Just in time for Christmas! Check out one of these new biographies of your favorite rock stars:

Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin

My cross to bear by Gregg Allman with Alan Light

A natural woman: a memoir by Carole King

Waging heavy peace: a hippie dream by Neil Young

Former First Lady of Michigan, Helen Wallbank Milliken died today. Wife of Michigan's longest-serving governor, William Milliken, Helen Milliken was a strong advocate of women's rights and environmental issues. In a 2006 interview by the Associated Press she said, "Nobody ever saw anybody burn a bra; they're too expensive, but the myth has survived. There have been excesses, but the goal has always remained the same: equal opportunity for women." Ms. Milliken is survived by her husband, William and son, William, Jr.

Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated new film Lincoln opens on November 9. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as our 16th president, and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, it is inspired by Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 book Team of Rivals: the political genius of Abraham Lincoln. The film focuses on Lincoln's final few months in office, specifically his tireless efforts to get the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (abolishing slavery) passed.

Promoters,musicians,songwriters,recording studios...all these people behind the scenes.

Hüsker Dü: the story of the noise-pop pioneers who launched modern rock by Andrew Earles

Here, there and everywhere: my life recording the music of the Beatles by Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey

Lonely avenue: the unlikely life and times of Doc Pomus by Alex Halberstadt

The days are getting shorter. Time to sit in front of the fire, reading a good book.

Mrs. Adams in winter: a journey in the last days of Napoleon by Michael O'Brien

Do not ask what good we do: inside the U.S.

Mike Wallace [Large print]: a life by Peter Rader

The magic room: [large print] a story about the love we wish for our daughters by Jeffrey Zaslow

Lots of candles, plenty of cake [Large print] by Anna Quindlen

Classical music speaks both to the mind and to the heart, giving us something to think about as well as to experience.

—William J. Clinton, President of the United States, 1993-2001

Celebrate opening night at one of the many concerts offered throughout the month of September.

• Detroit Metropolitan Youth Symphony
• Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• Michigan Philharmonic
• Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra

The painting, featured above, is Attributes of Music by Anne Vallayer-Coster (1770)

21st century houses: 150 of the world's best by [editor] Robyn Beaver

The borrower: a novel by Rebecca Makkai

Carlisle versus Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the forgotten story of football's greatest battle by Lars Anderson

Sacrilege: a thriller by S.J. Parris — On Monday, August 27 at 7:00 PM at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor. Dr. Darcy Lockman will talk about her challenging, yet fulfilling, journey to become a psychotherapist. She received her Ph.D at Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University. She is currently a practicing psychotherapist in New York where she lives with her family.

Don't let your book group miss these:

The tenderness of wolves: a novel by Stef Penney

A three dog life by Abigail Thomas

Moral disorder: stories by Margaret Atwood

The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander

Gore Vidal, the noted author, playwright and essayist has died at the age of 86 due to complications from pneumonia. Vidal was also known as an outspoken political commentator. During his long literary career he wrote some 25 novels, several screenplays, and more than 200 essays. He also appeared in several films, including the politcal satire Bob Roberts.

1876: a novel by Gore Vidal

Burr: a novel by Gore Vidal

Join the Adult Contemporary group on Monday, August 20 at 7:00 PM in the Purple Room to discuss:

A stolen life: a memoir by Jaycee Lee Dugard — In the summer of June of 1991, Jaycee Dugard was a normal 11-year old kid. Until the day her life was stolen. For 18 years she was a prisoner. She was an object for someone to use and abuse. She became a mother and was forced to be a sister. She survived an impossible situation. It's her story — in her own words, in her own way, exactly as she remembered it.

Movie and television actor Ernest Borgnine has passed away at the age of 95. His long career included many memorable roles in films such as Bad Day at Black Rock, From Here to Eternity, The Dirty Dozen, The Wild Bunch, and The Poseidon Adventure. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1955 for his title role in the film Marty as a lovelorn butcher, and also appeared on numerous roles on television, including the lead on the comedy McHale's Navy from 1962 to 1966, and in the 1980s on the action drama Airwolf.

A fascinating look at personal correspondence throughout history:

Dear America: letters home from Vietnam by edited by Bernard Edelman for The New York Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission; [with a new introduction by Senator John McCain; foreword by William Broyles, Jr.]

The 50 greatest love letters of all time by [selected] by David H. Lowenherz

Letters of the century: America, 1900-1999 by edited by Lisa Grunwald & Stephen J. Adler

Author, screenwriter and director Nora Ephron has passed away from acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 71. Ephron directed eight feature films and was credited as screenwriter on more than a dozen. She earned three Oscar nominations for writing Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and Silkwood. Perhaps her best known novel was Heartburn which was based on her marriage to reporter Carl Bernstein. She began her career in the 1960s as a reporter for the New York Post , and in the 1970s wrote columns for the magazines Esquire and New York.

Devils & Blue Dresses by Mitch Ryder.    Detroit's own, Mitch Ryder will discuss and sign his autobiography on Thursday, June 21 at 7:00p.m. at Ypsilanti District Library, 5577 Whittaker Road, Ypsilanti, MI.  Ryder will be interviewed by Martin Bandyke of Ann Arbor 107.  A Question and Answer session will follow the interview. Copies of Devils and Blue Dresses will be available for purchase.  The event is free, seating is on a first come, first serve basis.  For more information contact the Ypsilanti District Library.