City of Women
by David R. Gillham (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Yet another historical novel set during World War II? Yes. But don’t stop reading just yet. “City of Women,” written by first-time novelist Gillham, tells the story of Sigrid Schröder, a stenographer who lives in Berlin in 1943. She seems like the perfect wife, struggling to make ends meet during wartime while supporting her husband. Except for a damning secret: She has a lover who is Jewish.
How to Be A Person
The Stranger’s Guide to College, Sex, Intoxicants, Tacos and Life Itself
edited by Dan Savage and the staff of The Stranger (Sasquatch Books)
The staff of Seattle’s newspaper The Stranger—with help from Savage of “Savage Love” — have put together an irreverent guide to college. With categories like “How to have a one night stand” (“getting breakfast after is nice”) to “How to binge drink” (“if you get the spins, hang one leg out of bed”) to “How to do laundry.” It could become an underground Bible for all incoming freshmen — just don’t give it to their tuition-paying parents.
And When She Was Good
by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)
New psychological thriller from award-winning mystery writer Lippman follows Heloise Lewis, who between shuttling her son to and from soccer practice runs a profitable prostitution ring. The story jumps back and forth through time, showing how a “nice girl” with a “nothing face” (as her abusive father put it) came to be a successful madam. All the while, tensions build and paranoia bubbles, propelling the reader to a thrilling conclusion.
Vengeance
by Benjamin Black (Henry Holt)
“Vengeance” is the fifth novel to feature pathologist Dr. Quirke, a moodily flawed but brilliant MD. This time the good doctor, still struggling with his own demons, must investigate a suspicious suicide of a rich Dublin businessman. Though author John Banville, who writes his Quirke books under a pen name, is best known for his prize-winning high-lit novels, his mysteries are a fun but still toothy diversion.
Dreamland
Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep
by David K. Randall (W.W. Norton)
Journalist Randall discovered that he was a sleepwalker. From here, the seeds of a story grew —and he went in search of answers of why we know so little about sleeping, an activity that every human shares. The result is a page-turner for the science-minded, with great factoids from Harvard professors who use Tetris in dream studies, to the phenomenon of sexsomania, to how Olympic trainers alter sleep cycles to break records.