AMBITIOUS, QUIRKY PARABLE of NJ suburbanites compelled to reenact LYSISTRATA’s sex strike feels a bit uneven. SOLID B

THE UNCOUPLING
Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
2011

FANS OF CHELSEA HANDLER will laugh at these stories about her many pranks and impostures; others might shrug. SOLID B

LIES THAT CHELSEA HANDLER TOLD ME
Grand Central Publishing
2011

DISTINGUISHED SCOTTISH POET, essayist, novelist Jackie Kay’s amazing memoir about finding her birth parents. A MINUS

RED DUST ROAD: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY
ATLAS
2011

THOUGHTFUL RECESSION-ERA RIFFS on women’s fiction tropes in the latest gem from UK megastar Elizabeth Buchan. B PLUS

SEPARATE BEDS
Viking Adult
2011

FREEWHEELING, WARM-HEARTED, hilarious time travel fantasia stars Dick Cheney (and the mordant wit of Bob Smith). A MINUS

REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS I FORGOT: A NOVEL
University of Wisconsin Press
2011

AN EPISTOLARY ROMANCE for the social media era adds witty touches, some strong characterizations to its gimmick. SOLID B

SAVE AS DRAFT
Simon & Schuster
2011

INSIDE INDIA’S CHANGING society with an Indian-American expatriate journalist. Fascinating interviews, insights.

EVOCATIVE, BEAUTIFUL, VIVID writing ultimately founders on the shoals of this novel’s soap-opera plot twists.

THE LAST THRILLER from the late, great William G. Tapply may lack polish, but has suspense and sizzle to spare.

INSIDE BHUTAN WITH an American who helped the transforming Himalayan nation set up its first FM radio station.