The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (Vintage $16.95) "This is not a quick read at almost 700 pages. Byatt rewards such effort, however, by serving a literary feast, telling the story not only of these characters but of their world, one brimming with talk of anarchy and women's suffrage....Byatt fills a huge canvas with the political and social changes that swept the world in those years, and the devastation of war that swept its families. She elicits great compassion for the individual beings caught in that tableau. It's not a tale you'll soon forget." - USA Today
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Picador $16) Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2010. "Thomas Cromwell remains a controversial and mysterious figure. Mantel has filled in the blanks plausibly, brilliantly. Wolf Hall has epic scale but lyric texture. Its 500-plus pages turn quickly, winged and falconlike....Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall is both spellbinding and believable." - The New York Times Book Review
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In the Heart of the Canyon by Elisabeth Hyde (Vintage $15) "This novel follows 12 nature lovers and their guides for two weeks as they raft down the rapids of the Colorado River throught the Grand Canyon. Scenery and adventure abound, but the most important journeys are interior." -- New York Times Book Review
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Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played by L. Jon Wertheim (Mariner $13.95. The players' contrasting styles made this 2008 Wimbledon men's final exciting and extraordinary.
