Automobiles lost & found: extraordinary stories of long- lost cars rediscovered by Michael Ware

Benjamin Franklin's numbers: an unsung mathematical odyssey by Paul C. Pasles

Myths and mysteries of Michigan: true stories of the unsolved and unexplained by Sally Barber

The magnetic north: notes from the Arctic circle by Sara Wheeler

The Civil War: a concise history by Louis P. Masur

The death of North Korea's controversial leader, Kim Jong Il, was announced earlier this week by DRPK state television. Although North Korean legend claimed that Kim was born on Mount Paekdu — a cherished Korean site — Soviet records indicate that he was born in Siberia in 1941. His father Kim Il Sung was a guerilla fighter who became a communist leader in Korea in 1945 after the defeat of Japan in World War II. After the Korean peninsula was divided into two states — the North, administered by the Soviets — and the South by the United States, the stage was set for the beginning of the Korean War. After the North invaded the South in 1950, three years of bloodshed ensued, killing millions and leaving the peninsula permanently divided to this day. Kim Jong Il became the country's "Dear Leader" in 1994 upon the death of his father. Kim Jong Il was widely criticized throughout the world for devoting much of his country's resources on building up its nuclear arms arsenal, while at the same time his countrymen were suffering from a prolonged famine. His youngest son, Kim Jong Un, has been designated as his successor.

Vaclav Havel, the longtime dissident who later became the leader of the Czech Republic passed away December 18 at the age of 75. Havel was better known as a poet and playwright when he led his nation through the bloodless Velvet Revolution in 1989 that toppled the decades long Soviet regime in Czechoslovakia. Havel later went on to serve as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992. After the federation peacefully split into two states he served as president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. The other state became Slovakia. Among those expected to be at his Friday funeral are Bill Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the presidents of Germany, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Into the unknown: how great explorers found their way by land, sea, and air by Stewart Ross — Brave explorers have vivid stories to tell and they range from sailing on the oceans to landing on the moon. This book takes a fascinating look at the adventures of many great explorers. Fresh storytelling and unfolding cutaways and cross sections keep the reader engaged.

Then Again by Diane Keaton

1861: the Civil War Awakening by Adam Goodheart

Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President by Ron Suskind

Fortunate Sons: the 120 Chinese Boys who came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization by Liel Leibovitz & Matthew Miller

The Hollywood Sign: Fantasy and Reality of an American Icon by Leo Braudy

If you have read Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, the 2011-2012 Great Michigan Read try David Halberstram or Branch Taylor or one of the many documentaries about Civil Rights in America produced over the years.

Faith in the city: preaching radical social change in Detroit by Angela D. Dillard; with a foreword by Charles G. Adams

Race and remembrance: a memoir by Arthur L. Johnson

Sweet land of liberty: the forgotten struggle for civil rights in the North by Thomas J. Sugrue

The children by David Halberstam

Mark Twain, one of America's best-known and well-loved authors, was born on November 30, 1835. His works have been translated into hundreds of languages, and Hollywood continues to produce film adaptations of his books. The first volume of his autobiography was published in 2010 on the centenary of the author's death as he did not want some of his more scalding opinions and observations in print until he had been dead at least a century. The book was published by the staff of the Mark Twain Project — an archive that contains Twain's private papers.

Videos and images from the November 15 award ceremony are now available on the National Book Foundation website. John Lithgow, actor, writer, and musician was NBA Dinner and Ceremony host.

Salvage the bones: a novel by Jesmyn Ward

The swerve: how the world became modern by Stephen Greenblatt

Inside out & back again by Thanhha Lai

On November 9, CPL hosted a Diwali Celebration program that featured traditional and contemporary Indian music, dance, food, and more — all centered around the festival of lights. If you couldn't make it that night, check out the video above and pictures below to get up to speed:

Happy Thanksgiving. How much do you really know about the early years of America's formation?

Mayflower: a story of courage, community, and war by Nathaniel Philbrick

The pox and the covenant: Mather, Franklin, and the epidemic that changed America's destiny by Tony Williams

Patriot pirates: the privateer war for freedom and fortune in the American Revolution by Robert H. Patton

American tempest: how the Boston Tea Party sparked a revolution by Harlow Giles Unger

Thanksgiving: the American holiday by Laurie Collier Hillstrom