1. Freakonomics

By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Harper.

2. A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome

By Alberto Angela. Europa.

3. Three Cups of Tea

By Greg Mortenson and David Relin. Penguin.

4. Boston Noir

By Dennis Lehane. Akashic.

5. My Life in France

By Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme. Anchor.

6. Blink

By Malcolm Gladwell. Back Bay.

7. Zagat 09/10 Boston Restaurants

By Zagat Survey. Zagat Survey.

8. My Horizontal Life

By Chelsea Handler. Bloomsbury.

9. The Ascent of Money

By Niall Ferguson. Penguin.

10. Colored People

By Henry Louis Gates. Vintage.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

4. The Given Day

By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

5. In a Perfect World

By Laura Kasischke. Harper.

6. Bed of Roses

By Nora Roberts. Berkley Trade.

7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

8. Twilight

By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

9. Handle With Care

By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

10. New Moon

By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. Superfreakonomics

By Steven Levitt. William Morrow.

2. The Book of Basketball

By Bill Simmons. ESPN.

3. What the Dog Saw

By Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown.

4. When the Game Was Ours

By Larry Bird and Earvin Johnson. Houghton Mifflin.

5. True Compass

By Edward M. Kennedy. Twelve.

6. You Better Not Cry

By Augusten Burroughs. St. Martin’s.

7. Louisa May Alcott

By Harriet Reisen. Henry Holt.

8. Have a Little Faith

By Mitch Albom. Hyperion.

9. Too Big to Fail

By Andrew Sorkin. Viking.

10. You Can’t Predict A Hero

By Joseph Grano. Jossey-Bass.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. The Gathering Storm

By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Tor Books.

2. Last Night in Twisted River

By John Irving. Random House.

3. The Help

By Kathryn Stockett. Putnam.

4. The Lost Symbol

By Dan Brown. Doubleday.

5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

By Jeff Kinney. Amulet.

6. Tempted

By P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. St. Martin’s.

7. A Gate at the Stairs

By Lorrie Moore. Knopf.

8. Wolf Hall

By Hilary Mantel. Henry Holt.

9. True Blue

By David Baldacci. Grand Central.

10. The Year of the Flood

By Margaret Atwood. Nan A. Talese.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

TODAY: Joe Kahn, Neil Swidey, and Bella English discuss “Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kenneday,” at 3 p.m., at Hingham Town Hall Auditorium, 210 Central St., Hingham ($5) … Barbara Lynch discusses “Stir,” at 3 p.m., at Concord Bookshop, 65 Main St., Concord … Marilyn Chin (“Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen”) and Maxim D. Shrayer (“Yom Kippur in Amsterdam”) read at 2 p.m., at Newtonville Books, 296 Walnut St., Newtonville.

MONDAY: Poets Henri Cole and Marilyn Chin read at 8 p.m., at the Blacksmith House, 56 Brattle St., Cambridge; tickets ($3) … Michael Sandel discusses “Justice,” at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge … Lidia Bastianich (“Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy”) and Judith Jones (“The Pleasures of Cooking for One”) speak at 6 p.m., at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge; tickets ($5) available at harvard.com, Harvard Book Store, or by calling 617-661-1515 … Redbones, 55 Chester St., Davis Square, Somerville, holds a book release party, at 7 p.m. for Steve Buckley’s “Wicked Good Year” … Mike Lupica signs “Million Dollar Throw,” at 6 p.m., at Willow Books, 279 Great Rd., Acton.

TUESDAY: Dorothy Crawford reads from “Windfall of Musicians,” at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Cambridge … Charlie Pierce discusses “Idiot America,” at 7 p.m., at Milton Public Library, 476 Canton Ave., Milton … Jessica Shattuck (“Perfect Life”) and Juliette Fay (“Shelter Me”) read at 5:30 p.m., at Stellina Restaurant, 47 Main St., Watertown … Tariq Ali discusses “The Idea of Communism,” at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store … Alix Dobkin discusses “My Red Blood,” at 7 p.m., at Barnes & Noble, Boston University, Kenmore Square … Sebastian Stuart (“The Hour Between”) and Jonathan Strong (“Drawn from Life”) read at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner, Brookline … Lidia Bastianich signs “Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy,” from 5 to 6:30 p.m., at Wellesley Booksmith, 82 Central St., Wellesley … Claire Messud leads a discussion of Rawi Hage’s “Deniro’s Game,” at 7 p.m., at Newtonville Books.

