INTENSE YET DELICATELY crafted interlocking fables of people living in a world where pain has become visible. B PLUS

THE ILLUMINATION: A NOVEL
Pantheon
2011

FANTASTIC, COMPLEX SPY thriller follows an English historian caught up in a still-smoldering Cold War scandal. B PLUS

THE TRINITY SIX
St. Martin's Press
2011

HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATED meditation on radioactivity, the Curies, and the impact of science on society. B PLUS

RADIOACTIVE
It Books
2010

COMPLETELY CHARMING MEMOIR of a young couple’s first year of organic farming is candid, not too starry-eyed. B PLUS

THE WISDOM OF THE RADISH: AND OTHER LESSONS LEARNED ON A SMALL FARM
Sasquatch Books
2011

BLEAKLY COMIC NOIR caper sings with a true Los Angeleno’s evocation of the city’s past and present. B PLUS

SHORTCUT MAN
Scribner
2011

A LOOK INSIDE the underground newspaper revolution of the 1960s in this deeply researched (if a bit dry) book. SOLID B

SMOKING TYPEWRITERS: THE SIXTIES UNDERGROUND PRESS AND THE RISE OF ALTERNATIVE MEDIA IN AMERICA
Oxford University Press
2011

QUIRKY, LARGER-THAN-LIFE characters abound in this latest Wyoming picaresque from Tim Sandlin. SOLID B

LYDIA
Sourcebooks Landmark
2011

ENGROSSING LOOK AT some of Victorian England’s key figures and their fascination with erotica, sexual freedom. SOLID B

PLEASURE BOUND: VICTORIAN SEX REBELS AND THE NEW EROTICISM
W. W. Norton & Company
2011

CHARMING FRENCH NOVEL follows four Gen-X siblings stealing time from their complicated lives to hang out, bond. B PLUS

FRENCH LEAVE
Europa Editions, Incorporated
2011

BLEAK WELSH NOIR follows an amnesiac detective on the run from enemies he can’t remember. Wryly powerful. B PLUS

BANK OF THE BLACK SHEEP
Serpent’s Tail
2011