BREEZY OVERVIEW of the economics and culture of online, video, and computer gaming is informative, chatty. SOLID B

FUN INC.: WHY GAMING WILL DOMINATE THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Pegasus Books
2010

A WRITER’S THOUGHTFUL memoir of her intricate and enduring friendship with a fellow writer who died too young. B PLUS

LET’S TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME: A MEMOIR OF FRIENDSHIP
Random House
2010

JANE AUSTEN WITH MAGIC! Fantasy novel set in an alternate Regency, where ladies learn magic as well as piano. A MINUS

SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY
Saint Martin's Press Inc.
2010

EYE-OPENING ACCOUNT of the 2008 cyclone disaster in Burma and the military dictatorship’s callous response. B PLUS

EVERYTHING IS BROKEN: A TALE OF CATASTROPHE IN BURMA
Penguin Group (USA)
2010

GRIM, TENSE, BEAUTIFULLY crafted Japanese thriller captures multiple perspectives on a brutal crime. Chilling. A MINUS

VILLAIN
Pantheon Books
2010

JOKEY COZY MYSTERY, 25th in a series, never picks up steam despite its cross-country train trip setting. B MINUS

LOCO MOTIVE (BED-AND-BREAKFAST SERIES #25)
HarperCollins Publishers
2010

BITTERSWEET, MEDITATIVE NOVEL of a psychologist at midlife helping his clients, students, and himself. B PLUS

THE GOOD PSYCHOLOGIST
Henry Holt and Co.
2010

SURPRISING TRUE SAGA of the self-mythologizing Iowa native who popularized yoga in the early 20th-century US. B PLUS

THE GREAT OOM: THE IMPROBABLE BIRTH OF YOGA IN AMERICA
Penguin Group (USA)
2010

TALE OF A BRILLIANT woman’s life (1880s to 1940s) may be too good at capturing claustrophobia of her marriage. SOLID B

PRIVATE LIFE
Knopf Publishing Group
2010

QUEEN OF HISTORICAL novels Philippa Gregory is great as ever, but her heroine (Henry VII’s mum)? Unappealing! B PLUS

THE RED QUEEN (COUSINS’ WAR #02)
Touchstone Books
2010