We can't escape the accelerating pace of modern life, argues James Gleick, so we might as well enjoy it. But that doesn't leave time for much else -- say, reading.

Writing about the West is trickier than it looks -- and Annie Proulx, in her new collection of stories, carries it off without a hitch.

There's wit and good writing aplenty in Nick Hornby's "About a Boy." But the plot is a well-worn homily of emotional growth.

In her strange new novel, "Spending," Mary Gordon has taken the themes of Jackie Collins and transposed them to the Upper West Side.

Disney's controlled experiment in small-town life is both a little Utopia and a breed of fascism. But mostly, there's not enough there there.

"East of the Mountains," David Guterson's follow-up to "Snow Falling on Cedars," is polished, heartwarming, civic-minded -- and devoid of mystery.

Frank McCourt's latest is another virtuoso display of charm and sheer likeability. But the suspicion arises: Is he really a misanthrope?

In his new book, Francis Fukuyama offers evidence that things are bound to improve. It's a beautiful theory -- but has he read the papers lately?

New novels by Hanif Kureishi and Chimo are attractively slender -- the book as accesory -- but there's less there than meets the eye.

The Native Americans in "On the Rez" aren't noble savages, to be revered for their mystical connection to nature. For once, refreshingly, they're people.