Someone by Alice McDermott (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)     

In this deceptively simple tour de force, McDermott lays bare the keenly observed life of Marie Commeford, an ordinary woman whose compromised eyesight makes her both figuratively and literally unable to see the world for what it is. The story of Marie's life unfolds in a nonlinear fashion: McDermott describes the loss of Marie's father, her first experience with intimacy, her first job (in a funeral parlor, of all places), her marriage, the birth of a child. We come to feel for this unremarkable woman, whose vulnerability makes her all the more winning and worthy of our attention. And that's why McDermott, a three-time Pulitzer nominee, is such an exceptional writer: in her hands, an uncomplicated life becomes singularly fascinating, revealing the heart of a woman whose defeats make us ache and whose triumphs we cheer.  {eBook here}

Everyone knows what to expect with Thomas Pynchon: a dash of paranoia, some mind-bending narrative tricks, and a complex plot designed to keep the reader off balance. And Bleeding Edge, his latest offering, is fortunately no different. Set in the middle of 2001, between the Dot Com bust and 9the attacks of September 11th, this dense novel follows the adventures of "an average working mom," who just happens to be a Beretta-packing PI caught up in a vast conspiracy. It's vintage Pynchon, updated for the 21st century. {eBook here}

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink (Crown) 

As the floodwaters rose after Hurricane Katrina, patients, staff, and families who sheltered in New Orleans' Memorial Hospital faced a crisis far worse than the storm itself. Without power, an evacuation plan, or strong leadership, caregiving became chaotic, and exhausted doctors and nurses found it difficult to make even the simplest decisions. A number of the patients deemed least likely to survive were injected with lethal combinations of drugs even as the evacuation finally began in earnest. Fink offers a stunning re-creation of the storm, its aftermath, and the investigation that followed (one doctor and two nurses were charged with second-degree murder but acquitted by a grand jury). She evenhandedly compels readers to consider larger questions, not just of ethics but of race, resources, history, and what constitutes the greater good, while humanizing the countless smaller tragedies that make up the whole. And, crucially, she provides context, relating how other hospitals fared in similar situations.{eBook here}

From the genius who brought you Darth Vader & Son and Vader's Little Princess comes a Wimpy Kid-esque graphic novel about a boy in middle school--Jedi middle school, that is. Young Roan has to deal with all of the same issues that other kids have to deal with in middle school, but his classes deal with learning to use the light saber and how to master something called The Force. (great for readers 8-12 years old).

A House in the Sky: a Memoir by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett (Scribner)

Amanda Lindhout is a lot like many young people with wanderlust. She backpacked through Latin America and India, visited Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. But four days into a trip to Somalia, she was kidnapped and held prisoner for a year and a half. A House in the Sky is the harrowing chronicle of her ordeal. As is expected, it's a sometimes brutal story, but it's certainly powerful and beautifully written. {eBook here}

From the Ruins of Empire: the Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia by Pankaj Mishra (Picador)

Just out in paperback.  A fascinating history of intellectual resistance to imperialistic schemes in east and southeast Asia from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century. Mishra masterfully introduces us to the lives and thought of seminal thinkers in China, Japan, India, Turkey, and Afghanistan. This is Orientalism as viewed by the Orientalized. Brilliant. {eBook here} 

A Financial Times and The Economist Best Book of the Year and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

A single-volume, fully-illustrated guide to dozens of San Francisco film locations: a Thomas Edison short in 1898, The Navigator (1924), and Contagion in 2011.  Some of these will surprise you (Raiders of the Lost Ark?). The book includes seven short essays on various aspects of San Francisco's contributions to the moving pictures.

Empty Mansions: the Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr. (Ballantine)

At the time of her death (at 104), Huguette Clark was worth around $300 million. She owned palatial houses in three states and, despite being in perfect health, spent the last twenty years of her life in a simple hospital room. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Bill Dedman's fascinating chronicle of the eccentric, publicity-shy Clark opens a window onto American history, spanning the 20th century from the Gilded Age to the Age of Terror. {eBook here}

Each year, the SF Public Library hosts a city-wide book group of sorts called One City, One Book.  This year, we encourage you to read Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.  The committee that selected the book says it's perfect because:

• Doctorow is an author not afraid to fight the good fight, and in this highly readable, technologically savvy novel for all reading levels, he gives us the tools necessary so that we can do the same.  Little Brother is daring, exciting, and just bold enough to show us how to keep our freedoms safe. 
• This is a provocative book, a timely book, and the San Francisco setting is just so satisfying.