Bookworm

The Almost Moon (Little, Brown) Alice Sebold wrote The Lovely Bones, one of the most beloved and lovable books in recent years. How did she prepare herself for the onslaught she'll face with The Almost Moon, a book which, for all its quality, is resolutely in the realm of unlovability.

The Guardians (Random House) This is a novel about borders in which borders disappear: the border between old and young, between secular and sacred, between states—but not the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

Spook Country (Putnam)Along with the most sophisticated future-predictions, speculations about the sociology of cities, and adventures in virtual post-realities, William Gibson has finally learned how to get his characters from one room to another.

Das Kapital: A Novel of Love and Money Markets (Simon & Schuster)Viken Berberian writes in a post-modern apocalyptic vein about billionaire stock traders, terrorists and nationalists.  

The Shadow Catcher (Simon & Schuster) With its fascinating combination of history, biography, memoir and essay, is The Shadow Catcher a novel?

No one belongs here more than you and Learning to Love You More, co-author Harrell Fletcher (Prestel) Miranda July's film Me and You and Everyone We Know captured the mood of a generation –- and its attention. In this first book of stories, we find the same fear of paralysis, the same narcotized, sleepwalker affect. Why does Miranda July, a tireless whirlwind, identify with these listless characters?

The Ministry of Special Cases (Knopf)Nathan Englander uses desapareacidos to stand for all kinds of disappearance. Here, we focus on yet another: his own.

The Perfect Man (Random House)Naeem Murr's work has been described as perverse—but he insists that this perversity seems ordinary to him.

Michael Ondaatje's novels come together through obsession and intuition. He works in the dark, not knowing where he is heading, juxtaposing disparate materials, noticing echoes and recurrences.

Their Dogs Came with Them (Atria) Helena Maria Viramontes has written about L.A.-based Latino culture before -- but who could have expected this epic work about a neighborhood that is divided by a freeway, cut off and lost in Los Angeles. Viramontes explores the explosive insights that gave her the ability to grow as a novelist.