"We are a prosperous community," says Mark, the first narrator of Karl Taro Greenfeld's Triburbia, a set of interlocking stories set primarily in downtown Manhattan's TriBeCa. Prosperous--and cultured: "Measure us by the books on our shelves, the paintings on our walls, the songs in our iTunes playlists, our children in their secure little school." All is not well in the neighborhood, however; in this first story, Mark is seething because the drawing on a flyer warning about a child molester on the loose resembles him, and none of his friends understand why he's so upset by it.

That sort of emotional thickheadedness seems a bit more plausible as you spend more time with Greenfeld's characters, who tend to be too caught up in their own worries to pay much attention to anyone else. The stories are told in a mixture of first- and third-person voices, and while Greenfeld's female characters are somewhat more distinctive than the men, readers are more likely to remember the scenarios--one about the memoirist and journalist whose early fictionalizing catches up with him; another about the "gangster" who frets about his daughter being picked on in elementary school--than the people involved. Even the chapter headings emphasize street addresses over the men and women who live there. Like Tama Janowitz's Slaves of New York, Triburbia is a snapshot of a Manhattan subculture at a certain moment in time--in this case, ultimately more compelling for its field reporting than its storytelling. --Ron Hogan, founder of Beatrice.com

Daniel Fights a Hurricane is a gentle, quirky and ultimately redeeming book about the nature of our own reality. Shane Jones weaves among three (possibly four) points of view, sometimes with clarity, but mostly with the hazy, almost-remembered feel of a dream state.

Readers get to know Daniel from the inside out, with longer and longer passages about him rather than from him as the book continues. His life is one of increasing separateness from the consensual reality of everyday life, with more and more time spent in his internal world. This internal world, however, is one of beauty and internal consistency, with fully realized people and places that cleverly mimic that of the external world in which his ex-wife, Karen, seems to reside. Her perspective is what gives readers clues about Daniel and his way of seeing the world; she provides a warm, personal love even when Daniel becomes more and more entrenched in his alternative reality.

The hurricane of the title is metaphorical, though at the end of the novel an objectively real storm takes place, joining Daniel's world to Karen's and, we assume, ours as well. Daniel Fights a Hurricane is a joy to read, especially for the little hints strewn along the way as well as Jones's by turns playful and dramatic writing styles. It's a remarkable journey from reality to unreality and back, causing readers to wonder which perspective is more, well, real. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor

Marianne Langner Zeitlin's third novel, Motherless Child, draws on her background in the "business" side of the music business (classical division) to conduct an engrossing tale of family secrets with elements of psychological mystery and a touch of romance.

The Guaragna family knows loss all too well--the death of a child, the abrupt decline of a musical career, the disappearance of a mother--and for decades, they've placed the blame for those losses on music impresario Albert Rossiter. Now, in what one might expect to be the declining years of his career, Rossiter is instead launching a high-profile management firm, and the youngest Guaragna child, Elizabeth, sees an opportunity to learn more about her family's nemesis. While she lacks management experience, she possesses the musical knowledge to land a position as Rossiter's assistant, and--calling herself Lisa Sullivan--begins to know her enemy. Rossiter's would-be biographer, George Wentworth, is also getting to know him, and what he is learning could reshape Elizabeth's entire understanding of her family's history.

Shifting perspectives between Elizabeth and George, Zeitlin's narrative draws the reader into both characters' search for the truth about the complicated and powerful Albert Rossiter with an immersive portrayal of the culture business of the late 1960s. (It's this past setting that makes Eizabeth/Lisa's charade more plausible than it might be in the present day.) With a plot that takes some unexpected turns--and characters who do the same--Motherless Child should appeal to fans of thought-provoking women’s fiction. --Florinda Pendley Vasquez, blogger at The 3 R's Blog: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness

Jennie Fields (Crossing Brooklyn Ferry) has concocted an irresistible tale that transforms the upright, starched and intellectual Edith Wharton we think we know into a supine, disheveled and reveling erotic protagonist. Fields's access to Edith's journals and letters give The Age of Desire an authentic air; we see the creator of Lily Bart and Undine Spragg in a whole new way.

