1. "The Whole Truth"

By David Baldacci

Nicholas Creel needs a war. The head honcho at the world's largest and most aggressive defense contractor is hankering for a bloody hoedown to bolster his company's coffers. That puts him in the crosshairs of investigative journalist Katie James and a mysterious covert op known only as Shaw. In this epic thriller with a global backdrop, David Baldacci delivers all the twists and turns, compelling characters and can't-put-it-down pacing that readers have come to expect.

2. "The Last Lecture"

By Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" - wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment. It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

3. "Three Cups of Tea"

By Greg Mortenson

In 1993, following the author's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, an attempt that nearly killed him and left him being nursed by local Pakistani villagers for seven weeks, Greg Mortenson set out to build the village its first school. Now, 50 schools later, Mortenson has made an enormous difference in the lives of children, especially girls, who attend the schools he built in impoverished and rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. In an area dominated by Islamic extremists, not the least of which was the Taliban, this was a dangerous job, but one which the author put his soul into. The organization Mortenson founded, the Central Asia Institute, continues to open schools, as Mortenson places a convincing argument that if you want to fight terrorism, you need to do so through education and opportunities.

4. "A New Earth"

By Eckhart Tolle

Oprah's current book club selection is Tolle's follow-up to "The Power of Now." In his first full-length book in eight years, Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state of humanity. He asks us to accept that this state is based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind. He gives us an alternative to this potentially dire situation that will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one.

5. "Eat, Pray, Love"

By Elizabeth Gilbert

Oddly but aptly titled, "Eat, Pray, Love" is an experience to be savored. This spiritual memoir offers humor, grace and scorching honesty. After a messy divorce and other personal missteps, Elizabeth Gilbert confronts the "twin goons" of depression and loneliness by traveling to three countries that she intuited had something she was seeking. First, in Italy, she seeks to master the art of pleasure by indulging her senses. Then, in an Indian ashram, she learns the rigors and liberation of mind-exalting hours of meditation. Her final destination is Bali, where she achieves a precarious, yet precious equilibrium.