THE GREATEST MULTICULTURAL SPACE OPERA ever written continues with this gritty, action-packed adventure. A MINUS #beachread

SLY MONGOOSE
Tor Books
2008

POTENTIALLY INTERESTING fictional look at Detroit politics from an insider’s perspective, doomed by turgid prose. C MINUS

STREET JUDGE
Strebor Books
2008

SARCASTIC, RUEFUL, ridiculous, sad memoir of a girlhood in a dysfunctional family of devoted Jehovah’s Witnesses. B PLUS

I’M PERFECT, YOU’RE DOOMED: TALES FROM A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS UPBRINGING
Touchstone Books
2009

SAVVY, FUNNY look at the history and spirit of the Guinness Book of Records, and the author’s own two world records. B PLUS

GETTING INTO GUINNESS: ONE MAN’S LONGEST, FASTEST, HIGHEST JOURNEY INSIDE THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS RECORD BOOK
Harper
2008

GLITZY, JET-SET take on the family saga; witty shots at ’90s English politics, culture get lost in soap-opera plot. B MINUS

GODCHILDREN
St. Martin’s Press
2008

FAST-PACED, FUNNY, FACT-FILLED look at the history of TV infomercials. Lots of detail, interviews, witty writing. B PLUS

BUT WAIT … THERE’S MORE!: TIGHTEN YOUR ABS, MAKE MILLIONS, AND LEARN HOW THE $100 BILLION INFOMERCIAL INDUSTRY SOLD US EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK
HarperBusiness
2009

A JOURNALIST’S FIRST ENCOUNTER with his parents’ native Cuba. Vivid details and stories, but writing’s a bit logy. B MINUS

TAKE ME WITH YOU: A MEMOIR
Atria
2008

ASTONISHING, TOUCHING, HILARIOUS novel about a multicultural neighborhood in Rome shines in luminous translation. SOLID A

CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS OVER AN ELEVATOR IN PIAZZA VITTORIO
Penguin Group (USA)
2008

POLICE PROCEDURAL MEETS COZY MYSTERY with a touch of the X-Files in this latest tale of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. B PLUS

THE VICTORIA VANISHES: A PECULIAR CRIMES UNIT MYSTERY
Bantam
2008

IMAGE-RICH, SMART RETROSPECTIVE traces the origins of spy icon James Bond in the life of his creator, Ian Fleming. SOLID B

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: IAN FLEMING + JAMES BOND
Bloomsbury UK
2008