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"The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food," by Judith Jones (Anchor). When Jones was growing up "one wasn't supposed to talk about food at the table (it was considered crude, like talking about sex)." That that is no longer so is due as much to Jones as anyone else; as a young editor at Knopf, she turned "a huge manuscript" by "three totally unknown ladies" into "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and helped bring about a revolution in the way Americans cook. Her memoir begins with her childhood and post-college days in Paris, where she tried to learn French cooking, and ends with about 60 recipes.

"The Holiday Season," by Michael Knight (Grove). Knight's interest in the fraught dynamics of intimate life is on display in the two novellas that make up this book. In the title piece, a sometime actor in his 30s tries to bring his older brother and their widowed father together during the holidays.

"Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall," by Eve LaPlante (HarperOne). As a judge at the Salem witch trials, Sewall condemned 20 people to death, but five years later, he publicly asked the pardon of men and God for his role. He went on to display a more pacific attitude toward the Indians and to publish the first antislavery tract to appear in North America. LaPlante, a direct descendant, examines Sewall's unusual trajectory in this touching biography.

"Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point," by Elizabeth D. Samet (Picador). Samet has written a "thoughtful, attentive, stereotype-breaking book," in the words of The Times' reviewer, Robert Pinsky, about her 10 years as a civilian teacher of literature at the Military Academy.

"The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It," by Paul Collier (Oxford University). About 70 percent of the world's "bottom billion" people live in Africa. Collier, a former director of development research at the World Bank and director of the Center for the Study of African Economies at Oxford, analyzes the causes of African poverty (imperialism, he says, isn't one of them) and suggests solutions.

"American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic," by Joseph J. Ellis (Vintage). Focusing on loosely linked moments and issues, from Valley Forge to Indian policy to the Louisiana Purchase, Ellis argues that America's founding is a "story line rooted in the coexistence of grace and sin, grandeur and failure, brilliance and blindness."

"Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution," by Woody Holton (Hill & Wang). Holton's provocative case for the undemocratic origin and character of the Constitution highlights the activities of "ordinary farmers" who opposed its adoption.

"The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788-1800," by Jay Winik (Perennial/HarperCollins). Winik suggests a link between the revolutionary events of the last decade of the 18th century in America and France and the nonrevolution in Russia; his account stresses personalities and leadership rather than socioeconomic forces.

"How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now," by James L. Kugel (Free Press). This "awesome, thrilling and deeply strange book," as David Plotz described it in the Times Book Review, runs through the entire Hebrew Scriptures, comparing modern scholarship and ancient interpretation.

"The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary," by Robert Alter (Norton). Alter grapples with the Bible as literature.

"The Toothpick: Technology and Culture," by Henry Petroski (Vintage). The author of "The Pencil," Petroski examines the toothpick as "a technological and cultural artifact," and finds that "the history of the toothpick is as old as mankind and as universal as eating."