Azumanga Daioh: the manga: the omnibus, Kiyohiko Azuma
From the author of Yotsuba&!, a fun (but less magical and more wacky) story of girls in high school. Four stars.

The magical life of Long Tack Sam, Ann Marie Fleming
Biography told in comic book and scrap book form, Ann Marie Fleming pieces together the life of her great-grandfather. At first, all she knew was that he was Chinese, had married an Austrian woman, and knew how to do some magic tricks. She shortly learns that he was a giant in the field of vaudeville magic. I loved the intersection of family history, magic and vaudeville history, and world history (the family is only a half-step away from historical disaster at several points). Very much worth a read. Four stars.

Red moon rising: Sputnik and the hidden rivalries that ignited the Space Age, Matthew Brzezinski
Really engrossing look at the politics behind the space race in the US and USSR, from the end of World War II up through the first satellites launched by each country. Very interesting to see the same political wranglings as today, but the behind-the-scenes perhaps stayed behind the scenes. Four stars.