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 1.

The seeds planted throughout the series bear fruit in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. How did Dumbledore's nose get broken? Or his hand burned to a crisp? You will find all the answers here. This is the finest book in the series; the writing is excellent and action and emotion come together seamlessly. Harry emerges from the pages as an adult, confident and grim.
Recommended by Beth, Powells.com

 2.

Not long after her thirtieth birthday, on the heels of an ugly divorce, Elizabeth Gilbert traveled for a year, to Italy, India, and finally Indonesia. In Italy she wanted to explore the art of pleasure (pasta, wine, handsome men speaking a beautiful language); in India, devotion (waking at 4:15 a.m. to scrub the Ashram floor); and, the last four months she spent in Bali, trying to balance the two. Here's the book that will finally put this critically acclaimed author on bestseller lists.
Recommended by Dave, Powells.com

 3.

"In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini gives us a vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence — forces that continue to threaten them even today." New York Times

 4.

"With a showman's expert timing, [Gruen] saves a terrific revelation for the final pages, transforming a glimpse of Americana into an enchanting escapist fairy tale." New York Times Book Review

 5.

Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it.

 6.

The Road is Cormac McCarthy's darkest, most poetic book in years. In a post-apocalyptic, razed landscape (which, though archetypal, feels frighteningly plausible), McCarthy poses questions of survival, good and evil, and what makes us human.
Recommended by Jill, Powells.com

 7.

The Terror is perhaps the perfect blend of exploration and horror writing. An expedition looking for the Northwest Passage becomes icebound for the winter, and then crew members begin to disappear. The book is a genuine page-turner, as the crew members face not only starvation, but something much more menacing living out on the ice. Recommended by Frank, Powells.com

 8.

Never mind the sophomore slump — this book devours that cliché. As well as illuminating the rich history and familial culture behind war-torn Afghanistan, A Thousand Splendid Suns is filled with authentic relationships and characters that are absolutely haunting.
Recommended by Danielle, Powells.com

 9.

Millions of children are left without parents in Ethiopia as the result of AIDS. A skilled and graceful exploration of this crisis, Greene's moving account of one woman's actions shows the tremendous impact one person can make. Haregewoin is a genuine hero whose inspiring story should waken the international community.
Recommended by Ted, Powells.com

 10.

Alex Cross rejoins the police force to face the most diabolical villain hes ever encountered — a serial killer with a hunger for mega-celebrity. It becomes clear to Alex that hes after a genius of terror who has the city on a string. A killer who will stop at nothing to become the most terrifying star Washington, D.C., has ever seen.

 11.

Enjoy a great thriller? You will love this relentlessly paced tale. It's full of fascinating historical details about western art, the mystery of the grail, and hidden codes. You won't be able to put it down but you'll want to look up secret societies from the Knights Templar to Opus Dei. Sound far-fetched? Well, FBI traitor Robert Hanson was a member of Opus Dei. Hmmmmmm!! Recommended by Kathi Kirby

 12.

The Purpose Driven Life will help you understand why you are alive and reveal God's amazing plan for you -- both here and now, and for eternity. Rick Warren will guide you through a personal forty-day spiritual journey that will transform your answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for? Knowing God's purpose for creating you will reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give meaning to your life, and most important, prepare you for eternity.

 13.

True or false: One out of every four items for sale in the average American supermarket contains corn? (Think, think, think...) Believe it or not, it's true. If this unsettles you — or just plain doesn't make sense — pick up a copy of Michael Pollan's latest, which will change the way you think about nutrition and health. Pollan starts out by identifying the three principal food chains that sustain contemporary Americans. Two of them, the organic and the hunter-gatherer, have been around for a long, long time. The third, however, the industrial food chain, suddenly accounts for the bulk of our diet. The "omnivore's dilemma," we learn, refers to anxiety that accompanies an excess of options; specifically, when you can eat everything, what should you eat? One thing this book makes clear: if we are what we eat, it's getting so we hardly know ourselves at all.
Recommended by Dave, Powells.com

 14.

"Mr. Grogan knew the workings of Marley's mind. He makes that abundantly clear in Marley and Me, a very funny valentine to all those four-legged 'big, dopey, playful galumphs that seemed to love life with a passion not often seen in this world.' It's a book with intense but narrow appeal, strictly limited to anyone who has ever had, known or wanted a dog." Janet Maslin, New York Times

 15.

