New Nonfiction

The Last Shot
by Lynn Schooler (Ecco)

The ebbing tide of the U.S. Civil War sea conflict is grippingly brought to life in Lynn Schooler's The Last Shot. Recounted through the law-bending exploits of the Confederate raider Shenandoah and its attempts to scuttle Yankee shipping and whaling, the book moves with the pace of a rising and, ultimately, destructive gale. The firsthand journal accounts Schooler has spliced together create a fascinating glimpse not only of the American struggle, but of the worldwide machinations behind the ship's seldom-told privateering career and the final broadside of the war. -J. Reiner

A Field Guide to Getting Lost
by Rebecca Solnit (Viking)

"Never to get lost is not to live," Rebecca Solnit suggests in this dreamy, autobiographical celebration of losing one's way. The possibilities of discovery in a youthful immersion in punk rock music, in the colors of paintings and shallow pools, and in decaying urban landscapes are tempered with the knowledge of fellow travelers who become permanently lost. Solnit's ability to communicate her particular ways of seeing and of being transformed by a landscape encourages readers to lose themselves in her richly detailed prose, savor the experience, and emerge with new openness to wandering in the unknown. -K.M. Allman

"I Didn't Do It for You"
by Michela Wrong (HarperCollins)

Written with linguistic grace and a subtle reporting style, Wrong's latest book is an intelligent and passionate glimpse into Eritrea's people and history. Left to the greedy abuses of Italy, the United States, Ethiopia, and the Soviet Union, this rugged African nation fought for thirty years to preserve its independence and survive the world's most prolonged guerrilla war. Wrong uses wit and an unfaltering eye for detail to illuminate Eritrea's people and their struggle to overcome the consequences of colonialism. With extraordinary clarity and the skills of a veteran journalist, Wrong presents a history book you won't want to put down. -K. Baker

The Dancing Girls of Lahore
by Louise Brown (Fourth Estate)

In Pakistan, descendants of the imperial Mughal courtesans still dance and sell their bodies as did their mothers before them. When they are young, they are rich, and when they are old, they are poor, and live off the riches of their young daughters. In The Dancing Girls of Lahore, Brown recounts her repeated visits to Pakistan to study these women and their trade. Brown quickly focuses her story on one woman, Maha, and her family. Through Maha's story Brown illuminates an insular world, one that is both independent of and subservient to the male-dominated world outside. Brown's story offers no prescriptions, only heartbreaking truths that need telling. -M. Helsel

The King's English
by Betsy Burton (Gibbs Smith)

This chronicle of one bookstore over the last three decades is a loving tribute to the tenacity of booksellers, authors, and readers. Burton and The King's English, which was founded in 1977, have hosted such luminaries as Sherman Alexie, John Irving, and Isabel Allende. This is a delightful insider's look at the pitfalls and pinnacles of independent bookselling, one that could almost be taken has a how-to manual for anyone crazy enough to consider hanging out their own shingle. Along with the horrifying, charming, and poignant moments, are countless lists of—what else—great books for all occasions. -H. Myers

Killing Yourself to Live
by Chuck Klosterman (Simon & Schuster)

An affinity for road trips and music is not required to read Chuck Klosterman's latest, mostly true account of his own epic rock journey, but it might begin to foster one in you if you're not quite there yet. He writes about all the great rock deaths—from Sid and Nancy overdosing in New York to Replacements guitarist Bob Stinson drinking himself to death in Minneapolis—along with his own debacles involving women, inebriation, and dying. It's as honest a look at all these things as any writer could muster, and even when he's making it up, he let's us know. -J. Schurk

Coffee: A Dark History
by Anthony Wild (Norton)

Did you know that Mocha is a port town in Yemen that served as one of the first outposts of the coffee trade in the early sixteenth-century? Or that for maximum freshness, the best way to purchase coffee is not in a tightly sealed vacuum bag, but in a bag equipped with a valve for oxidation purposes? These are only two of the endless historical and scientific facts Wild uncovers in his extensive history of the coffee trade and modern day coffee culture. This is a fascinating account of world history through an examination of the coffee bean. -A.C. Jennings

Unraveled
by Maria Housden (Harmony)

How does one regain her footing in a life shaken by a rocky marriage and the grief of losing a child? When Maria attends a weeklong retreat, without husband and children, she reacquaints herself with the joys of solitude and time to reflect on her relationships and long forgotten dreams. Unexpected situations arise in the midst of her introspection, forcing Maria to embrace her newfound confidence or return to her familiar way of life. Whether you view her choices as brave or selfish, Housden's inspiring and controversial story invites reflection long after you've closed the book. -S. Bravenec

The Lady and the Panda
by Vicki Constantine Croke (Random House)

What an adventure! This is the true story of Ruth Harkness and her expedition into the jungles along the border of China and Tibet to successfully bring back America's first live giant panda. It's a feat her husband died trying to accomplish, and one that everyone wants to achieve first. A story of heartbreak, trial, obsession, betrayal, and love, it's by far better than any adventure novel currently on the shelves—simply because it's true. Harkness has finally had her amazing story told by a wonderful narrator and can rightfully take her place alongside other great women adventurers. -A.P. King

