Complete book coverage for August 9, 2009

A teething baby interrupts the flow of words that come only with sleep. What’s a writer to do?

Aug. 9, 2009

Victor LaValle’s “Big Machine” evokes the grotesque horrors found in Stephen King, T.E.D. Klein and Shirley Jackson, but with a style all his own.

Aug. 9, 2009

The relentless cacophony that is life in the 21st century can make settling in with a book difficult even for lifelong readers and those who are paid to do it.

Aug. 9, 2009

Betrayal, and its consequences.

Aug. 9, 2009

A clash of ideals, a gallery of historic candidates and the election of a lifetime.

Aug. 9, 2009

An author’s return to his university stamping ground is less a travelogue of a place than a record of his moods and memories.

Aug. 9, 2009

Mati Unt, translated from the Estonian by Eric Dickens

Aug. 9, 2009

The creator of Elric, Jerry Cornelius and so much more reflects on his work, his career and what it was like to be a sci-fi writer in the Golden Days of the 1960s.

Aug. 9, 2009

‘Nog’; ‘Love, Anger, Madness’; ‘Becoming Bucky Fuller’

Aug. 9, 2009

Fiction Weeks on list1.The Defector by Daniel Silva (Putnam: $26.95) When a Russian defector disappears, Gabriel Allon is forced to track down a deadly arms dealer.2 2.Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner (Atria: $26.99) Two childhood friends on the outs since high school reconnect when one is in trouble.2 3.Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (Random House: $25) Two sisters from Shanghai encounter tragedy and heartbreak as they are sold into arranged marriages in 1930s Los Angeles.9 4.Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $22.99) The final book in the “Twilight” saga finds Bella choosing immortality. 525.The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $25.95) A hacker, implicated in two murders, must revisit her past to prove her innocence.16.The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Doubleday: $26.95) A novelist in 1920s Barcelona takes a dangerous writing assignment.67.The Shimmer by David Morrell (Vanguard: $25.95) A police officer searching for his missing wife encounters unexplained nighttime phenomena.18.The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. 99.Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown: $27.99)A supermodel disappears from a photo shoot in Hawaii.5 10.Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella (Dial Press: $26) A woman is visited by the spirit of her great aunt requesting she locate a long-lost necklace.1 11.Rain Gods by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster: $25.99) The sheriff of a tiny Texas town investigates the mass murder of illegal immigrants on the Mexican border.2 12.Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death.55 13.Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney (Amulet: $12.95) Greg’s dad enlists him in sports to toughen him up.24 14.Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (Ace: $25.95) Sookie Stackhouse finds herself a pawn in a war with a race of unhuman beings. 6 15.Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovich (St.

Aug. 9, 2009

Fiction 1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson ($14.95) 2.

Aug. 9, 2009