We hope you're fully recovered from last week's talk of banned books and ready to take on these new titles out this week...
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell: "What we assume to be entrenched advantages, he says, don’t always offer the edge we may expect: top dogs beware. What’s more, personal hurdles, family troubles, social inequities—though they may look like disadvantages—can propel misfits further than risk-averse meritocrats dream." (The Atlantic)
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert: "The Signature of All Things is one of those rewardingly fact-packed books that make readers feel bold and smart by osmosis. Alma commits her life to ceaseless study, but reading this vibrant, hot-blooded book about her takes no work at all." (New York Times)
Blowback by Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett: Read an excerpt from Valerie Plame's novel at Time.
T. C. Boyle Stories II by T. C. Boyle: "Death, or the threat of death, is all over these stories — or more accurately, a sense of mortality, of time zeroing in. If his earlier work was marked by a gleeful willingness to take on anything, here his focus is largely naturalistic, even when, as in 'Dogology' or 'Thirteen Hundred Rats,' he pushes the boundaries of the believable." (Los Angeles Times)
Tomorrowland by Joseph Bates: "Tomorrowland is often charming, and proceeds briskly — but it never loses sight of the anxieties that motivate many of these stories." (Vol. 1 Brooklyn)
Also:
It's the birthday of Julianna Baggott. Read our 2012 interview with the author of Pure.
Norman Rush appeared on the Bat Segundo Show.
Sherman Alexie is learning to live with e-books.