1.

THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett.

A young white woman and two black maids in 1960s ­Mississippi.

2.

WORST CASE, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.

A New York detective raising 10 children alone investigates a string of kidnappings and killings of teenagers by a villain with unusual motives.

3.

THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown.

Robert Langdon among the Masons.

POOR LITTLE BITCH GIRL, by Jackie Collins.

Hollywood murder, three beautiful 20-something high school friends, a hot New York club owner.

WINTER GARDEN, by Kristin Hannah.

After their father's death, two sisters must cooperate to run his apple orchard and care for their difficult mother.

THE MAN FROM BEIJING, by Henning Mankell.

A massacre in a tiny Swedish village has roots in the past and on other continents.

THE THREE WEISSMANNS OF WESTPORT, by Cathleen Schine.

Two sisters — one logical, one emotional — move in with their mother when her ex-husband kicks her out of the family apartment; a tribute to Austen's “Sense and Sensibility.”

THE POSTMISTRESS, by Sarah Blake.

Ordinary life in a Massachusetts small town and an American radio reporter in England in the 1940s.

FLIRT, by Laurell K. Hamilton.

Anita Blake, vampire hunter, and the males in her life.

HORNS, by Joe Hill.

After the rape and murder of his girlfriend, a distraught young man discovers that he has grown horns.

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, by Stieg Larsson.

A Swedish hacker becomes a murder suspect.

THE MIDNIGHT HOUSE, by Alex Berenson.

Who is killing members of a secret unit that interrogated terrorists? The C.I.A. agent John Wells is on the case.

BRAVA, VALENTINE, by Adriana Trigiani.

An Italian-American shoemaker faces challenges at work, in her family and in love; the second book in a trilogy.

KISSER, by Stuart Woods.

Stone Barrington, the New York cop turned lawyer, pursues a case of financial fraud on the Upper East Side.

THE LAST SURGEON, by Michael Palmer.

A surgeon and a nurse track a killer whose specialty is murders that don't look like murder.

GAME CHANGE, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

Behind the scenes at the 2008 election with Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, John and Elizabeth Edwards, John McCain and Sarah Palin.

THE POLITICIAN, by Andrew Young.

A tell-all by John Edwards's closest aide.

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, by Rebecca Skloot.

Race, poverty and science intertwine in the story of the woman whose cancer cells were cultured without her permission in 1951 and have supported a mountain of research undertaken since then. 

I AM OZZY, by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres.

Recollections of heavy metal's “Prince of Darkness.”

WILLIE MAYS, by James S. Hirsch.

The life and career of a baseball legend.

ON THE BRINK, by Henry M. Paulson Jr..

The Treasury secretary during the financial meltdown describes the decisions that were made.

HAVE A LITTLE FAITH, by Mitch Albom.

A suburban rabbi and a Detroit pastor teach lessons about the comfort of belief.

STONES INTO SCHOOLS, by Greg Mortenson.

Building schools, many of them for girls, in northeast Afghanistan; takes

up where “Three Cups of Tea” left off.

STAYING TRUE, by Jenny Sanford.

The ups and downs of life with South Carolina's Gov. Mark Sanford, by his estranged wife.

COMMITTED, by Elizabeth Gilbert.

The author of “Eat, Pray, Love” wrestles with, and overcomes, her ambivalence about marriage.

OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell.

Why some people succeed, from the author of “Blink.”

DRIVE, by Daniel H. Pink.

What really motivates people is the quest for autonomy, mastery and purpose, not external rewards.

THE CHECKLIST MANIFESTO, by Atul Gawande.

Following checklists makes surgery safer and other activities more efficient, a doctor argues.

MAKING ROUNDS WITH OSCAR, by David Dosa.

A nursing-home cat who comforts patients when death is near.

15.