Editor’s Choice
Imperial Bedrooms, by Bret Easton Ellis, $4.95.
Ellis explores what disillusioned youth looks like 25 years later in this brutal sequel to “Less Than Zero.” Ellis fans will delight in the characters and Ellis’ easy hand in manipulating their fates, and though the novel’s synchronicity with “Zero” is sublime, this also works as a stellar stand-alone. Publishers Weekly
FICTION
Lowcountry Summer, by Dorothea Benton Frank, $25.99.
With a sizable cast of minor characters with major attitude, Frank lovingly mixes a brew of personalities who deliver nonstop clashes, meltdowns and commentaries; below the always-funny theatrics, however, is a compelling saga of loss and acceptance. When Frank nails it, she really nails it, and she does so here. Publishers Weekly
Galveston, by Nic Pizzolatto, $25.
Pizzolatto takes a hard-edged look at the stormy life of a compassionate criminal in his impressive first novel. He vividly captures Galveston, Texas, in all its desperate vulnerability as it faces the approach of Hurricane Ike in September 2008. Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth by James M. Tabor, $26.
Tabor contrasts two sterling teams, one American and the other Russian, in their perilous search to locate the deepest supercave on Earth. Using a pulse-pounding narrative, this is tense real-life adventure pitting two master cavers mirroring the Cold War with uncommonly high stakes. Publishers Weekly
Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us — And How to Know When Not to Trust Them, by David H. Freedman, $25.99.
Freedman (coauthor of “A Perfect Mess”) makes the case that scientists, finance wizards, relationship gurus, health researchers and other supposed authorities are as likely to be wrong as right. Freedman provides 11 “never-fail” rules for not being misled — but of course, he admits, he could be wrong. Publishers Weekly Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy, by Bruce Watson. $27.95.
Watson (“Sacco and Vanzetti”) creates a complete picture of this decisive summer, from the makeup of the young students who risked their lives to volunteer to a comprehensive portrait of a nation on the brink of wrenching change in race relations. Publishers Weekly
PAPERBACKS
Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger, $15.
This outing may not be as blindly romantic as “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” but it is mature, complex and convincing — a dreamy yet visceral tale of loves both familial and erotic, a search for Self in the midst of obsession with an Other. The New York Times
Abigail Adams, by Woody Holton, $18.
While Abigail Adams has always been viewed as one of the most illustrious of America’s founding mothers, University of Richmond historian Holton, drawing on the rich collection of Adams’ letters and other manuscripts, paints a strong-minded woman whose boldness developed in the context of the revolutionary era in which she lived. Publishers Weekly
This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper, $15.
In the newest work from Tropper (“How to Talk to a Widower”), the Foxman family spend a week together and the world practically implodes. Highly recommended for Tropper fans, who will rejoice at the opportunity to indulge; others will wonder where he’s been all their lives. Library Journal
COMING UP
Ape House, by Sara Gruen, $26. Gruen’s “Water for Elephants” met with immense success, hitting book clubs everywhere. She returns with the story she turns from elephants to a family of bonobo apes to teach humans a few lessons. (September)
