books

Is your child or teen looking for a good novel to read? Check out one of these new books:

Writing a lively page-turning biography about Michelle Obama is difficult when the subject won't cooperate.

That's why Liza Mundy's effort is chock full of facts but at times reads more like a textbook or term paper than an illuminating, you-are-there bio.

"He said he felt like a little boy who had stubbed his toe in the dark. He said that he was too old to cry, but it hurt too much to laugh." -- Adlai Stevenson, quoting Abraham Lincoln, after losing the presidential election to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.

He's been played by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. He's the principal foe of the world's most popular action hero, and has been around since 1940. His origins may or may not include the movie "The Man Who Laughs," a red hood, self-mutilation or a dump in a toxic chemical vat -- his past, he says, is multiple choice.

If you think young-adult novels are just for teen-agers, you haven't read John Green's books.

Since 2005, Green, 31, has published three novels featuring quirky, likable protagonists trying to figure out who they are in the midst of challenging circumstances.

SAN FRANCISCO -- George Hamilton doesn't care if people call him a dandy, a twit, an aging roue. He doesn't care if they look at him and see only the suntan and the Jay Gatsby clothes, and forget that he's been a working actor for 50 years.

Everyone's heard of Conan, which tends to overshadow creator Robert E. Howard's other major barbarian character: Kull the Conqueror. Dark Horse's Arvid Nelson intends to change that with "Kull" No. 1, out this month.

As a child, Steve Jenkins always dreamed of being a scientist. After all, his father was a physics professor and astronomer, and Jenkins himself spent much of his childhood immersed in the natural world, making notes and drawings of his discoveries.

When Jenkins, 56, entered North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., however, he decided to switch his major from science to art.

"GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2009." Compiled by Guinness World Records. Guinness, 288 pages, $28.95.

The newly published "Guinness World Records 2009" features about 60 percent new or updated records, colorful magazine-style design, a holographic cover and a pair of 3-D glasses for viewing more than 20 3-D photos.

The extraordinary 2008 campaign is finally wrapping up, after what seems like 5 million years. It's not just true of the real world; presidential politics have often played important roles in the comics, too.

Let's take a look at my top five presidential moments of yesteryear: