Jonathan Yardley

"The Walking People"

Michael Dirda

"Travelling Heroes: In the Epic Age of Homer"
(Join Michael Dirda's 'Reading Room.')

Ron Charles

"The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet"
(Follow Ron Charles on Twitter.)

Thugs' Lives

National Book Award-winning novelist Denis Johnson gives Northern California the noir treatment in "Nobody Move."

• "The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet," By Reif Larsen
• Roundup of Books for Young Readers

How Ma Ellen Saved Her Country

Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf details her climb to become Africa's first woman president.

• "Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption" By By Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton with Erin Torneo

Brutally Violent, Destined for Defeat

Richard J. Evans completes his trilogy on WWII Germany with "The Third Reich at War."

• "Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy" By Leslie Gelb
• "A People's History of Christianity" By Diana Butler Bass

• Book Review: 'West of West: Dreamers, Believers, Builders and Killers in the Golden State,' by Mark Arax
• Poet's Choice: 'Cocoanut Grove' by Ron Slate
• Washington Area Literary Calendar: May 11-17
• Amazon's Unveils Larger Kindle for Textbooks, Periodicals
• Author Ayelet Waldman Takes on the Cultural Disquiet Over Parenting

Coming to Style: May 4-9

• Monday: "The Brothers Boswell," by Philip Baruth
• Tuesday: "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrund," by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Wednesday: "The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet," by Reif Larsen | "Nobody Move," by Dennis Johnson | Roundup of Books for Young Readers
• Thursday: "Travelling Heroes: In the Epic Age of Homer," by Robin Lane Fox
• Friday: "The Family Man," by Elinor Lipman
• Saturday: "Paul Newman," by Shawn Levy

Coming to Outlook: Sun., May 17

• The difficulty of filling Abraham Lincoln's shoes.
• A new biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
• The case that made the Supreme Court supreme.
• Christopher Buckley says good-bye to Mum and Pup.
• But God is back.