NY Times Bestselling Nonfiction

The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service by Henry A. Crumpton: Number 3 on the bestseller list
For a crucial period, Henry Crumpton led the CIA's global covert operations against America's terrorist enemies, including al Qaeda. In the days after 9/11, the CIA tasked Crumpton to organize and lead the Afghanistan campaign. With Crumpton's strategic initiative and bold leadership, from the battlefield to the Oval Office, U.S. and Afghan allies routed al Qaeda and the Taliban in less than ninety days after the Twin Towers fell. At the height of combat against the Taliban in late 2001, there were fewer than five hundred Americans on the ground in Afghanistan, a dynamic blend of CIA and Special Forces. The campaign changed the way America wages war.

My Cross to Bear by Gregg Allman with Allan Light: Number 4 on the bestseller list
As one of the greatest rock icons of all time, Gregg Allman has lived it all and then some. For almost fifty years, he's been creating some of the most recognizable songs in American rock, but never before has he paused to reflect on the long road he's traveled. Now, he tells the unflinching story of his life, laying bare the unvarnished truth about his wild ride that has spanned across the years. 

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard: Number 6 on the bestseller list
The anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts one of the most dramatic stories in American history—how one gunshot changed the country forever. In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America's Civil War finally comes to an end after a series of increasingly harrowing battles. President Abraham Lincoln's generous terms for Robert E. Lee's surrender are devised to fulfill Lincoln's dream of healing a divided nation, with the former Confederates allowed to reintegrate into American society. But one man and his band of murderous accomplices, perhaps reaching into the highest ranks of the U.S. government, are not appeased.

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen: Number 7 on the bestseller list
In this irresistible memoir, the New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize Anna Quindlen writes about looking back and ahead—and celebrating it all—as she considers marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, faith, loss, all the stuff in our closets, and more. From childhood memories to manic motherhood to middle age, Quindlen uses the events of her own life to illuminate our own. Along with the downsides of age, she says, can come wisdom, a perspective on life that makes it satisfying and even joyful. Candid, funny, moving, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is filled with the sharp insights and revealing observations that have long confirmed Quindlen’s status as America’s laureate of real life.

Fathers, Elephants, Music & Medicine

Father's Day: A Journey into the Mind and Heart of My Extraordinary Son by Buzz Bissinger
Buzz Bissinger's twins were born three minutes--and a world--apart. Gerry, the older one, is a graduate student at Penn, preparing to become a teacher. His brother Zach has spent his life attending special schools. He'll never drive a car, or kiss a girl, or live by himself. He is a savant, challenged by serious intellectual deficits but also blessed with rare talents; an astonishing memory, a dazzling knack for navigation, and a reflexive honesty that can make him both socially awkward and surprisingly wise. Buzz realized that while he had always been an attentive father; he didn't really know what it was like to be Zach. So one summer night Buzz and Zach hit the road to revisit all the places they have lived together during Zach's twenty-four years.

Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story by Dame Daphne Sheldrick
Daphne Sheldrick, whose family arrived in Africa from Scotland in the 1820s, is the first person ever to have successfully hand-reared newborn elephants. In this heartwarming memoir, Daphne shares her amazing relationships with a host of orphans, including her first love, Bushy, a liquid-eyed antelope; Ricky-Ticky-Tavey, a little dwarf mongoose; Gregory Peck, a busy buffalo weaver bird; Huppety, a mischievous zebra, and the majestic elephant Eleanor, with whom Daphne has shared more than forty years of great friendship. But this is also a magical and heartbreaking human love story between Daphne and David Sheldrick, the famous Tsavo National Park warden.

Scales to Scalpels: Doctors Who Practice the Healing Arts of Music and Medicine by Lisa Wong
The Longwood Symphony Orchestra is not just any orchestra. Founded in 1982 by a group of talented Boston-area physicans, medical students, and health-care professionals, the orchestra has grown into a proud, extraordinary group of musicians with fans around the globe, from El Sistema in Venezuela to other medical-musician groups inspired by L.S.O's work. In this book, Dr. Wong shows how the musical acumen of these physicans affects the way they administer healing and, in turn, how their medical work affects their music.