WEDNESDAY: Jonathan Safran Foer reads from “Eating Animals,” at 7:30 p.m., at Congregation Kehillath Israel, 384 Harvard St., Brookline ($5) … Beth Teitell (“Drinking Problems at the Fountain of Youth”) speaks at 5:30 p.m., at Kernwood Country Club, 1 Kernwood St., Salem (advance registration required); for ticket and other information on JCC North Shore Jewish Book Month events, visit http://jccns.org/jewishbookmonth87.html ... Daniel and Dina Nayeri read from “Another Faust,” at 6 p.m., at Wellesley Booksmith … Peter Berger discusses “In Praise of Doubt,” at 6 p.m., at Barnes & Noble, Boston University … Keith N. Morgan (“Buildings of Massachusetts”) and Maureen Meister speak at 7 p.m., at Book Ends, 559 Main St., Winchester.

THURSDAY: Henry Louis Gates discusses “Colored People,” at 7:30 p.m., at Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy St., Cambridge; for ticket information, visit harvard.com … John Connolly reads from “The Gates,” at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books … Daniel and Dina Nayeri discuss “Another Faust,” at 7 p.m., at Concord Free Library, 129 Main St., Concord … Christopher Ives reads from “Imperial-Way Zen,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith … Poet John Koethe reads at 7 p.m. in Rm. 32-141 (182 Memorial Dr.), MIT, Cambridge … Contributors to “Boston Noir” read at 7 p.m., at Newtonville Books .. Pat Lowery Collins and Liza Ketchum (Hidden Voices” and “Newsgirl”) read at 6:30 p.m., at Wellesley Booksmith … Shushannah Walshe and Scott Conroy discuss “Sarah from Alaska,” at 6 p.m., at Borders, 10-24 School St.

FRIDAY: Robert Strassler discusses “Landmark Xenophon’s Hellenkia,” at 3 p.m., at Harvard Book Store … Elizabeth Benedict and contributors discuss “Mentors, Muses & Monsters,” at 6 p.m., at the Brattle Theatre; tickets ($5) available at harvard.com, Harvard Book Store, or by calling 617-661-1515 … Susan Shapiro (“Speed Shrinking”) and Abby Sher (“Amen, Amen”) read at 7 p.m., at Borders, Rt. 9, 300 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill.

SATURDAY: Aimee Bender reads from “The Third Elevator,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith … The Somerville News Writers Festival takes place at 7 p.m., at the Center for the Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville ($10); for more information, visit http://www.heatcityreview.com/somervillenews.htm ... Kate St. Vincent Vogl reads from “Lost and Found,” at 4 p.m., at the Book Rack, 52 State St., Newburyport.

A group of seniors at Beaver Country Day are fans of Mary Karr, the award-winning poet and memoirist.

But they're not like the "we love you and have read all your books'' kind of fan. These students have named their English class after one of her books, "The Liar's Club,'' made a special "I (heart) Mary Karr'' t-shirt, and after learning that Karr would be in the Boston area on Thursday and Friday promoting her newest book, "Lit,'' posted a video on Tuesday to Karr's Facebook page inviting her to visit.

Karr was touched and a couple of hours ago accepted, agreeing to stop by Friday morning to chat.

"It's so exciting,'' said Sarah Akhtar, the teacher of "The Liar's Club'' class on memoirs. "We weren't really sure anything would come of it.''

Akhtar, who teaches English at the private school in Chestnut Hill, says that at the beginning of every semester she allows her students to name their classes. "And since they knew 'The Liar's Club' was one of my favorite books of all time and that we were going to be reading it they decided to name the class after it.''

But after reading the book members of the class, who are currently writing their own memoirs, became enamored. The students discovered that Karr had a Facebook page and that she was going to be around Boston on a book tour. So they shot a video listing their top ten reasons why the writer should visit ("No. 10: We'll make you cookies!'').

For those who would like to see Karr or are just curious about what all the fuss is about, she will be appearing today at the Brookline Booksmith from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and tomorrow at the Harvard Bookstore from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

And we will be running a review of "Lit'' this Sunday in the Books section of the Boston Sunday Globe.

Posted by Paul S. Makishima, Globe staff

1. My Life in France

By Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme. Anchor.

2. Blink

By Malcolm Gladwell. Back Bay.

3. Freakonomics

By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Harper.

4. I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

By Tucker Max. Citadel.

5. The Shack

By William Young. Windblown.

6. Zagat 09/10 Boston Restaurants

By Zagat Survey. Zagat Survey.

