When the winter months get so long and snowy, try cuddling up to a new biography or a true adventure tale available at the library.

These new books are about people and places you may or may not know.

My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Atiel Sabar tells the story of the author's father and the culture in which he was raised and lived in Kurdish Iraq. Yona Sabar was born to one of the lost tribes of Israel in the northern mountains of Iraq.

The Kurdish Jews here were so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic. Caught unaware of the tensions in the Middle East after World War II, these Jews were taken to the new state of Israel in the 1950s, their traditional life doomed to extinction.

The author knew very little of his father's history and this book is Ariel's quest to reconcile his past with the present.

The Longest Winter: The Incredible Survival of Captain Scott's Lost Party by Katherine Lambert is one of the greatest unknown survival stories to come out of the age of polar exploration. It may also be considered one of the best survival stories ever. In 1912, English explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott was leading his team back from their race to the South Pole, a six-member scientific team was lost several hundred miles to the north.

The book is based on the unpublished diaries of the men who went through this ordeal.

Joseph Epstein's Fred Astaire is a portrait of America's most graceful dancer and how he came to represent the essence of style, suavity and charm.

Tracing Astaire's life from his birth in Omaha to his death in his late 80s in Hollywood, the book looks at his early days with his sister, his gifts as a singer, and his many movie dance partners. This is a fascinating view of an American era, seen through the accomplishments of Fred Astaire.

The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst by Kenneth Whyte is a re-examination of the early work of William Randolph Hearst. More than a century ago a young Hearst stormed the New York Journal and became a dominating force in the most hotly contested newspaper market the world had known.

In three short years, Hearst was able to build the foundation for one of America's most dominating media empires.

Race to the Polar Sea: The Heroic Adventures of Elisha Kent Kane is the story of another race to explore the Arctic regions near the North Pole. Ken McGoogan tells the story of Elisha Kent Kane and his trip to find Sir John Franklin in the Arctic Circle, where he was trapped by the polar ice. While there Kane forged a unique alliance with the Inuit and so survived two terrible winters in Arctic history. Drawing on manuscripts that had been lost for more than 150 years, this is a story of heroism, courage and conspiracy.

- Amy Salminen Becker

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