"It is a large canvas that Gabaldon paints, filled with strong passions and derring-do. Strong willed and sensual, Claire is an engaging modern heroine plopped down in a simpler, more primitive time.... Great fun ...marvelous and fantastic adventures, romance, sex ...perfect escape reading!" San Francisco Chronicle

 16.

After winning the Pulitzer Prize for his groundbreaking The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon returns for another literary tour de force. In a "what-if" story for adults, Chabon imagines that Alaska was turned into a Jewish state after World War II. Combining speculative and detective fiction with his own distinctive literary stylings, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is an unforgettable novel.
Recommended by Hank, Powells.com

 17.

Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." Mortenson and Relin's Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time is a powerful contribution to that arsenal. If there is truth to Albert Camus' prediction that the purpose of a writer is to "keep civilization from destroying itself," then Mortenson's tenacious, heroic efforts and Relin's mastery of journalistic narrative give us an inspiring example of that ideal in spellbinding words and spectacular humanitarian efforts.
Recommended by Mimi, Powell's City of Books

 18.

"A seesaw of tension...impeccable pacing...action, intrigue, violence and passion....A novel that entertains, instructs and satisfies on a grand scale!" Publishers Weekly

 19.

"Walls's journalistic bare-bones style makes for a chilling, wrenching, incredible testimony of childhood neglect. A pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps, thoroughly American story." Kirkus Reviews

 20.

"On Christmas Eve, twenty-something Hope Jensen is quietly grieving the recent loss of her adoptive mother when her apartment is robbed. The one bright spot in the midst of Hope's despair is a small jar full of money someone has anonymously left on her doorstep. Eager to learn the source of this unexpected generosity, Hope uses her newswoman instincts to find other recipients of 'Christmas jars,' digging until her search leads her to the family who first began the tradition of saving a year's worth of spare change to give to someone in need at the holiday....the heart of this novella is its transformative message about the power of giving, a compelling theme that calls to mind books like Pay It Forward and The Kingdom Assignment." Publishers Weekly

 21.

"With...assistance from her husband, Steven, and 19-year-old daughter, Camille, Kingsolver elegantly chronicles a year of back-to-the-land living with her family in Appalachia....Readers frustrated with the unhealthy, artificial food chain will take heart and inspiration here." Kirkus Reviews

 22.

"As always, Pullman is a master at combining impeccable characterizations and seamless plotting, maintaining a crackling pace to create scene upon scene of almost unbearable tension.  This glittering gem will leave readers of all ages eagerly awaiting the next installment of Lyra's adventures." Publishers Weekly

 23.

"Even as the story whips by with incredible speed, Patterson manages to pack it full of suspense, emotion, and a resolution that, while perfectly satisfying, carries the author's trademark teaser hinting at the 'more' that surely will come." Booklist

 24.

 25.

An equally absorbing and troubling inquiry into a case of criminal injustice, Grisham's nonfiction debut equals the storytelling of his unparalleled fiction.
Recommended by Chandler, Powells.com

 26.

A literary time capsule, Suite Française is a novel about wartime occupation written during the Nazi occupation of France. Irène Némirovsky's unfinished manuscript has been published more than 60 years after her death to worldwide acclaim. Even without its historical significance, this is a mesmerizing novel about a time, place, and condition most of us cannot imagine; the facts behind the fiction only make it all the more intriguing.
Recommended by Bolton, Powells.com

 27.

A landmark biography of Bill Wilson, the man who, with his friend Bob Smith, created the first 12-step program — Alcoholics Anonymous — which can now be found in more than 140 countries.

 28.

When Lacey Quinn inherits the striking landscapes done by her late, much-loved grandfather, she believes they are as good as anything hanging in museums. But the paintings now in her possession are more than the works of a talented master. They are anguished voices from the grave . . . crying murder!

 29.

"This is a book-lover's novel, with rich characters, fascinating plot twists and plenty of secluded moments infused with the soothing smell of cracking leather and old paper....[A] smart, thoughtful look at truth and deception..." Rocky Mountain News

 30.

"A nerve-racking, genuinely unsettling thriller, Cell is proof positive that King has tapped into yet another creative wellspring during a period of life when most writers are often overworking the same dry and dusty literary landscapes." Denver Post

 31.

"McEwan at his most closely observed and psychologically penetrating, and his most sweeping and expansive....With each book McEwan ranges wider, and his powers have never been more fully in evidence than here." Publishers Weekly

 32.

"Inspired by her grandparents' love story in which the grandmother outlived her husband by nearly three decades, Niffenegger has invented Henry and Clare, and their unique and complicated love story involving the ability to live in the past and future in an unpredictable parallel. Delightful, imaginative, with an unforgettable conclusion." Donna Kane, Powells.com

 33.

"Builds to an excitingly cinematic climax as Ryan toils to bring the world back from the brink of nuclear war." Entertainment Weekly

 34.

Stephen Colbert is America — and since we live in America, we must also live in him. Think long and hard about that as you devour this book which should be required reading for all Americans, and by "Americans" I mean "Stephen Colbert's body parts." Recommended by Brockman, Powells.com

 35.

Here are money-making secets that can change your life. Inspired by Andrew Carnegie's magic formula for success, this book will teach you the secrets that will bring you a fortune. It will show you not only what to do but how to do it. Once you learn and apply the simple, basic techniques revealed here, you will have mastered the secret of true and lasting success. And you may have whatever you want in life.

 36.

Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, cloaked by the Force and riding with the hostile Sand People, have returned to the dunes of the desert planet Tatooine in hopes of finding what Luke so desperately seeks: contact with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 37.

"The Husband moves like a roller coaster without brakes....Without a doubt, Koontz is America's No. 1 author of thrillers today....The Husband is one of his finest novels." The Denver Post

 38.

"Let us try a creative experiment," Alan Weisman proposes on page three: If humans disappeared from earth, what would happen? To your home, for example. To our cities, farms, and oceans. To the animals that remain. Or to the billion tons of plastic we'd leave behind. Deserving of the lively conversation it will inspire, rich with spectacular detail — from the edge of the universe to the underground city of Cappadocia (spacious enough to house 30,000 people!) to the forests of New England — The World without Us is, in Bill McKibben's apt words, "one of the grandest thought experiments of our time."
Recommended by Dave, Powells.com

 39.

In Dorian Gray, Wilde's full-length novel, a fashionable young man sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty.

 40.

In 1989, Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in 12th-century England that centered on the building of a cathedral and the hundreds of lives it affected. This sequel takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries later.

 41.

"[A]n uproarious epic, at once funny and sad, about misplaced identities and family secrets....Mr. Eugenides has a keen sociological eye for 20th-century American life." Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

 42.

"Sex, childbirth, cyborg servants, a dollop of fast-moving mystery and a fraud so complex that Eve will need Roarke to get to the bottom of it. The biggest pleasure, though, is watching Eve, an obvious charm-school dropout, get in suspects' faces." Kirkus Reviews

 43.

Koontz delivers suspense for all seasons with a transcendent thriller — a heart-gripping tour de force featuring a dedicated dog rescuer, a very special golden retriever she saves, and the murderous adversaries they must face together.

 44.

"Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward....An extraordinary narrative." School Library Journal (Starred Review)

 45.

Nick Hornby describes the novel as "The Office meets Kafka. It's Seinfeld rewritten by Donald Barthelme." Me, I was reminded by particular scenes and motifs of Donald Antrim and Don DeLillo, but so many comparisons will only obscure the fact that Ferris has concocted something truly original. Splice it any way you like, Then We Came to the End was my favorite book of the year. Recommended by Dave, Powells.com

 46.

"Lean Mean Thirteen may be more of the same....But more of the same is still laugh-out-loud funny." Oregonian

 47.

"Locke's resilience and wit give the book the tragicomic air of a traditional picaresque, rubbery ethics and all." Publishers Weekly

 48.

"For Ms. Grafton's legion of alphabet fans, the only thing they'll dislike is that it's book No. 20, which means only six more to come. For newcomers, T Is for Trespass will be perfectly understandable as a stand-alone treat, but better carve out some time because you'll be hankering for the other 19." Dallas Morning News

 49.

"[A] book that only Halberstam could pull off, and he does so with bravura and skill worthy of a farewell performance." San Francisco Chronicle

 50.

In the tenth year of The Change, the survivors in western Oregon have learned how to live in a world without technology. But a confrontation between the forces of those who would rebuild the world peacefully and the feared Protector, who will use whatever means at his command to extend his power, threatens to plunge the entire region into open warfare.