The Times on Tuesday

What's on the NY Times combined print and e-book nonfiction best seller list?

1 HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent. (Thomas Nelson.) A father recounts his 3-year-old son’s encounter with Jesus and the angels during an emergency appendectomy.

2 JACQUELINE KENNEDY: Historic Conversations On Life With John F. Kennedy. (Hyperion.) Recordings and transcripts of a seven-part interview with Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. in 1964.

Shortly after President John F. Kennedy s assassination, with a nation deep in mourning and the world looking on in stunned disbelief, Jacqueline Kennedy found the strength to set aside her own personal grief for the sake of posterity and begin the task of documenting and preserving her husband's legacy. In January of 1964, she and Robert F. Kennedy approved a planned oral-history project that would capture their first-hand accounts of the late President as well as the recollections of those closest to him throughout his extraordinary political career. For the rest of her life, the famously private Jacqueline Kennedy steadfastly refused to discuss her memories of those years, but beginning that March, she fulfilled her obligation to future generations of Americans by sitting down with historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and recording an astonishingly detailed and unvarnished account of her experiences and impressions as the wife and confidante of John F. Kennedy. The tapes of those sessions were then sealed and later deposited in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum upon its completion, in accordance with Mrs. Kennedy's wishes.

The resulting eight and a half hours of material comprises a unique and compelling record of a tumultuous era, providing fresh insights on the many significant people and events that shaped JFK's presidency but also shedding new light on the man behind the momentous decisions. Here are JFK's unscripted opinions on a host of revealing subjects, including his thoughts and feelings about his brothers Robert and Ted, and his take on world leaders past and present, giving us perhaps the most informed, genuine, and immediate portrait of John Fitzgerald Kennedy we shall ever have. Mrs. Kennedy's urbane perspective, her candor, and her flashes of wit also give us our clearest glimpse into the active mind of a remarkable First Lady.

In conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary of President Kennedy's Inauguration, Caroline Kennedy and the Kennedy family are now releasing these beautifully restored recordings on CDs with accompanying transcripts. Introduced and annotated by renowned presidential historian Michael Beschloss, these interviews will add an exciting new dimension to our understanding and appreciation of President Kennedy and his time and make the past come alive through the words and voice of an eloquent eyewitness to history.

It has a 4.24 rating on Goodreads.

3 CONFIDENCE MEN, by Ron Suskind. (HarperCollins.) President Obama and his advisers, often at odds with one another, respond to the economic crisis.

4 UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand. (Random House.) An Olympic runner’s story of survival as a prisoner of the Japanese in World War II.

5 MONEYBALL, by Michael Lewis. (Norton.) How Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, has produced successful teams despite having one of the smallest payrolls in baseball.

6 A STOLEN LIFE, by Jaycee Dugard. (Simon & Schuster.) A woman tells of being kidnapped at the age of 11 and held prisoner for 18 years by a convicted rapist and his wife.

7 QUEST, by Daniel Yergin. (Penguin Group.) How the need for energy — especially, but not only, oil — drives global political and economic change.

8 IN MY TIME, by Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney. (Threshold.) The former vice president opens up about his life and nearly four decades at the core of American politics.

9 THAT USED TO BE US, by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux.) How America fell behind in the world it invented, and how it can come back.

10 IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS, by Erik Larson. (Crown.) This portrait of Berlin during the rise of the Nazis centers on the family of William E. Dodd, the U.S. ambassador there.

Any of these look interesting enough to add to your 2012 list?

The Times on Tuesday

What's on the NY Times best seller list today for combined print and e-book fiction?

1 THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. (Penguin Group.) A young white woman and two black maids in 1960s Mississippi. (It's been on the list for 31 weeks!)

2 NEW YORK TO DALLAS, by J. D. Robb. (Berkley.) An escaped child molester pursues Lt. Eve Dallas; by Nora Roberts, writing pseudonymously.

3 THE MILL RIVER RECLUSE, by Darcie Chan. (Darcie Chan.) Only one man knows an abused widow, which revealed will change many lives in her small Vermont town.

4 KILL ME IF YOU CAN, by James Patterson and Marshall Karp. (Little, Brown.) When a young man finds a bag of diamonds, he gets the attention of the Ghost, a major assassin, and a rival assassin who wants the Ghost gone forever.

5 THE NIGHT CIRCUS, by Erin Morgenstern. (Knopf Doubleday.) Two young rivals at a magical circus become collaborators as they fall in love.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

It's only been released for about 2 weeks, but so far has a 4.28 rating on Goodreads.

6 THE BLACK ICE, by Michael Connelly. (Little, Brown.) The Los Angeles detective Harry Bosch investigates the scandalous death of a narcotics officer.

7 THE ABBEY, by Chris Culver. (Chris Culver.) Against orders, a former homicide detective begins an investigation into his niece's murder.

8 BLIND FAITH, by CJ Lyons. (Legacy.) A woman finds no closure after a man is executed for the murder of her husband and son.

9 1105 YAKIMA STREET, by Debbie Macomber. (Mira.) Bruce Peyton’s pregnant wife has left him, and he’s not the only one in town with problems; Book 11 in the Cedar Cove series.

10 A THOUSAND TOMORROWS, by Karen Kingsbury. (Center Street.) Two troubled young rodeo performers are unable to avoid falling in love, no matter what consequences their actions might bring.

Besides The Help, of course, has anyone read any of the other top best sellers this week?