Was It Beautiful?
By Alison McGhee (Three Rivers $13)
A novel that centers on a small, grieving town in the Adirondacks.
Remarkable Reads: 34 Writers and Their Adventures in Reading
Edited by J. Peder Zane (Norton $15.95)
Frederick Busch, Aimee Bender and other authors write about books they’ve read and the power of literature.
Scottish Girls About Town
By Jenny Colgan, Isla Dewar, Muriel Gray, et al. (Downtown $13)
A collection of stories by Scottish female authors.
The Chinese in America
By Iris Chang (Penguin $16)
Details 150 years in the history of Chinese immigrants.
The Speed of Dark
By Elizabeth Moon (Ballantine $13.95)
A novel about an autistic man who must decide whether to undergo an experimental surgery.
Heroes
By David Shields (University of Nebraska Press $16.95)
A novel about a sportswriter who has to choose between advancing his career and helping a team.
Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana
By Stephanie Elizondo Griest (Villard $13.95)
The author shares her experiences traveling through 12 nations of the communist bloc.
Pictures and Tears: A History of People Who Have Cried in Front of Paintings
By James Elkins (Routledge $19.95)
Examines the emotions paintings can evoke.
Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?: The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music
By Mark Zwonitzer, with Charles Hirshberg (Simon & Schuster $15)
A biography of the Carter family and its influence on folk, country and bluegrass music.
A Memory of War
By Frederick Busch (Ballantine $14.95)
A novel about a psychologist whose life is falling apart as he meets his estranged half-brother.
The Mailroom: Hollywood History From the Bottom Up
By David Rensin (Ballantine $14.95)
Inside accounts of working in talent-agency mailrooms and trying to make it in Hollywood.
Blue Suburbia
By Laurie Lico Albanese (Perennial $12.95)
A memoir of a blue-collar upbringing written in free verse.
Wedding Season
By Darcy Cosper (Three Rivers $12.95)
A novel about a woman who doesn’t want to get married and must attend 17 weddings in six months.
The Only Girl in the Car
By Kathy Dobie (Delta $13)
The author describes how sexual experience shaped her adolescence.
Lost in America: A Journey With My Father
By Sherwin B. Nuland (Vintage $12)
The author recalls his relationship with his immigrant father.
Jefferson’s Great Gamble: The Remarkable Story of Jefferson, Napoleon and the Men Behind the Louisiana Purchase
By Charles A. Cerami (Sourcebooks $14.95)
A look at Thomas Jefferson and other figures involved in the Louisiana Purchase.
I Am the Central Park Jogger
By Trisha Meili (Scribner $13)
The author shares the story of her brutal rape and beating in New York City’s Central Park in 1989 and how it changed her life.
Dreams of Bread and Fire
By Nancy Kricorian (Grove $13)
A novel about a young woman of Jewish and Armenian heritage who begins to investigate her family history.
Vicious Spring
By Hollis Hampton-Jones (Riverhead $13)
A debut novel that takes a darkly comic look at teenage life in Nashville.
Consider the Eel
By Richard Schweid (Da Capo $16.95)
All about the life and history of freshwater eels.
The Adventures of Lucky Pierre: Directors’ Cut
By Robert Coover (Grove $14)
A novel about an actor set in a utopian capital city.
On the Natural History of Destruction
By W.G. Sebald (Modern Library $12.95)
Examines the legacy of the destruction of German cities during World War II.
Crawfish Dreams
By Nancy Rawles (Anchor $13)
A novel about a woman who sets up a business cooking Louisiana-style in Los Angeles.
Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society
By Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said (Vintage $13)
Dialogues about music, literature and society between conductor Daniel Barenboim and literary critic Edward W. Said.
A Box of Matches
By Nicholson Baker (Vintage $12.95)
A novel that details one man’s daily contemplations of life.
Ice Cream
By Helen Dunmore (Grove $12)
The author’s first collection of short stories published in the U.S.
Cosmopolis
By Don DeLillo (Scribner $13)
The National Book Award-winning novelist follows one bizarre limo ride in the life of a billionaire.
Lies, Inc.
By Philip K. Dick (Vintage $12)
The final, expanded version of the novella “The Unteleported Man.”
The Final Confession of Mabel Stark
By Robert Hough (Grove $13)
A novel about the life of tiger trainer Mabel Stark.
The Blue Moon Circus
By Michael Raleigh (Sourcebooks $14)
A novel about a retired circus man who gives circus life another try.
