Editor’s Choice
Four Fingers of Death, by Rick Moody, $25.99.
A rollicking romp through deep space and Arizona alike, improbable and thoroughly entertaining, courtesy of master storyteller Moody. Mash up Isaac Asimov with Thomas Pynchon, with dashes of Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut, and you begin to approach Moody’s madcap view of the world. Kirkus
FICTION
Red Hook Road, by Ayelet Waldman, $25.95.
Waldman (“Love and Other Impossible Pursuits”) delivers a dense story of irreparable loss that tracks two families across four summers. The narrative is well crafted, and each of the characters comes fully to life. Publishers Weekly
In Harm’s Way, by Ridley Peearson, $25.95.
It’s clear from the beginning that Idaho sheriff Walt Fleming loves Fiona Kenshaw, caretaker of a local estate and part-time sheriff’s photographer. It’s also clear that Kenshaw loves him back, but she has a secret she won’t share. Her heroic rescue of a small child pushes her face to the front pages of the paper, and her past finds her. Booklist
NONFICTION
The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago, by Douglas Perry, $25.95.
This jaunty retrospective of two Jazz Age trials introduces us to the real-life originals of the killer ladies of the musical “Chicago” — and to the society that adored them. Publishers Weekly
Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light, by Jane Brox, $25.
Brox (“Five Thousand Days Like This One: An American Family History”) examines our relationship with light, our attempts to harness it to brighten places we cannot see, and its impact on American psychology and culture. Library Journal
My Teenage Werewolf: A Mother, a Daughter, a Journey Through the Thicket of Adolescence, by Lauren Kessler, $25.95.
Kessler explores the mother/daughter relationship at a particularly vulnerable point — the cusp of her daughter’s entry into adolescence. At 12, Lizzie is often at odds with her mom, who describes her “chilly” relationship with her own mother. Publishers Weekly
PAPERBACKS
Generosity: An Enhancement, by Richard Powers, $15.
Nothing less than the phenomenon of happiness is explored in this rich, challenging novel from polymathic Powers. Think of it as an extended Socratic or Platonic dialogue, animated and communicated by three generously imagined characters. The novel is exuberant, erudite and satisfyingly enigmatic. Publishers Weekly
Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America, by Barbara Ehrenreich, $15.
Ehrenreich eviscerates the positive- thinking movement, which she blames for encouraging us to “deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune, and blame only ourselves for our fate.” Kirkus
The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver, $16.99.
Unapologetically political metafiction from Kingsolver about the small mistakes or gaps (lacunas) that change history. Set in leftist Mexico in the 1930s and the United States in the ’40s and ’50s, the novel is a compilation of diary entries, newspaper clippings (real and fictional), snippets of memoirs, letters and archivist’s commentary, all concerning her protagonist, Harrison Shepherd. Kirkus
COMING UP
Sourland, by Joyce Carol Oates, $25.95.
The prolific Oates is back with another collection of short stories that explore violence, loss and grief. (September)
