New Book Roundup: November/December 2009

The following books were first reviewed in November and December of 2009, and some were as published as late as Spring 2010. I'm running an abbreviated version of my usual book roundup since I've got a lot of catching up to do. I haven't annotated every book, but they're as promising a batch as ever.

TOP PICKS

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

The Ask by Sam Lipsyte

FICTION

NOVELS

36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett
The Farmer's Daughter by Jim Harrison
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith
Ransom by David Malouf
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by DC Pierson
The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo
The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
Skylark by Dezso Kosztolanyi

SHORT STORIES

Best European Fiction 2010 ed. by Aleksandar Hemon
Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom

SF/FANTASY

The Secret History of Science Fiction ed. by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel
Unplugged: The Web's Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy: 2008 Download

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy ed. by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
Button, Button: Uncanny Stories by Richard Matheson
Older title I just learned about because of recent films based on the stories, including The Box. The stories sound better than the movies. Stephen King apparently worships this guy.

More Noteworthy Fiction:

The Infinities by John Banville
Point Omega by Don DeLillo
Heresy by S. J. Parris
Lake Overturn by Vestal Mcintyre
The Parisian Prodigal by Alan Gordon
Requiem in Vienna: A Viennese Mystery by J. Sydney Jones
Paganini's Ghost: A Mystery by Paul Adam
Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri
Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolano
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Devil's Dream by Madison Smartt Bell
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
Snapped by Pamela Klaffke
Something Is Out There: Stories by Richard Bausch
The God Engines by John Scalzi
Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov
Under the Dome by Stephen King

NONFICTION

ARTS and MUSIC

Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found by Joe BonomoWhat with the hot Broadway show Million Dollar Quartet, it's a perfect time for a Lewis bio.
The Cello Suites: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece by Eric Siblin
All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927-77 by Tony Fletcher

LITERATURE

The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman
Birthright: The True Story that Inspired Kidnapped by A. Roger Ekirch
Planisphere: New Poems by John Ashbery
Eunoia by Christian Bok
Spotted this book on display in a great bookstore and immediately wanted to buy it. There's a chapter of poems for each vowel, restricted to that vowel. Perec fans, pay heed.
Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds ed. by Billy Collins
The Poetry of Rilke tr. by Edward Snow
Easy by Marie Ponsot
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar
Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic by Michael Scammell
The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century by Alan Brinkley
The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Darnton
Literary Hoaxes: An Eye-Opening History of Famous Frauds by Melissa Katsoulis
Read Me: A Century of Classic American Book Advertisements by Dwight Garner

HISTORY

Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation by Charles Glass
Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities by Paul Cartledge
America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States by David Reynolds
A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played by Marshall Jon Fisher

POLITICS

Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work Is Done by Susan J. Douglas

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Galapagos: Preserving Darwin's Legacy ed. by Tui De Roy
Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity by James Hansen

MISC.

To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism by Chuck Thompson
The Sartorialist by Scott SchumanIt's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies: A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols by Michael P. Spradlin
Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler
The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany by Graeme Gibson
Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Greg M. Epstein
Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman

Of Gay Interest:

Mapping the Territory: Selected Nonfiction by Christopher Bram50 Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read by Richard Canning
The Hour Between: A Novel by Sebastian Stuart


Also Noteworthy:
The Vampire Maker (Vampire Vow Series #4) by Michael Schiefelbein
The Changing World Of Gay Men by Peter Robinson
Before Wilde: Sex between Men in Britain's Age of Reform by Charles Upchurch
Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing by Raphael Kadushin
Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies by James W. Neill
Party Animals: A Hollywood Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr by Robert Hofler
Something to Declare: Good Lesbian Travel Writing ed. by Gillian Kendall

Graphic Work:

Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
West Coast Blues by Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi

Also Noteworthy:
Popeye, Volume 4: "Plunder Island" by E. C. Segar
Is Diss a System?: A Milt Gross Comic Reader ed. by Ari Kelman
Tales Designed to Thrizzle, Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman
The Complete Peanuts: 1973-1974 by Charles M. Schulz

More Noteworthy Nonfiction:

The History of Paris in Painting
The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love
Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney by Marion MeadeMurder by David Thomson
Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer
The Great Empires of the Ancient World by Thomas Harrison
Charles Dickens: A Life Defined by Writing by Michael Slater
To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism by Chuck Thompson
The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives by Shankar Vedantam
Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy by Lisa Dodson
First As Tragedy, Then As Farce by Slavoj Zizek
The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again by Robert W. McChesney, Nichols John
The Birth (and Death) of the Cool by Ted Gioia
The Long Sixties: From 1960 to Barack Obama by Tom Hayden
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Flight from Monticello: Thomas Jefferson at War by Michael Kranish
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford
Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater by Eric Peter Nash
Type, Volume 1: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles by Cees De Jong et al.
The Gift of Thanks: The Roots and Rituals of Gratitude by Margaret Visser
The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe are Alike by Peter Baldwin
Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife by Francine Prose
Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age by Kurt W. Beyer
Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry by Elizabeth Grossman