Maureen Corrigan

A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan is the new history from Michael Kazin. Bryan has been described by Kazin as "one of the most crucial Americans never to win a presidential election."

Twilight of the Superheroes: Stories is a collection of short stories by Deborah Eisenberg that describe the attack on the World Trade Center and its aftermath.

Girls of Tender Age is the new memoir by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith.

An infamous case of wrongful conviction — which took the efforts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to resolve — is the subject of the new novel from Julian Barnes. Arthur and George vividly details how the lives of two utter strangers intersected in what was known as "the Great Wyrley Outrages."

The latest novel from Sigrid Nunez, The Last of Her Kind, tracks a woman's life from her college days in the late 1960s to the present. As she describes her own life, the narrator, Georgette, also details the legacy of fierce idealism — and violence.

Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan lists her favorite books of 2005, including novels by Mary Gaitskill and Kazuo Ishiguro, and memoirs by Joan Didion and J.R. Moehringer.

The novels, “The Ice Harvest” by Scott Phillips, “The History of Love” by Nicole Krauss; the nonfiction “The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness” by Joel ben Izzy, and the short story 1961 classic “Tell Me a Riddle” by Tillie Olsen.

The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, and Fate was written by Marjorie Williams. Williams died last year of cancer.

The novel Veronica by Mary Gaitskill.

The Tulip and the Pope is the new memoir from Deborah Larsen. The story explores young women on the road to becoming nuns in the 1960s. Larsen's previous work includes the novel The White.