LITERATE CHICKFIC with a few new twists: artist heroine, composer hero, grad-school setting. Still, familiar turf. B PLUS

EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL by Katherine Center
New York: Ballantine Books
February 2009

20th-CENTURY FABLE of a black family and community in Oklahoma, told in rich, lyrical language. Vivid characters. A MINUS

LIFE IS SHORT BUT WIDE by J. California Cooper
New York: Doubleday
March 2009

THE GREAT KOREAN-AMERICAN NOVEL in stories. Fresh/ nuanced/funny/touching; vivid pix from an immigrant kid’s life. A MINUS

EVERYTHING ASIAN by Sung J. Woo
New York: Thomas Dunne Books
April 2009

TRIPPY, thoughtful virtual-space saga with cool plot twists, plenty of flash and flair. Williams’s best so far. SOLID A

IMPLIED SPACES by Walter Jon Williams
San Francisco: Night Shade Books
June, 2008

FOR BARBARA VINE FANS ONLY! Starts off well, w/ interesting kinky-Tory premise, but dissipates into non-sequiturs. B minus.

THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT by Barbara Vine
March, 2009
New York: Shaye Areheart Books