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These five outstanding novels take us to unfamiliar eras and exotic locales — ancient Israel, Elizabethan England, 1920s Paris — while confirming our common humanity.

Biographer Jane Leavy strips baseball hero Mickey Mantle of his glamour, while basketball coach Roy Williams looks back on his career, and filmmaker Sam Irvin celebrates the resilient gleam of performer and writer Kay Thompson. Also, C.J. Chivers explores the AK-47 and its impact on warfare.

The most anticipated collections of the year revisit the past and take us to the frontiers of language, borrowing from Twitter memes and overheard conversation, from the classics and bad movies.

Our monthly romance roundup rolls on with four beach-appropriate reads for June, from the supernatural to the astronomical to an old-fashioned tale of family lost and found when you least expect it.

There is just so much to read! Every year many good books get lost under a tide of prose. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer celebrates five books that might have slipped under the radar.

Jeffrey Eugenides traces a love triangle, while Sebastian Barry examines a woman's well-lived life. In nonfiction, Jodi Kantor explores the Obamas' marriage, David Margolick revisits Arkansas school integration, and Simon Garfield romps through the history of type.

Novelist Matthew Quick finds the funny side of a mental patient's recovery, while Anthony Horowitz reimagines Sherlock Holmes. In nonfiction, comedian Darrell Hammond recounts his traumatic childhood, Regis Philbin tracks his rise to TV greatness, and MTV gets its own history book.

Author Wendy Welch shares her favorite book about small-town life that defy stereotypes. What is your favorite work that takes a bite out of literary tradition? Tell us in the comments.

In fiction, Robert Harris explores a financial crash and Jennifer DuBois recounts a fateful meeting. In nonfiction, Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum analyze how the U.S. lags, Tony Horwitz looks at abolitionist John Brown and Adam Gopnik considers the meaning of food.

This drama about a young man's journey with his 5-year-old nephew into the Vietnamese countryside is composed mostly in long, unbroken takes — to quietly mesmerizing effect.