7. Alex and Me

By Irene Pepperberg. Harper.

8. The Power of Now

By Eckhart Tolle. New World.

9. The Omnivore’s Dilemma

By Michael Pollan. Penguin.

10. Colored People

By Henry Louis Gates. Vintage.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

2. Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

3. The Given Day

By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

6. In a Perfect World

By Laura Kasischke. Harper.

7. Twilight

By Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown.

8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

By David Wroblewski. Ecco.

9. Best American Short Stories 2009

By Alice Sebold. Mariner Books.

10. Handle With Care

By Jodi Picoult. Washington Square.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. True Compass

By Edward M. Kennedy. Twelve.

2. Superfreakonomics

By Steven Levitt. William Morrow.

3. When the Game Was Ours

By Larry Bird and Earvin Johnson. Houghton Mifflin.

4. What the Dog Saw

By Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown.

5. Have a Little Faith

By Mitch Albom. Hyperion.

6. Too Big to Fail

By Andrew Sorkin. Viking.

7. Eating the Dinosaur

By Chuck Klosterman. Scribner.

8. Manhood for Amateurs

By Michael Chabon. Harper.

9. Strength in What Remains

By Tracy Kidder. Random House.

10. You Can’t Predict A Hero

By Joseph Grano. Jossey-Bass.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. The Lost Symbol

By Dan Brown. Doubleday.

2. The Help

By Kathryn Stockett. Putnam.

3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

By Jeff Kinney. Amulet.

4. The Museum of Innocence

By Orhan Pamuk. Knopf.

5. Wolf Hall

By Hilary Mantel. Henry Holt.

6. Pursuit of Honor

By Vince Flynn. Atria.

7. The Scarpetta Factor

By Patricia Cornwell. Putnam.

8. The Children’s Book

By A.S. Byatt. Knopf.

9. Juliet, Naked

By Nick Hornby. Riverhead.

10. Half Broke Horses

By Jeannette Walls. Scribner.

Source: Boston Area Bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, by Barb Bersche and Michelle Quint
2. LEGO STAR WARS, by Simon Beecroft
3. JULIE ANDREWS’S COLLECTION OF POEMS, SONGS, AND LULLABIES, by Emma Walton Hamilton and Julie Andrews
4. SKIPPYJON JONES, LOST IN SPICE, by Judy Schachner
5. WADDLE!, written and illustrated by Rufus Butler Seder

NY Times, week of Nov. 1

TODAY: The Friends of Concord Library present “New Literary Voices” (Katherine Howe, Xujun Eberlein, J. Courtney Sullivan, and MC Jim Leahy) at 3 p.m. at Fowler Library, 1322 Main St., W. Concord … Harriet Reisen discusses “Louisa May Alcott,” at 3 p.m., at Concord Bookshop, 65 Main St., Concord … Louis Ferrante (“Unlocked: A Journey from Prison to Proust”) speaks at 5 p.m., at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, 4 Community Road, Marblehead; for ticket and more event information on Jewish Book Month, visit http://jccns.org/jewishbookmonth87.html.

MONDAY: Ellen Langer discusses “Counterclockwise,” at 7:30 p.m., at Emerson Hospital, North Assembly, 133 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, Concord … Richard Wolffe discusses “Renegade: The Making of a President,” at 5:30 p.m., at the JFK Library, Columbia Point; for more information and to register, go to www.jfklibrary.org or call 617-514-1643 … Elie Wiesel (“Rashi,” “A Mad Desire to Dance”) signs his books from 5 to 6 p.m., at Barnes & Noble, Boston University, Kenmore Square … Danuta Borchardt discusses her translation of Witold Gombrowicz/s novel “Pornografia,” at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge … Jim Kates reads from his poetry translations at 7 p.m., at the Yenching Library, 2 Divinity Ave., Cambridge ,,, Poets D.A. Powell and Jean Houlihan read at 8 p.m., at the Blacksmith House, 56 Brattle St., Cambridge; tickets ($3) … Harvey Silverglate discusses “Three Felonies a Day,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop, Cambridge … John Grogan reads from “The Longest Trip Home,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner.

TUESDAY: Jill Hunting discusses “Finding Pete,” at 7:30 p.m., at Kerem Shalom, 659 Elm St., Concord … Dave Zeltzerman reads from “Pariah,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop … Ben Ratliff discusses “The Jazz Ear,” at 7 p.m., at the Regattabar at the Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St., Cambridge … Ethan Gilsdorf discusses “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith.

