Here are some books I have read in 2011/12 and strongly recommend. Click HERE for the full list, or on the selected titles below to read more about each book:
Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.
The Better Angels of Our Nature, by Steven Pinker.
Leningrad, by Anna Reid.
Le Club des Incorrigibles Optimistes, by Jean-Michel Guenassia.
A Pleur-Joie, by Elvire de Brissac.