Editor’s Choice
A Fraction of the Whole, by Steve Toltz, $24.95. At the heart of this sprawling, dizzying debut from a quirky, assured Australian writer are two men: Jasper Dean, a judgmental but forgiving son, and Martin, his brilliant but dysfunctional father. Comparisons to “Special Topics in Calamity Physics” are likely, but this nutty tour de force has a more tender, more worldly spin. Publishers Weekly
FICTION
The Night Following, by Morag Joss, $22. A calamitous accident is followed by an even more unsettling event in this sixth helping of psychological suspense from Joss (“Half Broken Things,” etc.). Joss begins her psychological vivisection where other suspense novelists leave off. The results are extraordinary. Kirkus
Remember Me, by Sophie Kinsella, $25. Amnesia tales may be old hat, but Kinsella (“Shopaholic”) keeps things fresh and frothy with workplace politicking, romantic intrigue and a vibrant (though sometimes caricatured) cast. Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
Praise From a Future Generation: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy and the First Generation Critics of the Warren Report, by John Kelin, $29.95. For more than 40 years, a small band of self-anointed investigators have made a cottage industry out of critiquing the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of JFK and postulating elaborate theories associated with that tragedy. Kelin — one of the second generation of critics and the founder of the JFK assassination Web magazine Fair Play — pays homage to the first generation. Publishers Weekly
Ravens in the Storm, by Carl Oglesby, $25. In “Ravens in the Storm,” Oglesby not only tells his own amazing story, but also provides an interesting angle on the contested history of Students for a Democratic Society. Publishers Weekly
PAPERBACKS
Moral Disorder and Other Stories, by Margaret Atwood, $13.95. An intriguing patchwork of poignant episodes, Atwood’s latest set of stories (after “The Tent”) chronicles 60 years of a Canadian family, from postwar Toronto to a farm in the present. Publishers Weekly
Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl, by Steven Bach, $16.95. A former movie producer and, subsequently, chronicler of Hollywood legends (“Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend,” 1992) and legendary fiascos (“Final Cut,” 1985) revisits what a documentary filmmaker once called “the wonderful, horrible life” of cinema’s most controversial figure. Kirkus
In the Country of Men, by Hisham Matar, $12. Shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, Matar’s debut novel tracks the effects of Libyan strongman Khadafy’s 1969 September revolution on the el-Dawani family, as seen by 9-year-old Suleiman, who narrates as an adult. Publishers Weekly
COMING UP
In Nixon’s Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate, by L. Patrick Gray III, $26. Here is the firsthand account of the late acting FBI director’s year during Watergate, with all the intrigue that permeated Washington, D.C., during the period. (March)
The Garden of Last Days, by Andre Dubus III, $24.95. From the author of “House of Sand and Fog” comes a new novel about sex, parenthood, honor and masculinity. (June)
