"One Hundred Demons" by Lynda Barry (Sasquatch). A collection of semi-autobiographical comic strip stories by the creator of "Ernie Pook's Comeek." Barry is a former Seattleite relocated to Illinois.

"Charles Darwin: The Power of Place" by Janet Browne (Knopf). The second volume of Brown's biography of the revolutionary scientist, including his publication of the theory of evolution and the upheaval that ensued.

"Flannery O'Connor: A Life" by Jean W. Cash (University of Tennessee Press). A new biography of the Southern writer ("A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "Wise Blood").

"Between Grass and Sky: Where I Live and Work" by Linda Hasselstrom (University of Nevada Press). A nature writer and rancher writes about her life and her attempts to bring ranching and an environmental ethic together.

"Barbara Bush: Matriarch of a Dynasty" by Pamela Kilian (Thomas Dunne Books). The story of the wife and mother of presidents and governors.

"Thomas Mann: Life as Work of Art" by Hermann Kurzke, translated by Leslie Wilson (Princeton University Press). A portrait of "the difficult, even unsavory private man" who also happened to be one of the great 20th-century novelists ("Death in Venice," "The Magic Mountain"). Kurzke examines Mann's years of exile from Nazi Germany and his "celibate homoeroticism" (as Mann himself described it).

"Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" by Jane Leavy (HarperCollins). The story of the consummate pitcher. Leavy is a former sportswriter for the Washington Post.

"The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired" by Francine Prose (HarperCollins). Prose, a critic, essayist and novelist, looks at the lives of nine women who inspired great art and finds that they weren't passive pedestal material, but unconventional women who inspired great love.

"Above and Beyond: The Aviation Medals of Honor" by Barrett Tillman, foreword by Joe Foss (Smithsonian Institution Press, $29.95). The story of more than 100 American aviators, pilots and crew, who received the U.S.'s highest military decoration from 1918 to 1972.

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"Yesterday Morning: A Very English Childhood" by Diana Athill (Granta). The memoirist follows up "Stet," her feisty book on her years as a London publisher, with a promising-looking account of her 1920s girlhood in a Norfolk country house. Shades of "Gosford Park"?

"Life on Air: Memoirs of a Broadcaster" by David Attenborough and "The Life of Mammals" by David Attenborough (Princeton University Press). Admirers of Attenborough's virtuosity in bringing the natural world to our living rooms ("The Life of Birds," "The Private Life of Plants") will be avid to read how a Cambridge-educated naturalist turned into a TV star. "Life of Mammals" is a companion to an upcoming ten-part Discovery Channel series.

"A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland," by Tom Brokaw (Random House). The NBC anchor tells of his "Tom Sawyer" upbringing in South Dakota and the high points of his life thereafter.

"Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sorts" by Carol Channing (Simon & Schuster). The ditzy star of "Hello Dolly" tells her story.

"My Losing Season" by Pat Conroy (Doubleday). The author of "The Prince of Tides" revisits his career playing basketball in 1967 for The Citadel.

"Stranger on a Train" by Jenny Diski (Picador USA). The British writer ("Skating to Antarctica") ventures across America by train, as well as into her own past, in this blend of travelogue and memoir.

"Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers" by Daniel Ellsberg (Viking). The man who released the Pentagon Papers tells his story.

"Newton: The Making of a Genius" by Patricia Fara (Columbia University Press). Isaac Newton, an intellectual icon for the modern era, had a limited and unremarkable reputation in his day. What caused his star to rise? The author explores how our views of Newton, science and genius have changed over the last three hundred years.

"Surviving the Island of Grace" by Leslie Leyland Fields (Thomas Dunne Books). A memoir of "the exhausting and often brutal world of commercial salmon fishing" in Alaska, by a professor at the University of Alaska at Kodiak.

"How to Be Alone" by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). A collection of essays by the National Book Award winner ("The Collections"), including Franzen's explanation of his run-in with Oprah and his moving New Yorker essay on his father's struggle with Alzheimer's.

"Max Beerbohm: A Kind of Life" by N. John Hall (Yale University Press). A new biography of the British comic writer ("Zuleika Dobson," "Seven Men") whose career encompassed the Pre-Raphaelite, Edwardian and modern literary eras.

"Ridiculous! The Theatrical Life and Times of Charles Ludlam" by David Kaufman (Applause). A biography of a gay theater pioneer-parodist who founded the Ridiculous Theatrical Company in 1967 and whose 29 plays have been finding new audiences ever since. Ludlam died of AIDS at age 44 in 1987.

"Nader: Crusader, Spoiler, Icon" by Justin Martin (Perseus). The story of the consummate public advocate and his role in the 2000 presidential election.

"Worth Fighting For: A Memoir" by John McCain with Mark Salter (Random House). Part II of the senator's memoirs (part I was "Faith of Our Fathers"), through his campaign for the presidency.

"Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglass" by Bruce Allen Murphy (Random House). The story of Yakima's most famous son, the fiery, controversially liberal judge of the Supreme Court.

"Alec Guiness: A Life" by Garry O'Connor (Applause). A former director of the Royal Shakespeare Company writes a biography of the beloved actor of screen, stage and television ("The Bridge on the River Kwai," "Smiley's People," "Star Wars").

"Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry" by Bruce Pegg (Routledge). Hard times, indeed. The brilliant rock musician, his many encounters with the law and his difficult position as a black performer in a predominantly white musical world.

"Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers" by Ed Sikov (Hyperion). The story of the darkly comic, eccentric comedian and actor. Sikov has written several books on film figures.

"Early Morning: Remembering My Father, William Stafford" by Kim Stafford (Graywolf Press). A remembrance of one of the Northwest's best-loved poets by his son.

"Love in a Dark Time" by Colm Tóibín (Scribner). The gifted Irish writer ("The Blackwater Lightship") blends literary essay with personal reminiscence as he addresses the way the work of Oscar Wilde, Thomas Mann, Francis Bacon, Pedro Almodovar and others helped him come to terms with his own homosexuality.

"I Refuse to Die" by Koigi wa Wamwere (Seven Stories Press). The memoir of a Kenyan human rights activist who survived the British colonial era in Kenya, as well as persecution by a series of post-colonial regimes, and still is hopeful for his country's future.

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"Rupert Murdoch: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Media Wizard" by Neil Chenoweth (Crown Business). The "thoroughly unauthorized" biography of the man who turned his small newspaper business in Australia into a global behemoth, including Murdoch's plans to dominate satellite broadcasting over the entire planet. Chenoweth is an Australian business journalist.

"Square Peg: Confessions of a Citizen Senator" by Orin Hatch (Basic Books). The senator from Utah tells his story and opines on how politics should be practiced.

"Off to the Side" by Jim Harrison (Atlantic Monthly). A memoir by the popular writer ("Legends of the Fall"), covering his Michigan boyhood, his experiences of the Great Depression and World War II, his stints as a Hollywood screenwriter, and his "seven obsessions" (including fishing, hunting and alcohol).

"Life's Too Short: A Story of Gene Kelly" by Paricia Ward Kelly (PublicAffairs). An affectionate memoir of the late legendary dancer by his wife.

"Pope John Paul II" by Peggy Noonan (Viking). The author of "When Character Was King," an admiring portrait of Ronald Reagan, draws an admiring portrait of the current pope

"Memoirs" by David Rockefeller (Random House). The youngest son of John D. Rockefeller Jr. tells his story, of his privileged upbringing and his career in banking and philanthropy.

"So What: The Life of Miles Davis" by John Szwed (Simon & Schuster). The life story of the 20th century's great jazz trumpeter.

"The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken" by Terry Teachout (HarperCollins). The legendary writer, editor and essayist re-examined - "intellectual gadfly, working newspaperman, devoted husband and faithless lover."

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"Vanished Splendors: A Memoir" by Balthus, as told to Alain Vircondelet, translated by Benjamin Ivry (Ecco). The world-renowned painter discusses his Catholic faith, his thoughts on art, his childhood (his mentor was his mother's lover: Rainer Maria Rilke) and his friendships with Pablo Picasso, Albert Camus and others.

"Outlaw: John Rechy" by Charles Castillo (Alyson). A biography of the gay author/hustler whose "City of Night" was a surprise best seller of the 1960s. Castillo explores "the dichotomy of Rechy's life as both a respected author and professor and a tough-as-nails sex worker."

"Bob Dylan: Chronicles: Volume 1" (Simon & Schuster). Big Bob tells his story. We must assume that if this is Volume 1, there's more to come.

"Scotty: The Rise and Fall of James B. Reston, America's Greatest Journalist" by John F. Stacks (Little, Brown). A man who rose through the ranks to become a hugely influential political columnist. The author claims Reston was "corrupted by his proximity to power." Stacks is a former Time reporter and editor.

"Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Dream" by Hunter S. Thompson (Simon & Schuster). With that title, what else is there to say?

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