Here are some books that have crossed our desks recently.

HARDBACKS

"LOUISA MAY ALCOTT: A Personal Biography," by Susan Cheever, Simon & Schuster, $26 (nf)

Louisa May Alcott never intended to write "Little Women." She had dismissed her publisher's pleas for such a novel. Written out of necessity to support her family, the book had an astounding success that changed her life. Based on extensive research, journals and correspondence, this biography chronicles all aspects of Alcott's life, from the fateful meeting of her parents to her death, just two days after that of her father. Alcott's independence defied the conventional wisdom, and her personal choices and literary legacy continue to inspire generations of women.

More hardbacks recently released:

"Blood and Fire," by Nick Brownlee (f): Another in the Jake and Jouma mystery series and their fight against Kenya's most ruthless developer. "Moonlight Mile," by Dennis Lehane (f): private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro found a 4-year-old missing girl 12 years ago and had to return her to a neglectful mother. Now she's 16 and gone again.

"Driven West: Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears to the Civil War," by A.J. Langguth (nf). "Deadly Spin," by Wendell Potter (nf): An insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing health care and deceiving Americans. "The Dinosaur Hunter," by Homer Hickam (f): Thriller/adventure about one of the biggest fossil discoveries of all time — and the people who would do anything, even kill, to claim it.

PAPERBACKS

"JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE: Why He Died and Why It Matters," by James W. Douglass, Touchstone, reprint, $16.99 (nf)

James Douglass takes readers into the Oval Office during the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, along on the strange journey of Lee Harvey Oswald and his shadowy handlers, and to the winding road in Dallas where an ambush awaited President John F. Kennedy's motorcade.

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More paperbacks recently released:

"The Flock," by James Robert Smith (f): Thriller about lethal bird-like dinosaurs in a remote Florida pine forest, targeted for elimination by a greedy land developer.

REPRINTS

"I Slept with Joey Ramone," by Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil (nf): With a new epilogue.

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