A Very Good Year: The Journey of a California Wine from Vine to Table
by Mike Weiss (Gotham)

San Francisco Chronicle senior writer Mike Weiss spent two years inside the Ferrari-Carano Vineyard and Winery in Sonoma County—all this, to tell the story of its 2002 Fume Blanc. This is the story of the extremely competitive and, in fact, fickle wine business from the inside out. The Ferrari-Carano Winery is particularly dedicated to placing its wines in restaurants east and west, and Weiss does a fine job of showing just how much hard work is involved in the journey from vine to table. -G. Berry

Booking Passage: We Irish and Americans
by Thomas Lynch (Norton)

Lynch, a mortician and poet, brings the best of both trades to his essays—he doesn't flinch from telling us about the darker trials of life, but his gorgeous prose makes us glad to read, and his giving heart makes us better for reading it. With Booking Passage, Lynch turns to his own Irish heritage, and, in topics ranging from the abuse of children by Catholic priests to the potato famine, reveals the beautiful truth of the Irish—the ability to sing and laugh and dance in the face of great sorrow—and passes it on to the reader. -P. Constant

Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human
by Michael Chorost (HarperCollins)

The author faced the prospect of becoming a cyborg; a cochlear implant could give him back the hearing he lost completely in 2001. Would giving over one of his senses to the ones and zeroes of a computer chip diminish his humanity? Pondering the philosophical ramifications as he underwent the procedure, little did he suspect that it would reinvent him from the ground up, much like The 6 Million Dollar Man.

Candid, thoughtful, and funny, with references sweeping from Shakespeare to science fiction, this memoir transcends the subject matter, striking at the core of what makes us all human; regardless of the accessories. -V. Verano

Finding George Orwell in Burma
by Emma Larkin (Penguin)

Big Brother is watching you...seriously. This is the grim reality we are exposed to in Emma Larkin's well-researched and thought-provoking travelogue, Finding George Orwell In Burma. By way of re-creating Orwell's journeys through Burma as an officer in the British imperial police force, Larkin proposes the notion that the author penned a depressingly prescient "Burmese Trilogy" in Burmese Days, Animal Farm, and Nineteen Eighty-Four. That Larkin exposes so effectively the networks of both dissidents and informers in this brutal police state is perhaps a testament to her intriguing thesis. However, with the populace in a perpetual state of fear, only Big Brother knows the truth. -J. Reiner

Istanbul: Memories and the City
by Orhan Pamuk (Knopf)
translated by Maureen Freely

With so many histories and travelogues around, it is disappointing how few are written by natives of the subject area. Fortunately for readers, Orhan Pamuk has written this guided tour of the geography and history of his home. In a stylistic turn that illustrates how much our surroundings shape us, Pamuk blends Istanbul's history with the story of his own life. He presents the views of other Istanbullus, from famous writers to local friends, as well as those of noteworthy Western visitors, and examines how these views have changed over the years. The result is a fascinating kaleidoscopic journey through Turkish time. -J. Zaidi

My Friend Leonard
by James Frey (Riverhead)

This book is akin to an uncomfortable elevator ride with a man who has mud on his boots and bloodstains on his shirt, while your safety waits floors below you, just on the other side of the metal sliding doors. The superlatively raw emotion that Frey unleashes furiously in his second memoir could bruise skin with just words alone. However, even the dangerous and heartbreaking steps that he takes toward sobriety (with backbone support from a fellow former junkie, Leonard, a Las Vegas mobster with a secret of his own) are peppered with the promise of safety, humor, and hope. -C. Joyner

Confessions of a Recovering Slut
by Hollis Gillespie (HarperCollins)

So, by title alone, it is obvious that this is not a pretty package of a memoir. In this second look at her irreverent life Hollis now owns her very own house in an Atlanta neighborhood best-known for its crack and prostitution. She still has the cast of crazy boys who love her, support her, and drive her mad, but now there is one more character to introduce because Hollis, somehow, done got herself knocked up! And if she was neurotic before…Cynical, fierce, but so, so funny, this book is a wicked delight! -T. Nisly

The Rescue Artist
by Edward Dolnick (HarperCollins)

On the same morning as the opening ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway, two thieves stuck a ladder under a second-story window of the Oslo National Gallery, broke in, and stole Edvard Munch's world-famous painting The Scream. What sounds like the beginning of the next Dan Brown novel is, in fact, all too true. Dolnick's fast-paced, compelling narrative about this crime and the history of art theft (as well as the colorful characters who populate it on both sides of the law) makes this a most engrossing and interesting read. -H. Myers

How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher
by Simon Barnes (Knopf)

That a sportswriter, a chronicler of epic standoffs of aggression and skill, could write such a delightful book on the pleasures of something so calm and ephemeral as birdwatching only adds to my appreciation of this little book. I've read other books on birdwatching and enjoyed them, but none of them made me want to buy a copy of Birds of the Puget Sound Region and sling a pair of binoculars around my neck. This book did. Barnes is charming and his love for the little flashes of song and beauty so infectious that you, too, may find yourself seduced. Consider yourself warned. -M. Helsel

