Search results for

This year's treasures include a heart-racing memoir, a fun first novel, a fascinating study of fraternal bonds, plus Toni Morrison's Home and Christopher Hitchens' last work. Critic Heller McAlpin has sifted through piles of new publications and panned for literary gold.

Critic Dan Kois selects the standout graphic novels of the year, which include books from France and Japan, explicit picaresques, hard-boiled mysteries, memoirs, fairy tales and new twists on old classics.

Impostors can be scheming, even villainous, but their stories tempt us with an attractive possibility — the chance to wear a mask. Writer David Anthony suggests three tales about nefarious characters that let us indulge in our fascination with the art of manipulating outward appearances.

Hang on tight. These five new works of fiction will take you on an exhilarating ride. Brace yourself for a noir he-said-she-said, an R-rated version of Marie Antoinette's life and death, a haunting tale from a back-to-nature commune and Toni Morrison's lush Home.

Novelist Colson Whitehead envisions zombies in Manhattan, while Donald Ray Pollock returns to gritty southern Ohio. In nonfiction, Ben Mezrich recounts the heist of moon rocks from NASA, and Mark Hertsgaard looks ahead to the next 50 years of climate change.

Novelist Julie Otsuka returns with a tale of Japanese "picture brides," while singer Shania Twain shares her account of overcoming poverty and divorce to hold her own as a country music star.

Critic Maureen Corrigan's list includes the latest installments in long-running series by mystery genre veterans. She says coming back to familiar plots and characters is as rewarding as returning to a favorite vacation spot each summer.

The author of Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux shares her summer book recommendations for young readers ages 8-13.

Ready for a Halloween scare? Reviewer Etelka Lehoczky says these graphic novels and compilations — packed with creepy cults, alien monsters, gravediggers and ghosts — are just the ticket.

In softcover nonfiction, Michael Hainey searches for clues about his father's death, anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon examines the heated response to his research and catcher Mike Piazza recounts his unlikely rise to the big leagues. In softcover fiction, D.A. Mishani tells of a detective who confronts an unexpectedly difficult case.