Get into The Spirit of Christmas (32 pages, Feiwel and Friends, $16.99, 32 pages). Author/illustrator Nancy Tillman tells her lyrical story using the cadence... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Nov. 22, 1963, marked the beginning of the’60s as a cultural unit and the end of the baby boomers’ innocence. The assassination of President... Richmond Times-Dispatch

In A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge (197 pages, Pantheon, $24.95), Josh Neufeld achieves in a graphic novel what may have eluded media outlets in their... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Slavery and the Civil War, which played such transformative roles in Virginia’s past, continue to reverberate in the commonwealth’s present... Richmond Times-Dispatch

FICTION Jenny Callahan thought she had the perfect solution to her husband’s infertility: They could have a baby using sperm donated by her intelligent... Richmond Times-Dispatch

FICTION You’d think that given our current state of vampire frenzy—the “Twilight” novels and HBO’s “True Blood”... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood is best remembered by many as a master of disaster in the waning months of the Civil War, marching from defeat to defeat... Richmond Times-Dispatch

TODAY-NEXT SUNDAY Weinstein JCC Book Fair—Jewish literature, author appearances, gifts and more, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. today, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. tomorrow,... Richmond Times-Dispatch

NONFICTION Nicholas Fox Weber opens his fascinating new book, “The Bauhaus Group: Six Masters of Modernism,“ with a telling anecdote. It’s... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Ralph Nader, the consumer activist and corporate scourge, is saying nice things about the kind of folks you’d expect him to despise. “Never... Richmond Times-Dispatch

The whole place was like a doll’s house that had been turned upside down and stepped on.“ This is Margaret Atwood’s startling description... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Thirty-three years ago, George M. Taber set the world of wine on fire with a four-paragraph dispatch about a tasting in France that compared the work of... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Philip Roth’s novels have become downright austere in recent years, with none of the past four cracking 300 pages. They’re chamber works, small-scale... Richmond Times-Dispatch

The burning of Atlanta, with a memorable assist from Hollywood, is one of those events that resonates. Fires that destroy great cities perhaps are always... Richmond Times-Dispatch

For students of 20th-century history, the title of this book is shorthand for tragedy and disaster. It outlines the self-deceptive, smug and misguided... Richmond Times-Dispatch

It’s the long Labor Day weekend in Holton Mills, N.H., in the mid-1980s, and 13-year-old Henry and his mother, Adele, have nothing special planned.... Richmond Times-Dispatch

TODAY “The Naked Portfolio Manager” by Robert Fischer—Book signing, 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble-Short Pump, 11640 W. Broad St. 360-0103.... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Sibling rivalry is usually enough to give an edge to most family get-togethers. Throw in a will that insists that the siblings spend the entire summer... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Books recounting the histories of Virginia’s counties crop up with regularity, but few achieve the beauty and breadth of Martha W. McCartney’s... Richmond Times-Dispatch

In the long history of novels, love triangles have rarely ended well. The one that drives Paul Auster’s fascinating new novel, “Invisible,“... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Novelist Elmore Leonard will receive PEN USA’s lifetime achievement award at a December ceremony. Leonard, 83, has written more than 40 westerns,... Richmond Times-Dispatch

They used to hang pirates on a small island in New York harbor, near where the Statue of Liberty now stands. Today, after years as a testing station for... Richmond Times-Dispatch

NONFICTION DES MOINES, Iowa Many people entering retirement envision a life of fun and relaxation, but the opposite can be true. Without the social contacts... Richmond Times-Dispatch

Melanie Gideon believes she’s sleepwalking through life. But it’s much worse than that: She’s paralyzed by a fear of the rogue waves—both... Richmond Times-Dispatch

FICTION David Baldacci has a knack for writing best-selling thriller series. Most recently, he has devoted attention to his Camel Club series, as well... Richmond Times-Dispatch

MYSTERIES For most of us, there’s something in our past—a person, a relationship, a place, an incident—that, forgotten for months, even... Richmond Times-Dispatch

A tale of political intrigue set during the reign of King Henry VIII has won the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction. Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf... Richmond Times-Dispatch

NONFICTION The Sopranos” and “The Godfather” may have domesticated the Mafia’s image. They looked like people we know, and we understood... Richmond Times-Dispatch

TODAY “Terrorism In the United States” by retired Navy Capt. Edward M. Brittingham—Book signing 1-5 p.m. at Waldenbooks, Virginia Center... Richmond Times-Dispatch

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST-SELLERS  HARDCOVER FICTION 1.The Lost Symbolby Dan Brown (Doubleday) 2.A Touch of Deadby Charlaine Harris (Ace) 3.The Helpby... Richmond Times-Dispatch