The Grizzly Maze
by Nick Jans (Dutton)

Nick Jans is an Alaskan, and it shows—he is gruff but fair, almost like a grizzly bear himself. He tells the story of Timothy Treadwell, whose name is well known for the half-lifetime he spent with the bears of the Katmai coast, but whose fate at the paws of those same creatures is still a mystery. While many people in his field feel that Treadwell was a bumbling intruder, Jans gives him over as someone who simply loved what he did, a sometimes overzealous idealist with a passion for these great animals and the place they all inhabited. -J. Schurk

Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music
by Blair Tindall (Atlantic Monthly Press)

If chances of success and making a good livelihood in the arts are as thin as the edge of an oboe reed, it's often the connections and romantic liaisons that bring in the freelance jobs, according to oboist and journalist Blair Tindall. Her gritty, funny, and sobering account of life as a classical and Broadway musician exposes the hazardous work conditions, low pay, and lack of job security experienced by non-superstar musicians in a competitive business. Tindall spares no one, least of all herself, in this incisive critique of a troubled yet significant industry and its many participants. -K.M. Allman

Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada
by Will Ferguson (Cannongate)

I can't think of a better or funnier writer than Will Ferguson to take you on a trip across Canada. He travels alone or with his young son, Alex, and once with his older brother, Ian. Whether he is attending a slam poetry contest in Victoria or drinking "screech" with the natives in St. Johns, Newfoundland, or revealing Canada's role in the Underground Railroad, Ferguson paints a picture of Canada that is utterly unique. Explore Canada with Will Ferguson as your guide; you won't regret it. -G. Berry

Crossworld
by Marc Romano (Broadway)

There has always been a Nora Ephron–type romanticizing of the morning crossword puzzle. Lovers awaken on a bright Sunday morning and work the crossword over a shared pot of coffee, each helping the other with the harder clues. Romano delightfully exposes the flipside to the star-crossed lover misconception, playfully shedding light on the world of the obsessive puzzler, showing that breakfast with one of these "clue-crunchers" might be akin to sharing coffee with a crystal-meth addict. With a reporter's keen eye, Romano finds humor, drama, and suspense in the lives championship crossword solvers. -C. Joyner

True Story
by Michael Finkel (HarperCollins)

Michael Finkel was fired from The New York Times Magazine for fabricating a character in a cover story. Just as that disgrace went public, a Jehovah's Witness named Christian Longo, on the run after killing his family, was arrested in Mexico. Longo had been using Finkel's name and job as an alias. This book tells both the story of the professional who was fired for lying and his efforts to unravel the deceits of the professional liar who would rather kill than be uncovered. The result is the most compelling true-crime book since Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song—a once-in-a-lifetime, bravura performance. -P. Constant

The Street Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from Seattle
by David B. Williams (WestWinds Press)

Seattle naturalist David B. Williams takes readers into many unexpected places: fossil hunting among the downtown skyscrapers, creek walking near a community college, and eagle watching among the bikers and strollers at Green Lake, to name just a few. Williams's enthusiasm for his subject and his knack for finding the hidden beauty around us make this a perfect, quirky guide to the unseen Seattle. Read this book on a rainy day and then use Williams's hand-drawn maps to guide you on your own journey. -K.M. Allman

Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps
by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald (NewSage Press)

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald was seventeen years old when she, her family, and all the Japanese American families living on Vashon Island were taken to the first of a series of internment camps in 1942. Matsuda, now eighty years old, writes very candidly, speaking more openly than many others of this often-silent generation about the shame and despair she felt at the time. Her openness to sharing her experience helps readers appreciate the crucial support she received from her mother and others around her in recovering her sense of self-respect and purpose in life. -K.M. Allman

The Golden Spruce
by John Vaillant (Norton)

John Vaillant has constructed a page-turner around the cultural and historical significance not only of the cutting of a spectacular, one-of-a-kind spruce tree, but also of the razing of North American forests. Drawing parallels between the doomed nineteenth-century fur trade and the limited future of the old-growth logging industry, Valliant explores the ways in which individuals and societies consume and destroy the resources on which their destinies depend.

Set in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, this gripping story is, of course, a cautionary tale. Will this generation continue the cycle or will this re-examination of history help prevent what seems inevitable? -K.M. Allman

The Gods Drink Whiskey
by Stephen T. Asma (HarperSanFrancisco)

Stephen Asma was lucky to be an instructor at Phnom Penh's Buddha Institute. As a teacher, he was vastly respected and given a window into the country that few visitors ever have. Readers are lucky too. Asma is as generous with his stories of living in Cambodia (his surreal conversation at Happy Herb Pizza is hilarious) as he is with his explanations of Buddhism.

Culture and religion are blended together in this book as thoroughly as they are in Cambodia. Thanks to Asma's candid, opinionated and knowledgeable writing, this combined travel narrative and primer on Buddhism is irresistible. -J. Brown