Seabiscuit: An American Legend, By Laura Hillenbrand; The Hole in the Universe, By K. C. Cole

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

Alan Hollinghurst’s fourth novel is a scathing examination of the sexual, racial, and class fault lines of the Thatcher era.

A ballyhooed Corrections knockoff from Down Under points up the stalled state of the social novel.

Kissing in Manhattan
By David Schickler
Sister Crazy
By Emma Richler

Beneath the bright cocktail patter of 'Akron,' there is not only the whiff of smugness that often accompanies the irreproachably hip, but also a critical remoteness.

James Frey’s barroom machismo is the key to a swaggering recovery in his new memoir of addiction.

Greek Fire: The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis
By Nicholas Gage; 424 pages; Alfred A. Knopf; $26.95.
America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
By Sarah Bradford; 500 pages; Viking; $29.95.

From the wilderness (the Adirondacks) comes a voice (Bill McKibben’s Enough) telling us that the end is near unless we repent (technologically). Scientists aren’t likely to listen.

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.