Editor’s Choice
The Financial Lives of the Poets, by Jess Walter, $25. National Book Award finalist Walter’s bitterly funny follow-up to “The Zero” could not be more topical in its depiction of a leveraged to-the-hilt culture run amok, and wiseacre Matt makes for a distinctly flawed Everyman running out of chances. This is midlife crisis farce laced with some larger truths about how we live now. Kirkus
FICTION
The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, by Peter Ackroyd, $26.95. A brilliant riff on ideas that have informed literary, horror and science fiction for nearly two centuries. Ackroyd laces his narrative intelligently with the Romantic-era ideals of Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, and deftly interweaves Victor’s fictional travails with events of the well-known 1816 meeting between the poets that inspired Mary to draft her landmark story. Publishers Weekly
Blood Game, by Iris Johansen, $27.95. Best seller Johansen’s latest Eve Duncan forensics thriller features an all-too-mortal vampire. Johansen risks alienating some readers as the series slips deeper into the supernatural, but die-hards will be pleased Eve at last finds some peace in her ever-growing bond with Joe. Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
D-Day: The Battle for Normandy, by Antony Beevor, $32.95. The grand Allied invasion of Normandy had myriad ways to go wrong, writes historian Beevor in this skilled account. Miraculously, it did not. His account of atrocities on both sides, of errors committed and of surpassing bravery makes for excellent — though often blood- soaked — reading. Beevor gets better with each book. Kirkus
Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, by Michael Chabon, $25.99. An entertaining omnibus of opinionated essays previously published mostly in Details magazine spotlights novelist Chabon’s model of being an attentive, honest father and a fairly observant Jew. Candid, warm and humorous, Chabon’s essays display his habitual attention to craft.Publishers Weekly
American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood, by Marc Eliot, $25.99. Eliot, biographer of stars ranging from Walt Disney to Bruce Springsteen, tackles the life, career and artistic challenges of Clint Eastwood. Although Eastwood did not consent to be interviewed and key sources asked not to be named, Eliot documents a wealth of details in this well-researched, comprehensive biography. Publishers Weekly
PAPERBACKS
Supreme Courtship, by Christopher Buckley, $13.99. Once again, Buckley returns to his pet theme: the vanity and perfidy of the capital’s ruling elite. And once again he delivers serious insights along with antics. Part of Buckley’s charm is that he seems to wink every time he sends off a groaner. But at his best he is very, very funny. Publishers Weekly
The Book of Fathers, by Miklos Vamos, $15.95. In this sprawling chronicle of the Csillag family, celebrated Hungarian author Vámos depicts the lives of 12 generations of men, each a first-born son, and in the process offers a whimsical 400-year history of his native country. Publishers Weekly COMING UP
Where the God of Love Hangs Out, by Amy Bloom, $25. Bloom explores the unexpected patterns that all forms of love and loss weave into our lives. A young woman struggles to come to terms with her roommate’s murder; a man and his daughter-in-law confess their sins in the most unlikely of places. (January)
