'The Protest Singer,' by Alec Wilkinson
Heller McAlpin, Special to The Chronicle
The Protest Singer An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger By Alec Wilkinson (Alfred A. Knopf; $22.95; 159 pages) It's hard to believe now, after seeing him up there at the Lincoln Memorial with Bruce Springsteen belting...

'Please Step Back,' by Ben Greenman
Jesse Hamlin, Special to The Chronicle
Please Step Back By Ben Greenman (Melville House; 254 pages; $16.95 paperback) Ben Greenman's new novel, "Please Step Back," tells the story of Robert Franklin, a gifted black musician who rises from the Boston R&B...

Bay Area Bound - new books by local authors
Notable books, due out this month, by Bay Area authors. Nonfiction A Day in the Life: One Family, the Beautiful People, and the End of the Sixties , by Robert Greenfield (Da Capo; $24.95) Bad Mother: A Chronicle of...

'Finding Oz,' by Evan I. Schwartz
Seth Lerer, Special to The Chronicle
Finding Oz How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story By Evan I. Schwartz (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 400 pages; $27) How did a mediocre theater manager become the author of a best-selling children's classic?...

'Sag Harbor,' by Colson Whitehead
Cheston Knapp, Special to The Chronicle
Sag Harbor By Colson Whitehead (Doubleday; 273 pages; $24.95) Colson Whitehead's fourth novel, "Sag Harbor," doesn't have any of the sweeping structural apparatuses that characterized his previous books, none of the...

Interview / Finding his voice in '50s S.F.
John McMurtrie, Chronicle Book Editor
It's not every author who, having flown across the country to publicize his book, then driven an hour and a half to a bookstore reading attended by all of two people, can laugh off the experience. Andrew Sean Greer has...

Recommended reading
The Chronicle's book editor recommends these recently reviewed titles: Tamalpais Walking Poetry, History, and Prints By Tom Killion and Gary Snyder (Heyday Books; 143 pages; $50) The latest product of the creative...

'Wetlands,' by Charlotte Roche
Anis Shivani, Special to The Chronicle
Wetlands By Charlotte Roche; translated by Tim Mohr (Grove; 229 pages; $17.95) Every once in a while, the novel, which keeps defaulting to its genteel, overmannered self, needs a purgative, and Charlotte Roche's "...

'The Servants' Quarters,' by Lynn Freed
Margot Kaminski, Special to The Chronicle
The Servants' Quarters By Lynn Freed (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 216 pages; $24) In books much more than in movies, what is hideous can also be deeply appealing. Charles Dickens and the Brontës captured this sensibility...

Top shelf: Recommended reading
Recommendations of recent books from the staffs of a rotating list of Bay Area independent bookstores. This week's list is from Laurel Book Store, 4100 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. (510) 531-2073. www.laurelbookstore.com....

Literary guide
Sunday Amy Krouse Rosenthal Introduces new picture books for children. 11:30 a.m. Kepler's, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park. (650) 324-4321. www.keplers.com. Bharati Mukherjee, Susan Griffin and Barbara Graham Talk...

'Built of Books,' by Thomas Wright
Benjamin Ivry, Special to The Chronicle
Built of Books How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde By Thomas Wright (Henry Holt; 370 pages; $27) In addition to being the languid dandy and sybarite of legend, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was erudite, with a...

'The Winter Vault,' by Anne Michaels
Joan Frank, Special to The Chronicle
The Winter Vault By Anne Michaels (Alfred A. Knopf; 336 pages; $25) It took Anne Michaels 10 years to write "Fugitive Pieces" (1998), her astonishing first novel (also made into a film), which gained a passionate...

FRESH INK
News and notes from the publishing world: Nathan Wolfe , a visiting professor in Human Biology at Stanford University and director of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, has a signed a reported $300,000 deal with...