WEDNESDAY: Poet Ellen Steinbaum reads at 6:15 p.m., at the Hotel Marlowe, 25 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge … D. D. Guttenplan discusses “American Radical: The Life and Times of I.F. Stone,” at 6:30 p.m., at First Parish Church, 3 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge … E.B. Moore (“New Eden”) and poet Christine Tierney read at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Cambridge … Toby Lester discusses “The Fourth Part of the World,” at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store … Thomas Graboys discusses “Life in the Balance,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith … Jeffrey Badger and Leo Packer discuss “Finding Granddad’s War,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop … Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barbar discuss “In Late Winter We Ate Pears,” at 7 p.m., at Andover Bookstore, 89R Main St., Andover.

THURSDAY: Russ Aborn, Dana Cameron, and Lynne Heitman read from “Boston Noir,” at 7:30 p.m., at Back Pages Books, 289 Moody Street, Waltham … Nancy Rappaport reads from “In Her Wake,” at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books … Brandon Sanderson discusses “The Gathering Storm,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop … Mary Karr reads from “Lit,” at 7 p.m., at Brookline Booksmith … Michael Goldfarb discusses “Emancipation: How Liberating Europe’s Jews from the Ghetto Led to Revolution and Renaissance,” at 7 p.m., at Harvard Hillel, Smith Hall, 52 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge … Brian MacQuarrie discusses “The Ride,” at 7 p.m., at Andover Bookstore … Poet Tomaz Salamun speaks at 7 p.m., in Barrister’s Hall, Boston University School of Law, 765 Comm. Ave. ... Judith Stiles Askew ("Here at the Edge of the Sea") and Linda Buskey LeBlanc ("On Trains: Poems") read at 6 p.m., at Books by the Sea, 846 Main St., Osterville.

FRIDAY: John Wargo (“Green Intelligence”) speaks at 7 p.m., at Wannalancit Mills, Morisette Blvd., Lowell … Rana Husseini (“Murder in the Name of Honor”) speaks at 3 p.m., and Mary Karr (“Lit: A Memoir”) speaks at 7 p.m., at Harvard Book Store ... Gareth Hinds discusses his graphic novel “King Lear,” at 6 p.m., at Wellesley Booksmith, 82 Central St., Wellesley … Nathan Graziano, Daniel Crocker, and Rebecca Schumejda read at 8 p.m., at Out of the Blue Gallery, 106 Prospect St., Cambridge … Ranjini Manion discusses “Doing Business in India for Dummies,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop.

SATURDAY: Al Gore discusses “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Global Climate Crisis,” at 1 p.m., at First Parish Church; tickets ($30) available at harvard.com, Harvard Book Store, or by calling 617-661-1515 … Ken Burns signs “The National Parks,” at 1 p.m., at Borders Back Bay, 511 Boylston St. … Rosemary Laurey signs her Brytewood trilogy from 1 to 3 p.m., at Annie’s Book Stop, 362 S. Main St., Sharon … Poets Eamon Grennan and L.S. Asekoff read at 8 p.m., at the Fine Arts Work Center, 24 Pearl St., Provincetown.

Posted by Judith Maas

Anyone who cares about reading and books had to be heartened by the lines that wound round and round and up and out. Yes, there were hundreds of people turned away from a bunch of sessions at the Boston Book Festival on Saturday, but the mood was downright ebullient.

I made it to three sessions, each of which was excellent. David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times, took a swipe at The Boston Globe in his introduction to "The Future of Reading" and I would like to have seen him engage two major adversaries (Jon Orwant of Google Books and Brewster Kahle of the nonprofit Internet Archive) in a discussion rather than inviting each to speak without any exchange between them. That said, I was glad that Pogue's guests included not only the two-ton gorillas like Google and Sony but upstarts like the U.K.-based maker of the Cool-er e-reader and Pixel Qi, working to build a more reader-friendly computer screen.

Tom Ashbook was animated and engaging as he teased out a not-so-favorable report card on Obama's first year from his panel of guests. They spanned the political spectrum from Lani Guinier and Jack Beatty to Michael Porter, a Republican and Harvard Business School professor, with David Gergen somewhere in between.

