The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro

Critics have called Caro's The Years of Lyndon Johnson, a projected four-volume biography, one of the best political biographies ever written. The first volume, The Path to Power follows LBJ from his boyhood in the Texas hill country to his debut as a New Deal congressman. At the heart of the second book, Means of Ascent, is LBJ's election to the United States Senate in 1948, a contest that Caro argues LBJ flat-out stole. Now comes the third volume, Master of the Senate, which shows how LBJ obtained and used power in the Senate more effectively than anyone who preceded or succeeded him. Caro characterizes the Senate as a conservative, predominantly Southern institution that spent the better part of the century after the Civil War blocking all progressive social reform. Into this setting barreled LBJ. Coarse, pragmatic, and ravenous for power, he bullied and cajoled his colleagues into action. Caro's books are wonders of investigative journalism, insightful works of history, and, above all, great stories. Each book of The Years of Lyndon Johnson is a remarkably fluid, dramatic narrative at the center of which stands LBJ, a dynamo of energy and ambition whose flaws, like everything else about him, were Texas-sized.

The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw

Many people have fantasized about quitting the rat race and committing to a simpler life. Greenlaw actually did it, leaving the competitive, dangerous world of swordfishing to return home—to a tiny island seven miles off the Maine coast with a population of 70 year-round residents, 30 of whom are related to her. But small, Greenlaw learns, is not necessarily simple or easy. Neither the lobsters nor her relatives cooperate, and all of life's complexities wash over the tiny island and its inhabitants. Greenlaw, who wrote The Hungry Ocean and who figured in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, proves herself an engaging memoirist with an eye for both natural detail and human character.

Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox

Fox—the star of TV's Family Ties, the films Back to the Future and its sequels, and TV's Spin City—never had much of a desire to write a memoir. He found the kissing-and-telling that characterizes run-of-the-mill celebrity bios boring. But when, in 1998, he disclosed that he'd been dealing with Parkinson's disease for seven years and, at one point, mentioned that he viewed the disease as "a gift," the surprised reactions convinced him that a further explanation was in order. Fans and casual observers alike will find that explanation in Lucky Man, a truly well-written and deeply thoughtful book in which Fox recounts growing up in Canada, his rise to worldwide celebrity, and his battle with Parkinson's, a disorder of the brain characterized by shaking and difficulties with movement and coordination. Fox is donating the profits from his book to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, which is dedicated to fast-forwarding the race to find a cure.

My Losing Season by Pat Conroy

Conroy has always been willing to mine the veins of his tumultuous life for his novels. In some way, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, and The Prince of Tides are Conroy's efforts to quell the demons associated, respectively, with his brutal father, the sufferings he endured under the plebe system at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and his sister's mental illness. Now, in midlife, Conroy reflects on his last year at The Citadel when he was an undersized and undertalented but gritty point guard on the 1966-67 basketball team, which won eight games and lost 17. My Losing Season is a nonfiction coming-of-age tale told by a consummate storyteller. Conroy's coach was a sadist, the team stank, and Conroy admits that at least 10 of the 12 players on the team were more talented than he. Yet Conroy loved that year and was chosen as the team's most valuable player. Above all, My Losing Season is a story of how losing made more of a man of Conroy than winning ever could have.

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy raised by his mother's crazed psychiatrist. At age 12, Burroughs found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian house: a home with no rules, lots of drugs, a vintage electroshock therapy machine, and a pedophile settled in a backyard shed. Disturbing, compelling, and maniacally funny, this memoir chronicles an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

Still Woman Enough: A Memoir by Loretta Lynn

It's no surprise that country music star Lynn is an enthralling storyteller. Country music, after all, is rooted in everyday events, everyday loves, everyday longings, and everyday disappointments. In Still Woman Enough, Lynn writes with the same guileless candor she brought to her first memoir, Coal Miner's Daughter. At the center of her story is the man at the center of her life, Doo, the hard-drinking, often abusive husband by whom she stood until the day he died.