Edith Jones married Teddy Wharton, 12 years her senior, when she was 23; it was a disastrous union. Intimate relations with the manic-depressive Teddy were largely nonexistent, and Edith comes to see her husband as a buffoon. Then she meets William Morton Fullerton, an American journalist in Paris and a known womanizer (and a less widely known bisexual). Handsome, charming, he is Edith's intellectual equal. Edith, though in her mid-40s, behaves like a teenage virgin when Morton is around, and of course, the inevitable finally takes place.

As a backdrop to the affair, we have Edith's writerly life and her complicated relationship with her one-time governess, now secretary, Anna Bahlmann. From the age of 12, Edith looked to Anna for instruction and friendship and later, perhaps more than she cares to admit, for a gentle critique of her writing. But Anna is very fond of Teddy and does not approve of Fullerton; she lets Edith know it and is sent away.

Fields beautifully interweaves the story of Anna's devotion, Edith's midlife awakening and life in the Gilded Age among the very wealthy. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.

Padgett Powell (Edisto) is back with You & Me--a nod in the direction of Vladimir and Estragon, those two great talkers in Waiting for Godot. Call it absurdist, call it experimental fiction, postmodernist; whatever it is, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

In endless dialogue, the pair talk about the definitions of words they like: trepanning, furring strips, Craigiator, irrigable, wizened, pustulent; silly names like Studio Becalmed and Something Twice, Constant Rectitude and Inherent Muddle. They also expound, in hilariously ribald fashion, about sex and love, love and sex, body parts, girls and women lost and found and how they felt about them, yielding gems of insight and expression: "Those were the days in which hormones ran like gurgling brooks in our veins and melted our knees with need."

Then, inevitably, they begin to feel the horizon shortening and decide that they must "live every day of our lives as if it's the last day of our life. Let's see: that's LEDOOLAIITLDOOL. It sounds like a Mayan god." They think about that for a while and decide "there is a point after which the jokes stop and we have to figure out how to die." From there, one of them is moved to say, "I am too tired to any longer not be insensitive. It takes a lot of energy to be sensitive."

Don't be fooled into thinking that this is a trivial book. Stay with it and the payoffs are marvelous. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.

Bakers will invent reasons to whip up the treats in Vintage Cakes, coached by Julie Richardson's precise and enthusiastic directions. Inspired by recipes she discovered in the Portland, Ore., bakery she co-owns, Richardson collected, tested and refined recipes suggested by friends and strangers eager to be part of a cookbook celebrating historic and beloved cakes.

Organized from the simplest "Hasty Cakes"--including one you can bake in a cast-iron skillet--to more elaborate, layered-and-filled "Party Cakes," Vintage Cakes invites bakers to make a from-scratch dessert with just an hour to invest, or to spend a day savoring the artistry of creating a chocolate ganache, a marshmallow frosting or a mascarpone mousse.

Richardson, a lifelong baker, opens with practical tips on ingredients to have on hand (cane sugar beats beet sugar) and definitions of basic steps (whisk does not mean sift) that are inspiring rather than intimidating. Full-page photos of cakes accompanied by vintage kitchenware, clearly listed sidebars of ingredients and conversational instructions--"The compote will be quite runny, but don't fear; all will be well when the cake has baked"--will reassure even a novice cake-maker.

Richardson introduces each recipe with a story of its past: Berry Long Cake was in a 1945 Betty Crocker ad; angel food cakes became popular after Sunbeam introduced the Mixmaster; Bess Truman served Ozark Pudding Cake to Winston Churchill. Bakers will soon be adding their own memories to the pages, sure to become batter-splattered and beloved. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, bookseller

Stress has and always will be a part of life. But in today's global society, Paul Huljich writes, "the relentless pace and complexity of modern life had led us to forsake our privacy and our ability to live fully in the present moment." Huljich maintains that this is creating a pandemic of stress, resulting in multiple levels of physical and mental disabilities around the world. In sections of Stress Pandemic, Huljich openly discusses his own mental breakdown and hospitalization due to pressure and anxiety and the ways he drastically changed his life in order to regain control. He includes charts outlining the potential causes and effects of too much stress, allowing readers to analyze their own lives in depth.

Huljich also presents nine basic steps readers can implement in their own lives to reduce the harmful effects of tension and worry. These include kicking bad habits, learning to say no to others, eating well, exercising and living in the moment. Although many of these techniques may be familiar, the combined program, laid out in easy-to-follow steps, provides a practical approach to a common problem. Alongside the to-do list for each step, a range of questions helps readers reflect on their commitment to rebuilding their personal paths.