The festival ended in the Old South Church with Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk reading from his new novel, "The Museum of Innocence" (Knopf), and talking about his books, the mysteries of love, and his life. On stage with Christopher Lydon, Pamuk roundly rebuffed Lydon's analysis of Pamuk's work as major explorations of East verus West. Pamuk, who grew up in Istanbul, was at his most endearing when he mentioned what he told his daughter, now a student at Columbia: The books we read accompany us all through life. Choose wisely. (Me, I'm heading back into Pamuk's "Museum." It is a tale of erotic obsession told in moving and lovely ways.)

1. My Life in France

By Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme. Anchor.

2. Blink

By Malcolm Gladwell. Back Bay.

3. The Alchemist

By Paulo Coelho. HarperCollins.

4. Zagat 09/10 Boston Restaurants

By Zagat Survey. Zagat Survey.

5. Freakonomics

By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Harper.

6. A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome

By Alberto Angela. Europa.

7. The Best American Essays 2009

By Mary Oliver. Mariner Books.

8. The Glass Castle

By Jeannette Walls. Scribner.

9. Julie and Julia

By Julie Powell. Little, Brown.

10. Make the Impossible Possible

By Bill Strickland. Broadway Business.

1. Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout. Random House.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson. Vintage.

3. The Given Day

By Dennis Lehane. Harper Perennial.

4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery. Europa.

5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial.

6. In a Perfect World

By Laura Kasischke. Harper.

7. Say You’re One of Them

By Uwem Akpan. Back Bay.

8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

By David Wroblewski. Ecco.

9. Where the Wild Things Are

By Maurice Sendak. Harper Collins.

10. Logicomix

By Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou. Bloomsbury.

Source: Boston are bookstores

Oct 25 to 31

TODAY: Margaret Atwood discusses “The Year of the Flood,” at 7 p.m., at First Parish Church, 3 Church St., Cambridge; tickets ($25) available online at harvard.com; at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge; or by calling 617-661-1515 … Marcia Bartusiak discusses “The Day We Found the Universe,” at 7:30 p.m., at the Concord Museum, Cambridge Tpke., Concord … Dennis Lehane and contributors to “Boston Noir,” speak at 5 p.m., at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge; free tickets available at the Harvard Square Coop, Cambridge … Francis Bok discusses “Escape from Slavery,” at 3 p.m., at Robbins Library, 700 Mass. Ave., Arlington … Dr. Nancy Rappaport discusses “In Her Wake,” at 3 p.m., at Concord Bookshop, 65 Main St., Concord … Rawi Hage (“Cockroach”) and Salvatore Scibona (“The End”) read at 2 p.m., at Newtonville Books, 296 Walnut St., Newtonville … John Connolly reads from “The Gates,” at 1 p.m., at Andover Bookstore, 89R Main St., Andover … Children’s author Kate DeCamillo (“The Magician’s Elephant”) speaks via live webcast from 4 to 5 p.m., at the Winchester Public Library, 80 Washington St., Winchester.

MONDAY: Larry Tye (“Satchel”) and Dick Lehr (“The Fence”) speak at 7:30 p.m., at Trinitarian Congregational Church, 54 Walden St., Concord … Rawi Hage (“Cockroach”) reads at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Cambridge … Poet Terese Svoboda reads at 8 p.m., at the Blacksmith House, 56 Brattle St., Cambridge; tickets ($3) … David Wroblewski reads from “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle,” at 7 p.m., at Newtonville Books.

TUESDAY: John Irving reads from “Last Night in Twisted River,” at 6 p.m., at Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline ($5) … Liza Ketchum reads from “Newsgirl,” at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books … Jeannette Walls discusses “Half Broke Horses,” at 7 p.m., at Wellesley Free Library, 530 Washington St., Wellesley … JoAnn Deak (“Girls Will Be Girls”) speaks at 7 p.m., at the Pingree Center for the Performing Arts, Pingree School, 537 Highland St., S. Hamilton.

WEDNESDAY: Mitchell Zuckoff discusses “Robert Altman,” at 7 p.m., at Comley-Lane Theater, Mahoney Hall, UMass Lowell, South Campus, Lowell … Anthony Rao discusses “The Way of Boys,” at 7:30 p.m., at Wellesley Free Library, 530 Washington St., Wellesley … Christos Papadimitriou discusses “Logicomix,” at 6 p.m., at the Brattle Theatre; tickets ($5) available online at harvard.com, at Harvard Book Store, or by calling 617-661-1515 … Robert Swan discusses “Adventure Antarctica 2041,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop … Jeannette Walls discusses “Half-Broke Horses,” at 7 p.m., at Sandwich High School, 365 Quaker Meetinghouse Road, East Sandwich.

