'Tinkers'
By Paul Harding
Reviewed by Joan Frank

'The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks'
By Robin Romm
Reviewed by Elizabeth Fishel

'The Piano Teacher'
By Janice Y.K. Lee
Reviewed by Debra Spark

'The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans'
By Aaron Glantz
Reviewed by Gerald Nicosia

Must-Reads Of 2008
The best nonfiction books as well as fiction and poetry books of 2008. Plus: Notable Bay Area books of 2008.

Stacey's Closing Its Doors
After 85 years in business, the downtown Stacey's bookstore will shut down for good in March.

All About Abe With Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday on the horizon, kids' book publishers are jumping on the bicentennial bandwagon.

Scotland's Answer To Shakespeare
Thousands will toast poet Robert Burns on his 250th birthday.

The Reader In Chief Barack Obama won't be the first literary president. Plus: New books about Obama.

City Tells A Story
Rodes Fishburne litters his best-selling novel, "Going to See the Elephant" with the sounds and sights of S.F.

Tells It Like It Is Jamming with Hendrix or playing with Dylan, Al Kooper covers it all in his memoir "Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards."

Penned By Poets
Beat icon Gary Snyder talks about "The Selected Letters of Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder."

On God and Gays Prop. 8's passing has author Richard Rodriguez thinking about religion, homosexuality.

Cat Got Her Heart
Librarian author Vicki Myron has a new cat in her life.

Memoir Canceled Writer Herman Rosenblat admits his Holocaust tale is not true. Previous story.

Capitalism For Good
Michael Kinsley's "Creative Capitalism" explores how the economic system can be a driver for social change.

Little And Lost "I Sit and Stay: A Survival Guide for Kids (and Parents, Too!)" teaches kids how to respond if they're lost.

Poem For A President
President-elect Barack Obama picks poet Elizabeth Alexander to read at his inauguration.