Jonathan Yardley

"U.S. Grant"

Michael Dirda

"The Original of Laura"
(Join Michael Dirda's 'Reading Room.')

Ron Charles

"The Family Album"
(Follow Ron Charles on Twitter.)

The tick-tock before an attack

Author Masha Hamilton follows an American as he prepares to carry out a suicide bombing.

• "The Family Album" by Penelope Lively
• Food Histories of Cheese, Chocolate and Curry
• "Rizzo's War" by Lou Manfredo
• "Under the Dome" by Stephen King

Card sharks

James McManus deals a history of poker, from its Chinese origins to the popularity of high stakes Texas Hold 'Em.

• "American Homicide" by Randolph Roth
• "A Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws" by Margaret Drabble
• "Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry" by Todd S. Farley

Print it

The former editor of The Sunday Times of London and The Times of London discusses the newspaper business, dating back to the 1930s.

• "U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth" by Joan Waugh
• "God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation" by Joseph Sebarenzi | Read an Excerpt

• Poet's Choice: 'Watermelon in the Afternoon' by John Gallaher
• Washington Area Literary Calendar: Nov. 20-29, 2009
• At the National Book Awards, an unsung hero
• Tales of rich and poor loom large at book awards
• Karl Rove memoir coming in March
• New Sistine Chapel books to come out in Italy
• The Book of Sarah embraces God & Todd

Coming to Style: Nov. 16-21

• Monday: "Rizzo's War," by Lou Manfredo
• Tuesday: "Going Rogue," by Sarah Palin
• Wednesday: "The Family Album," by Penelope Lively | "31 Hours," by Masha Hamilton | Global Histories of Cheese, Curry and Chocolate
• Thursday: "The Original of Laura," by Vladimir Nabokov
• Friday: "The Poison King: The Life and Death of Mithridates," by Adrienne Mayor
• Saturday: "Too Much Happiness," by Alice Munro | (See the Style section on Sat.)

Coming to Outlook: Sun., Nov. 29

• Passion and defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
• How the human brain learned to read.
• Justice Antonin Scalia, an American original.
• A new history of the early Republic.
• And how memoirs took over the world.