After scouring the archives at Lake Forest College, Caroline Preston weaves together fact and fiction in Gatsby’s Girl (Houghton Mifflin; $24), the complicated story of Ginevra King, muse of the famed writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

When her 84-year-old mother’s health began to fade, Oak Park native Iris Krasnow decided to forgive and forget, imparting her advice for “making peace with Mom” in I Am My Mother’s Daughter (Basic Books; $24).

In Fitness Unleashed (Three Rivers Press; $13.95), Northwestern University obesity expert Dr. Robert Kushner and newspaper pet columnist Dr. Marty Becker enlist their dogs as workout buddies.

University of Chicago professor Susan Fromberg Schaeffer’s story “Wolves” appears in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006 (Anchor Books; $14), an annual anthology of the recipients of the esteemed award for short fiction.

Another U. of C. prof, Shadi Bartsch, links philosophy, ancient history, and sex in The Mirror of the Self (University of Chicago Press; $45).

Former Chicago magazine writer Toni Schlesinger releases Five Flights Up (Princeton Architectural Press; $24.95), a compilation of her weekly “Shelter” columns in The Village Voice.

Local author Wendy McClure dispenses the recipes for Fish Balls, Caucasian Shashlik, and Frankfurter Spectacular in The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan (River-head Books; $14), a humorous collection of Weight Watchers recipes from the 1970s.