Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting by Michael Perry (9780061240430)
This memoir of farming and fatherhood features the humor Perry's readers expect while also honestly investigating the quieter corners of his heart.  Living with his pregnant wife in a rickety Wisconsin farmhouse with 37 acres of fallen fences and overgrown fields, Perry found himself plumbing his unorthodox past for clues as to how he should proceed as a farmer and a parent.  Coop is full of the desire to reconnect with the earth, with neighbors, with meaning...and with chickens.

The Rocket that Fell to Earth: Roger Clemens and the Rage for Baseball Immortality by Jeff Pearlman (9780061724756)
Roger Clemens – perhaps the greatest pitcher in Major League Baseball history – is also a controversial figure, with supporters and detractors holding very different views about him.  Bestselling author Jeff Pearlman conducted hundreds of interviews as he researched Clemens' outstanding career and its ignoble end, exploring his rise and fall and its connection with the current state of American sports.

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (9780061735868)
Jay Porter is a lawyer on the edge – with no promising clients and a fledgling practice run out of a dingy strip mall in Houston's Bayou City.  But Houston in 1981 is a booming city, and Jay believes he can make a fresh start – until he impulsively saves a drowning woman's life one night, and involves himself in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life.

Germany 1945: From War to Peace by Richard Bessel (9780060540364)
With the close of World War II, the German people were had to both make sense of the horrors they had just passed and find the strength and hope to move forward.  Bessel draws a provocative portrait of Germany's emergence from catastrophe, showing the resilience of the people as they began to put their lives back together and create the foundations for a strong postwar culture.

The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri (9780061721557)
Kate Robinson flees to Ireland, desperate to break old patterns after a devastating heartbreak and loss.  Before she knows it she finds herself in a Gaelic village on the west coast, where she begins to bond with members of the local lace-making society.  Under Glenmara's spell, Kate finds the inspiration that has eluded her.  But not everyone in the town welcomes Kate, and a series of unexpected events threatens everything she and her new community have worked for...

Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (9780061766725)
Norman Ollestad's father thrust him into the world of surfing and skiing at a very young age, though as a boy he was often paralyzed by fear.  Yet these exhilarating tests of skill prepared him to be a fearless champion – which ultimately saved his life, when he crashed into the San Gabriel mountains in a chartered plane and was engulfed in a blizzard at eight thousand feet.  With his father dead in the crash, the 11-year-old boy had to descend the mountain alone.  This book is the beautifully crafted, astonishing story of a boy who spent his childhood living for his father and ended up owing him his own life.

The Road to Woodstock by Michael Lang with Holly George-Warren (9780061576553)
Michael Lang, the mastermind behind Woodstock, narrates his own story of this cultural touchstone event.  Lang's memories alone make for a unique portrait of the festival, but his access to the other people who were there and their stories are equally remarkable and fresh.  The book also includes 75 previously unpublished photographs from the event. 

The Loveliest Woman in American by Bibi Gaston (9780060857714)
This story about the author's grandmother Rosamund Pinchot (of the Gifford Pinchot family) reads like fiction....a dysfunctional society family, political activity with Eleanor and FDR, bad marriages and early Hollywood.  Bibi Gaston was given her grandmother's diaries when she was an adult with no knowledge of her intriguing ancestor.  A slice of history filled with passion and a chance to meet the remarkable author! (Katherine recommends)

Pop Salvation by Lance Reynald (9780061672972)
Twelve-year-old Caleb stands out as strange in his Washington, D.C. private school.  But on a field trip, he discovers the art of Andy Warhol, another social outcast who becomes his hero and icon, and begins to transform himself into his own version of Warhol's factory.  A very unconventional portrait of D.C. and its prep schools, Pop Salvation is the story of a boy who finds himself by becoming the art he adores.

Waiter Rant by The Waiter, Steve Dublanica (9780061256691)
Waiter Rant is an entertaining, funny, and sometimes scary account of a waiter in the midst of New York's hardcore restaurant scene.  Anthony Bourdain says of the book, “It is the front of the house version of Kitchen Confidential.”  Needless to say, you'll be laughing and cringing at the unforgettable stories told by this initially anonymous author.  (Jacqueline recommends)