This is John Updike's original volume of stories about his alter ego, Henry Bech, who in many ways is as unlike Updike as it's possible to be (Jewish, short, unmarried, and a failure who suffers from writer's block). Updike, however, finds his way inside Bech's mind, and gives us a hero who is very real, zanily hilarious, and (despite everything) utterly lovable.

This third installment in Byatt's planned series of four novels (after THE VIRGIN IN THE GARDEN and STILL LIFE). set in 1964, is about Frederica, who, with her four-year-old son, leaves her abusive husband Nigel and goes to London to earn her living alone. She becomes involved with the publication of a nihilistic novel, which is subsequently banned after a lengthy court case.

This third installment in Byatt's planned series of four novels (after THE VIRGIN IN THE GARDEN and STILL LIFE). set in 1964, is about Frederica, who, with her four-year-old son, leaves her abusive husband Nigel and goes to London to earn her living alone. She becomes involved with the publication of a nihilistic novel, which is subsequently banned after a lengthy court case.

This third installment in Byatt's planned series of four novels (after THE VIRGIN IN THE GARDEN and STILL LIFE). set in 1964, is about Frederica, who, with her four-year-old son, leaves her abusive husband Nigel and goes to London to earn her living alone. She becomes involved with the publication of a nihilistic novel, which is subsequently banned after a lengthy court case.

This series, from one of the people responsible for the Left Behind series, follows the adventures of a globe-trotting, lone-wolf prophecy scholar. In BABYLON RISING, Michael Murphy uncovers evidence of an increasing evil in the world.

Times are tough in the Altmyer family. With the maniacally abusive Mr. Altmyer dead and Mrs. Altmyer serving time for his murder, adolescent, hormone-raging Harley has just inherited the role of caretaker for his three younger sisters. Told from Harley's point of view, this debut novel set in a rural Pennsylvania mining town tells of his experiences as a teenage father figure, a lover of an older single mother, and a primary suspect in a brutal murder.

Spenser investigates an unsolved 1974 murder at the behest of the victim's daughter. A bystander apparently killed in the course of a bank robbery, Emily Gordon was in the wrong place at the wrong time--or was she? When it becomes clear that key evidence has vanished, Spenser begins to wonder if something altogether darker is going on....

Anne Tyler's 15th novel takes us into the life of Rebecca and the noisy, rowdy, difficult members of the Davitch family. When Rebecca marries Joseph Davitch, she becomes the stepmother of his three kids, then has a daughter of her own. Her husband dies in a car crash, after which yet more Davitches come to live with her. Somehow, Rebecca--in the midst of her own troubles--holds it all together, but, she begins to suspect, at the cost of her own self. A New York Times Notable Book for 2001.

Anne Tyler's 15th novel takes us into the life of Rebecca and the noisy, rowdy, difficult members of the Davitch family. When Rebecca marries Joseph Davitch, she becomes the stepmother of his three kids, then has a daughter of her own. Her husband dies in a car crash, after which yet more Davitches come to live with her. Somehow, Rebecca--in the midst of her own troubles--holds it all together, but, she begins to suspect, at the cost of her own self. A New York Times Notable Book for 2001.

In this collection of stories set firmly amid the details of daily life, Tobias Wolff writes about people who are trying to keep time at bay with drugs, sex, or possessions. His characters include teenagers, priests, show business people, and--as always--Vietnam vets, to whom the phrase "back in the world" meant America and safety.