Paris, Birdwatching, and Heart Defects

The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris by John Baxter
In this enchanting memoir, acclaimed author and long-time Paris resident John Baxter remember his yearlong experience of giving "literary walking tours" through the city. Baxter sets off with unsuspecting tourists in tow on the trail of Paris's legendary artists and writers of the past. Along the way, he tells the history of Paris through a brilliant cast of characters: the favorite cafes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce; Pablo Picasso's underground Montmartre haunts; the bustling boulevards of the late-nineteenth century fianeurs; the secluded "Little Luxembourg" gardens beloved by Gertrude Stein; the alleys where revolutionaries plotted; and finally Baxter's own favorite walk near his home in Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik
Every January 1, a quirky crowd storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year--a grand, expensive, and occasionally vicious 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would become a grueling battle for a new North American birding record. Bouncing from coast to coast on frenetic pilgrimages for once-in-a-lifettime rarities, they brave broiling deserts, bug-infested swamps, and some of the lumpiest motel mattresses known to man.

Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir by Doron Weber
A family's love lies at the heart of this gifted boy's fight to survive. Born with a congenital heart defect that required surgery when he was a baby, Damon Weber lives a big life with spirit and independence that have always been a source of pride to his parents, Doron and Shealagh. But when Damon is diagnosed with a new illness as a teenager, his triumphant coming-of-age tale turns into a darker and more dramatic quest: his family's race against time and a flawed health care system.

Bridal Shops and CSI

The Magic Room: A Story about the Love We Wish for Our Daughters by Jeffrey Zaslow
Thousands of women have stepped inside Becker's Bridal in Fowler, Michigan, to try on their dream dresses in the Magic Room, a special space with soft lighting, a circular pedestal, and mirrors that carry a bride's reflection into infinity. The women bring with them their most precious expectations about romance, love, fidelity, permanence, and tradition. Each bride who passes through has a story to tell--one that carried her there, to that dress, that room, that moment. Illuminating the poignant aspects of a woman's journey to the altar, The Magic Room, tells the stories of memorable women on the brink of commitment.

Mr. CSI: How a Vegas Dreamer Made a Killing in Hollywood, One Body at a Time by Anthony Zuiker
In 1990, Anthony Zuiker was just another Hollywood wannabe--a balding, overweight guy driving a tram in Las Vegas for eight bucks an hour, telling his friends about the screenplay he was writing, dreaming of fame. He'd grown up in Vegas, where his mother worked the blackjack table at a casino, while his father flitted back and forth from investment schemes that didn't seem to go anywhere. His friends figured Anthony wouldn't either. But twenty years later, Zuiker stands as the mastermind behind the most popular television show in history, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and its spin-offs: CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. How he got there--a remarkable rise from nothing to something--is the narrative lifeblood of Mr. CSI.

True Crime and Hairdressing

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale
It is midnight on 30th June 1860 and all is quiet in the Kent family's elegant house in Road, Wiltshire. The next morning, however, they wake to find that their youngest son has been the victim of an unimaginably gruesome murder. Even worse, the guilty party is surely one of their number--the house was bolted from the inside. As Jack Whicher, the most celebrated detective of his day, arrives at Road to track down the killer, the murder provokes national hysteria at the thought of what might be festering behind the closed doors of respectable middle-class home--scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing.

Upper Cut: Highlights of My Hollywood Life by Carrie White
Behind the scenes of every Hollywood photo shoot, TV appearance, and party in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, there was Carrie White. As the "First Lady of Hairdressing," Carrie collaborated with Richard Avedon on shoots for Vogue, partied with Jim Morrison, styled Sharon Tate's hair before her wedding to Roman Polanski, and got high with Jimi Hendrix. But behind the glamorous facade, Carrie's world was in perpetual disarray and always had been.