Maynard Solomon's biography dispenses with music theory to portray a genius unable to rise above personal torment.

Mari Akasaka's novel is a literary road movie about two people who find themselves (literally) in a truck.

Robert Hellenga takes a narrator from a previous book and gets her to tell his Italo-Texan story.

Lucinda Franks can't escape the maudlin in recalling her father's time as an American spy.

Jonathan Safran Foer does 9/11 in his idiosyncratic way — using a boy called Oscar and a mobile phone that goes dead.

Comedian Steve Martin shows unusual deftness in his slim novel about an unpretty girl with hopes.

Khaled Hosseini's second effort outstrips his best-selling first novel, delving into pained father-son ties.

Rchael Sherman's girls are all hurting (lots of acne), but are too thin to stick around for long.