Allegra Maud Goldman
By Edith Konecky (Feminist Press $14.95)
A novel set in 1930s Brooklyn about a Jewish girl coming of age in an environment that stifles who she truly is.
The Cage Keeper and Other Stories
By Andre Dubus III (Vintage Contemporaries $12)
A story collection by the author of “House of Sand and Fog” that explores the pain, passion, trials and tribulations of the human condition.
Island
By Jane Rogers (Mariner $13)
A novel of a young woman who was abandoned as a girl and decides, with homicidal intent, to hunt down her birth mother.
The Atlantic Sound
By Caryl Phillips (Vintage International $13)
The author travels to the three major ports of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and explores its horrific history and his own experiences as a black man.
Lying Awake
By Mark Salzman (Vintage Contemporaries $12)
A novel of a Carmelite nun who experiences debilitating headaches and spiritual visions, and wonders if curing the former will stop the latter.
Cemetery Stories
By Katherine Ramsland (HarperEntertainment $13)
A look at cemeteries, gravediggers and other final-resting-place matters.
How to Read and Why
By Harold Bloom (Touchstone $15)
Yale University professor Harold Bloom explores the process of reading.
Primitive People
By Francine Prose (Perennial $13)
A comedic novel that looks at the world of the upper class from the point of view of a Haitian immigrant woman.
The Hill Bachelors
By William Trevor (Penguin $13)
Poignant short stories about people in search of peace, love and a new life.
Ray in Reverse
By Daniel Wallace (Penguin, $13)
A dark comedic tale of a man’s life told in reverse.
I’d Hate Myself in the Morning
By Ring Lardner Jr. (Thunder’s Mouth Press, $14.95)
A memoir of the author’s life, from his apprenticeship with entertainment mogul David O. Selznick to subsequent work as a screenwriter and a place on the Hollywood blacklist.
Mall
By Eric Bogosian (Scribner, $13)
One horrific, life-altering night brings together five suburbanites at a mall.
Civil Warriors
By Dan Zegart (Delta, $14.95)
Dissects the battle between the tobacco industry and the crusaders who fought it.
In the Walled City
By Stewart O’Nan (Grove Press, $12)
Twelve stories that explore the human spirit and its ability to overcome even the most tragic of circumstances.
Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter
By Kazik (Simha Rotem) (Yale University Press, $9.95)
The memoir of a man who, with others in the Warsaw Ghetto, fought the Nazis.
A Way of Life, Like Any Other
By Darcy O’Brien (New York Review Books, $12.95)
A novel of a teenager in Hollywood whose movie-star parents have just split up.
In My Brother’s Image
By Eugene L. Pogany (Penguin, $14)
A memoir that recounts the story of identical twin brothers whose close bond was destroyed by the Holocaust.
Against Interpretation and Other Essays
By Susan Sontag (Picador USA, $14)
A collection of essays, originally published in 1966, that here is accompanied by a new afterword by the author.
Bread for the Baker’s Child
By Joseph Caldwell (Sarabande Books, $13.95)
A nun and her gay brother’s lives are intertwined in a tale that considers questions of family and fate.
Anything for Billy
By Larry McMurtry (Scribner, $14)
A fictional account of the adventures of Billy the Kid in the Wild West.
Highlanders: A Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory
By Yo’av Karny (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $15)
In the Caucasus, journalist Yo’av Karny chronicles the way of life of some of the smallest ethnic groups in existence.
War of the Words
Edited by Joy Press (Three Rivers Press, $14)
A compilation of critical writings taken from 20 years of the Voice Literary Supplement.
One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw
By Witold Rybczynski (Touchstone, $12)
The history and merits of an indispensable part of the toolbox.
Gal: A True Life
By Ruthie Bolton (New American Library, $12.95)
Chronicles the life of an abused woman who goes from being a hardened child to living a bitter adulthood–until love finds its way to her heart.
Author Unknown: Tales of a Literary Detective
By Don Foster (Holt, $15)
Proposes that language is used so uniquely by individuals that everyone has a literary DNA, and thus anonymous authors can be unmasked.
Married to Laughter
By Jerry Stiller (Touchstone, $14)
A memoir of the comedian’s life in show business and his relationship with fellow comedian Anne Meara.
The Lost Heart of Asia
By Colin Thubron (HarperPerennial, $14)
A travel writer’s exploration of Central Asia.
Midlifeman: A Book for Guys and the Women Who Want to Understand Them
By Larry Krotz (McClelland & Stewart, $19.95)
A look at issues confronted by men in their 40s and 50s.
Quarrel & Quandary
By Cynthia Ozick (Vintage International, $13)
Essays on poetry, writers and more.
Cochrane: The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain
By Robert Harvey (Carroll & Graf, $14)
Biography of a crafty, maverick British naval officer of the 1800s.
The Elementary Particles
By Michel Houellebecq (Vintage International, $13)
A novel of two half-brothers and the problems of modern life.
Best New American Voices 2001
Edited by Charles Baxter (Harvest, $14)
A collection of stories by new writers.
