19 minutes Searching for the man behind the legend of Charlemagne Examining the many facets of “Peanuts,” a comic-strip gem An ambitious lawyer, a stepfather with mob ties and the death of Jimmy Hoffa Revealing journeys through Mexico’s ‘hard-up hinterland’ Johannes Anyuru’s latest novel is an award winner in Sweden. If there’s any justice, some of that success will cross the Atlant As Turkish writer Ahmet Altan is rearrested, his prison memoir is as urgent as ever A new biography dishes about Carrie Fisher’s tumultuous, bittersweet life In recent memoirs, musicians reveal glamorous tantrums, plenty of drug use and the double-edged sword of fame If you only know ‘The Three Musketeers,’ you owe yourself the pleasure of its sequel, ‘Twenty Years After’ Michael Crichton’s classic thriller ‘The Andromeda Strain’ gets a deadly sequel These two books will lead you down a rabbit hole to unexpected literary delights Children burst into flames in Kevin Wilson’s ‘Nothing to See here’ There’s now an e-reader just for kids, and it misses what children love about books The inherently, intrinsically and inevitably flawed case for American nationalism Sure ‘Dracula’ is great, but don’t overlook Florence Marryat’s ‘The Blood of the Vampire’

6 hours Danville: Exhibit on kids' books to feature area authors Alamo: Yamaguchi Lafayette Library's guest at speaker series Review: Emma Donoghue's 'Frog Music' buoyed by intricate plot and evocative writing Minimalists discover more in living with less Reviews: Randi Zuckerberg and other Northern California authors Siminovich, Barnett and Moss offer up new works for younger rea Author alert: In the pipeline: David Mitchell's 'The Bone Clocks' to be published by Random House in September Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez dies at 87 Books by the Bay: Berkeley author Ayelet Waldman's 'Love and Treasure' is exquisitely crafted and filled with secrets Sue Townsend dies; writer created angst-ridden teen Adrian Mole Times reporter Gary Peterson to sign copies of new baseball-themed book Poetry as expression, and as therapy: Martinez's Peter Karplus to discuss his first children's book in Orinda Rabih Alameddine's 'An Unnecessary Woman' is a smart, funny -- and isolated protagonist Review: Alamedinne wrings a triumphant allegory from one woman's dogged solitude What We're Reading: