The thing with feathers: the surprising lives of birds and what they reveal about being human by Noah Strycker

If you like strong female characters with a sense of adventure such as the women featured in Amy Tan's stories, may we suggest...

Historical mysteries let the reader be picked up and be transported to different times and places. A good story is a painless way to get into the period, and, if it features a unsolved crime or two, give a look at history’s darker underside.

Sweet poison by David Roberts

Christine Falls: a novel by Benjamin Black

The day the music died: a mystery by Ed Gorman

The hell screen by I.J. Parker

Shadow trade by Alan Furst

A 1,000-mile walk on the beach: one woman's trek of the perimeter of Lake Michigan by Loreen Niewenhuis

Goodnight, Irene: an Irene Kelly mystery by Jan Burke

The Dick Cavett show [videodisc]: rock icons

Prime Kenny Burrell [sound recording]: live at the Downtown Room by Burrell, Kenny

The ghosts of Bungo Suido [sound recording] by P.T. Deutermann

Historical mysteries let the reader be picked up and be transported to different times and places. A good story is a painless way to get into the period, and, if it features a unsolved crime or two, give a look at history’s darker underside.

Sweet poison by David Roberts

Christine Falls: a novel by Benjamin Black

The day the music died: a mystery by Ed Gorman

The hell screen by I.J. Parker

Shadow trade by Alan Furst

A covert affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS by Jennet Conant

Once upon a river: a novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell

The fires of the gods: a Sugawara Akitada mystery by I.J. Parker

The last stand [sound recording]: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn by Nathaniel Philbrick

The piano teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee

The alchemist by Paulo Coelho; translated by Alan R. Clarke

The tale of the unknown island by José Saramago; illustrated by Peter Sís; translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa

If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino; translated from the Italian by William Weaver

Cloud of sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka

The pearl diver: a novel by Jeff Talarigo