In "Pétronille," Amélie Nothomb comes up with an alter ego and goes the distance.

Donna Leon's 25th Commissario Brunetti mystery dives into Venice's deep waters.

The stories in Ben Marcus's "New American Stories" place the U.S. on an operating table.

Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has written a stunning book about physics, helping to explain the infinite.

The writer's final novel, "Numero Zero," pokes mischievous fun at the conspiratorial tendencies of Italian media.

Javier Marías digs into the web of secrets and lies (and sex) in post-Franco Spain of the 1980s.

Adam Johnson's latest collection presents plain narrators with surreal challenges.

In 2003, Tariq Ali wrote scathingly about the Iraq invasion. Many of his insights stand.

American author Lenore Myka extrapolates stories from her Peace Corps experiences in Romania.

Jonathan Franzen's latest is a sardonic indictment of America's broken dream.

French journalist and screenwriter Emanuele Carrère brings fictional life to a colorful Russian misfit.