THURSDAY: Andrew B. Lewis discusses “The Shadows of Youth,” at 7:30 p.m., at the Concord Museum … Michael Downing (“Life with Sudden Death”) reads at 7 p.m., at Porter Square Books …Harriet Reisen discusses “Louisa May Alcott,” at 6 p.m., at the Brattle Theatre; tickets ($5) available online at harvard.com, at Harvard Book Store, or by calling 617-661-1515 … Stephen Dubner discusses “SuperFreakonomics,” at 8 p.m., at First Parish Church, Cambridge; tickets ($5) available online at harvard.com, at Harvard Book Store, or by calling 617-661-1515 … Augusten Burroughs reads from “You Better Not Cry,” at 6 p.m., at Coolidge Corner Theatre ($5) … Grub Street instructors read at 7 p.m., at Newtonville Books … Hobson Woodward discusses “A Brave Vessel,” at 7 p.m., at Andover Bookstore … Isabel Kaplan discusses “Hancock Park,” at 7 p.m., at the Harvard Square Coop … Lucy Honig reads from “Waiting for Rescue,” at 7 p.m., at the Bookstore of Gloucester, 61 Main St., Gloucester … Poet Tony Hoagland reads at 7 p.m., at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, 307 Old Main St. S. Yarmouth; suggested donation $5.

FRIDAY: Lisa Rosner discusses “The Anatomy Murders,” at 3 p.m., at Harvard Book Store … Novelist Merlinda Bobis (“The Solemn Lantern Maker”) speaks at 4 p.m. in Rm. 4-231, 182 Memorial Dr., MIT, Cambridge … Addie Swartz (Beacon Street Girls Series) speaks at 2:30 p.m., at Home of Distinction, 169 Grove St., Wellesley; for ticket information, visit rfkchildren.org or call 617-227-4183.

1. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, by Barb Bersche and Michelle Quint
2. LEGO STAR WARS, by Simon Beecroft
3. JULIE ANDREWS’S COLLECTION OF POEMS, SONGS, AND LULLABIES
4. SKIPPYJON JONES, LOST IN SPICE, by Judy Schachner
5. PIGS MAKE ME SNEEZE!, by Mo Willems

Source: N.Y. Times, week of Oct. 25

1. True Compass
By Edward M. Kennedy. Twelve.

2. Have a Little Faith
By Mitch Albom. Hyperion.

3. Where Men Win Glory
By Jon Krakauer. Doubleday.

4. Half the Sky
By Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Knopf.

5. Manhood for Amateurs
By Michael Chabon. Harper.

6. Bright-sided
By Barbara Ehrenreich.Metropolitan.

7. When the Game Was Ours
By Larry Bird and Earvin Johnson. Houghton Mifflin.

8. Strength in What Remains
By Tracy Kidder. Random House.

9. The Sibley Guide to Trees
By David Sibley. Knopf.

10. Born to Run
By Christopher McDougall. Knopf.

Source: Boston area bookstores

FULL ENTRY

1. The Lost Symbol
By Dan Brown. Doubleday.

2. The Help
By Kathryn Stockett. Putnam.

3. Wolf Hall
By Hilary Mantel. Henry Holt.

4. Nine Dragons
By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown.

5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
By Jeff Kinney. Amulet.

6. Pursuit of Honor
By Vince Flynn. Atria.

7. Her Fearful Symmetry
By Audrey Niffenegger. Scribner.

8. Juliet, Naked
By Nick Hornby. Riverhead.

9. The Children’s Book
By A.S. Byatt. Knopf.

10. A Gate at the Stairs
By Lorrie Moore. Knopf.

FULL ENTRY

Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes reviewed Neil Sheehan's latest book "A Fiery Peace in a Cold War'' in the Oct. 4 Books section of the Globe. The book, by the author of the award-winning "A Bright Shining Lie,'' focuses on the efforts of Bernard Schriever, a US Air Force officer, who pressed to build nuclear missiles to ensure Cold War peace via a standoff with the Soviet Union.
Rhodes found the book to be "a mixed bag,'' concluding:

"Sheehan’s failure to master the elementary science behind his narrative or the larger paradoxes of the nuclear arms and missile race leaves me with mixed feelings about his book. Schriever’s part in the development of the ICBM is a story that needed to be told, however, and Sheehan tells it with enthusiasm.''

Sheehan sent a faxed response to the piece, which is printed in its entirety below.

FULL ENTRY