military and intelligence communities.

7 DOUBLE CROSS, by James Patterson. Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, a police detective, confront a boastful Washington killer.

8 T IS FOR TRESPASS, by Sue Grafton. Kinsey Millhone must contend with a woman who has stolen a nurse’s identity in order to take advantage of Kinsey’s elderly neighbor.

9 THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR, by Dean Koontz. A woman who rescues golden retrievers and one special dog are shadowed by an evil stranger.

10  THE SENATOR’S WIFE, by Sue Miller.  A woman lives with her husband’s persistent infidelity. 

Nonfiction

1 IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, by Michael Pollan. A manifesto urges us to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

2 I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU!), by Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Allison Silverman et al. The wit and wisdom of the mock pundit of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report.”

3 AN INCONVENIENT BOOK, by Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe. Beck, the conservative TV and talk-radio host, offers his solutions to problems including global warming, poverty and political correctness.

4  MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT ELECT, by Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward.  A former secretary of state suggests how to restore America’s credibility. 

5 BORN STANDING UP, by Steve Martin. Martin, now a writer and actor, recalls his years as a standup comedian, from the early 1960s to 1981.

6 QUIET STRENGTH, by Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker. A memoir by the first black coach to win a Super Bowl (with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007).

7 FREE LUNCH, by David Cay Johnston. How lobbyists and lawyers have wangled government subsidies for the wealthy.

8  GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS, by Eric Weiner.  A writer explores to what degree an individual’s happiness is intertwined with a shared geography and culture. 

9 THE NINE, by Jeffrey Toobin. A portrait of the Supreme Court since the Reagan administration focuses on the influence of its moderates.

10  LIBERAL FASCISM, by Jonah Goldberg.  This “alternative history of American liberalism” reveals its roots in, and commonalities with, classical fascism.