BITTERSWEET COMEDY OF MANNERS transposes SENSE AND SENSIBILITY to today’s NYC almost-rich almost-literati. SOLID B

THE THREE WEISSMANNS OF WESTPORT
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2010

KNITTERS AND NON-KNITTERS ALIKE can enjoy candid, funny book that spotlights 21st century knitting culture. SOLID B

SWEATER QUEST: MY YEAR OF KNITTING DANGEROUSLY
Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
2010

THE FASCINATING LIFE OF country megastar Tammy Wynette, told in a well-researched (despite hokey prose) book. SOLID B

TAMMY WYNETTE: TRAGIC COUNTRY QUEEN
Penguin Group (USA)
2010

ALTERNATING REPORTAGE, SHORT STORIES, mostly about Texas, feels a bit gimmicky; some of the true stuff is good. SOLID B

NOTHING HAPPENED AND THEN IT DID: A CHRONICLE IN FACT AND FICTION
Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
2010

ESSAYS ON VIDEO GAME art, culture are intriguing, if highfalutin; best when describing a player’s experience. SOLID B

EXTRA LIVES: WHY VIDEO GAMES MATTER
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
2010

BRIEF LIVES ON THE EDGE of ’30s celebrity: joint bio of writer Nathanael West, New Yorker muse Eileen McKenney. SOLID B

LONELYHEARTS: THE SCREWBALL WORLD OF NATHANAEL WEST AND EILEEN MCKENNEY
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2010

ENGLISH POLICE PROCEDURAL shines with gritty dockside setting, dialogue; organ-trafficking plot is a bit much. SOLID B

DEATH WATCH
St. Martin’s Press
2010

FRESH PERSPECTIVE ON TUDOR England in this historical novel about the Protestant bible-smuggling underground. SOLID B

THE HERETIC’S WIFE
St. Martin’s Press
2010

A DEVOTED FAN’S LOOK AT the notebooks in the Agatha Christie archive offers insights into her writing process. SOLID B

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S SECRET NOTEBOOKS: FIFTY YEARS OF MYSTERIES IN THE MAKING
Harper
2010

A FRUSTRATING NOVEL about a frustrated, unhappy man, partially redeemed by a startling, eloquent ending. SOLID B

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Little, Brown & Company
2010