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New & Notable Fiction: May 2012 (page 3)

Cover art for HAPPINESS IS A CHEMICAL IN THE BRAIN
FICTION
Released: May 7, 2012
Kirkus Star HAPPINESS IS A CHEMICAL IN THE BRAIN: STORIES
by Lucia Perillo
"Emotionally unflinching stories of considerable power, wonder and humor."
A prize-winning poet (and MacArthur Fellow grant recipient) extends her literary mastery with a debut story collection. Read full book review >
Cover art for MANUAL OF PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star MANUAL OF PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY
by José Saramago, translated by Giovanni Pontiero
"Saramago writes beautifully, and his style is ruminative--not for every taste, but definitely for those who appreciate finely wrought, meditative prose."
Nobel Prize–winning author Saramago explores art and the meaning of life in a posthumous release of his first novel. Read full book review >
Cover art for BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK
by Ben Fountain
"War is hell in this novel of inspired absurdity. "
Hailed as heroes on a stateside tour before returning to Iraq, Bravo Squad discovers just what it has been fighting for. Read full book review >
Cover art for POWERS OF ARREST
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star POWERS OF ARREST
by Jon Talton
"Talton (Deadline Man, 2010, etc.) crafts a solid mystery while telling the engrossing, sometimes poignant story of a cop with a cane who refuses to be pigeonholed."
A brave cop finds the kind of courage he didn't know he had. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE SOLITARY HOUSE
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star THE SOLITARY HOUSE
by Lynn Shepherd
"Shepherd offers an intricate plot and a thousand details of the least-admirable side of Victorian life. A must-read."
Shepherd's latest detective story (Murder at Mansfield Park, 2010) is a Victorian tour de force that borrows characters from Charles Dickens' Bleak House and Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. Read full book review >
Cover art for HHhH
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Star HHHH
translated by Sam Taylor, by Laurent Binet
"Binet deserves great kudos for retrieving this fateful, half-forgotten episode, spotlighting Nazi infamy, celebrating its resisters, and delivering the whole with panache. "
The evergreen allure of Nazis as the embodiment of evil is what drives this French author's soul-stirring work: a hybrid of fact and meta-fiction that won the Prix Goncourt in 2010. Read full book review >