Humorous drawings and an ample resource section, which includes nutritional information, breathing and stretching exercises and reflexology charts, round out this holistic approach to better health. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer

The natural progression of all living beings is toward a state of decay and decomposition. Taxidermy tries to reverse this, creating lifeless immortality out of death. Rachel Poliquin explores the human motives behind this impulse for preservation in The Breathless Zoo, drawing upon historical, philosophical and psychological sources to understand taxidermy and its role in communicating human relationships with the natural world.

Poliquin structures her discussion around seven themes, each highlighting significant historical events that drove taxidermy to its heights of popularity in the 19th century. She begins, 200 years earlier, with wonder: the human esthetic response exemplified by the early collections of animal pieces intended to "expose the inherent, chaotic, startling potential of the natural world." Later, taxidermy evolved to become a symbol of personal refinement and enlightenment, leading to an appreciation of nature's wonderful bounty: "Nature could save your soul," she writes. "Even if dead and stuffed, natural beauty was spiritually cleansing."

Improvements in the preservation and anatomical representation pushed taxidermy to new heights of spectacle, as displays came to symbolize European imperialism and conquest over nature. Ecological concerns and scientific study lie at the heart of Poliquin's ruminations on taxonomic order, and her final three sections are devoted to narrative (hunting trophies), allegory (taxidermy as animal fables) and remembrance (taxidermy as the ultimate pet memorial). It is human to attempt to circumvent the finality of death, she concludes, but "dead yet still inanimate, these animal-things offer something more than worlds alone can describe." --Nancy Powell, freelance writer

B95 is an extraordinary bird among an extraordinary species. He is a red knot of the subspecies rufa, a "robin-sized shorebird." Unfortunately, the red knot population is in steep decline, and Moonbird tackles the steps being taken to save them.

Red knots undertake an unbelievable migratory passage. B95 is the oldest of his kind ever recorded, at least 18 years old, named for the letter-number combination on the orange band around his left leg. At least 18 times he has survived the 18,000-mile round trip between his breeding grounds in southern Argentina and his wintering grounds in northern Canada. Each chapter chronicles one leg of the bird's journey, its dangers, the physical characteristics (one rufa flew 5,000 miles over six days, without a break), and the importance of each stopover site. Many stop at Delaware Bay to refuel, each consuming more than 8,000 horseshoe crab eggs in a single day. But the bay's crab population is under threat. Unless it is protected, red knots will become endangered.

Phillip Hoose (2009 National Book Award winner Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice) traveled to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina and the Delaware Bay to help band and record the red knot migration. He meets the scientists involved, and intersperses profiles of each, including a teen who created Friends of the Red Knot, working to declare rufa an endangered species. Readers will become attached to this irresistible bird and may well join the worldwide enthusiasm for the remarkable B95. --Angela Carstensen, school librarian and blogger

After teaching children their ABCs with his stellar L M N O Peas, Keith Baker now models how to count from one to 10 and then (by tens) to 100. And once again, he tucks a ladybug into each double-page spread.

A lone pea stands on top of the numeral one with a telescope to kick things off: "One pea searching--look, look, look," and a pair of peas, perched on the numeral two, are fishing ("hook, hook, hook"). They cast their lines near three peas, each in his or her own boat (one wears a ponytail): "row, row, row." Many examples demonstrate teamwork: the peas plant, do puzzles and dance together. The delight is in the details. For "Eight peas racing--dash, dash, dash," one's a clear winner, four cluster near the finish line, a pair run past the figure eight, and the last lags due to a lost shoe. The author-artist creates a clever transition from 10 to 20 with "Eleven to nineteen--skip, skip, skip!," and traces a light blue path of three peas jumping rope, and skipping from numeral to numeral.

Children will especially enjoy counting the peas on the larger numeral spreads. For 30 ("Peas honking--beep, beep, beep!"), the green heroes ride tandem bicycles, go-carts, sports cars, taxis and trucks. They each hold a numbered pennant from one to 100 for the penultimate spread, then invite children to start all over again ("Ready? 1-2-3..."). And they will, with gusto. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness