Stephan Talty's narrative about David Koresh himself is flawed, but he offers a riveting account of the law enforcement standoff and raid at the Branch Davidian compound — a turning point in U.S. history.

Columnist Caroline Luzzatto finds four that are great to read with kids.

Reporter James Risen's study of Frank Church — whose 1970s work exposed assassination plots, surveillance of civil rights figures, and more — lands on the nonfiction list. These hardcover rankings reflect sales for the week ended May 13.

Rankings reflect sales for the week ended May 13.

Grief, notes reviewer Moira Macdonald, "is a strange, disorienting experience, one that you can’t comprehend until it happens to you, and one that doesn’t come with a set of rules." In the memoir "A Living Remedy," Nicole Chung writes about losing her father, her grandmother and her mother within two years — the latter two, in two months. And she writes about how the experience has changed her.

Public writers include scientists, teachers, medical workers, government employees, everyday citizens, journalists — anyone who writes in the interest of the public good. Roy Peter Clark focuses on them in 'Tell It Like It Is.'

Lil Eddie is the star of K.D. Brown’s first children’s book, “Socks for Lil Eddie,” which she self-published in March. Accompanied by bright and colorful illustrations by Mo Childs, an 18-year-old Virginia artist, it tells the story of a little boy who always wanted new socks, for any special occasion.

In ‘The Covenant of Water,’ an intimate, epic tale, three generations of a South Indian family live under a curse. From the author of 'Cutting for Stone.'