One of Italy's most acclaimed authors, Elena Ferrante is not well-known in the U.S. My Brilliant Friend, the first in a trilogy, may change that. The setting is the outskirts of Naples in the 1950s, although the story begins in the present day, when 66-year-old Lenù receives a phone call from the son of her lifelong friend, Lila. Lenù casts her memory back half a century; their friendship begins when they confront Don Achille about stealing their dolls.

Their neighborhood, isolated from the rest of the world, has become ingrown, hostile, jealous and vengeful. Both girls are excellent students but Lila is prevented from attending school. Instead, she helps her father in his shoe shop and her mother at home. Lenù is fostered by one of her teachers and continues to attend school; she even travels to Ischia to visit the teacher's cousin, where she discovers a different world--one that provides her first sexual awakening.

Life for both girls does not go exactly as planned. Lenù, who has put all her eggs in the intellectual basket, discovers that no appropriate suitor wants her. Lila chooses a husband considered wealthy by neighborhood standards, thereby ensuring financial support for her father and brother's entrepreneurial desires. She preens and struts, now well-dressed and a homeowner--so why does she disappear?

Ferrante, a fierce writer and herself a Neapolitan, is well versed in region's class divides and unchecked passions. Even in Naples, however, things are changing, as the sequels to My Brilliant Friend are sure to reveal. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.

Jon Katz is best known for charming readers with autobiographical observations of the assorted animals who live with him at Bedlam Farm in upstate New York, particularly his dogs. In Dancing Dogs, his first collection of short stories, Katz captures the multifaceted spirit of dogs and the ease with which we humans come to love them.

In "Away to Me," a dog grows depressed when the farmer gives her herding job to a slick new border collie, only to have her life changed by a surprising revelation. At "The Surrender Bay," an animal control worker comforts surrendered animals and their distraught owners during the first throes of the Great Recession. A woman with an out-of-control border collie wants desperately to train her dog but finds she must first retrain herself in "Instinct Test," while the protagonist of "The Dog Who Kept Men Away" teaches her single-and-looking owner that sometimes "must love dogs" can become "dog must love you." These are just a few of the treasures in Katz's sometimes imaginative, sometimes true to life inventory of stories.

Although dogs and their owners predominate the collection, a loyal barn cat with a surprising best friend also makes her way into a starring role, and Katz pulls a fast one more than once on readers who make assumptions about a character's species. Katz's unornamented style makes his short fiction accessible to a younger audience, although occasional thematic elements are more appropriate to an adult audience. These moving tales will make readers smile, chuckle and occasionally wipe away a stray tear. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger, Infinite Reads

In his first novel, Something Red, Douglas Nicholas channels a fiercer beast than his usual poetic muse, producing a remarkable variation on the perennial werewolf tale. Set in 13th-century England, the novel chronicles the journey of a boy named Hob, his wise and fey mistress Molly, her spirited granddaughter Nemain and the indestructible Jack. As they move through cold and hushed winter forests, they become gradually aware of something terrifying out among the trees, a creature that is not simply trailing them, but herding them. Hoping to elude both the monster and a ferocious blizzard, the small band settles into the castle of a minor northern lord, but it soon becomes obvious that the creature hides amongst them. As their refuge becomes a trap, Molly unleashes a powerful force of her own, revealing to Hob some shattering truths about the nature of good and evil and about his own place in the world.

Nicholas handles characterization, setting and atmosphere deftly and expertly. And then there's the language. Nicholas writes with an authentic historical prose that both anchors the story and conveys the fascinating movement of a language in flux. There are moments that are simple in terms of plot but written with such startling beauty that they imbue the larger story with a kind of perverse joy, making Hob's coming-of-age not simply a matter of fear and necessity, but of strength and love. Something Red is an excellent debut from a gifted author. --Judie Evans, librarian

Antoine Verlaque is a powerful magistrate and a cigar connoisseur with a knack for saying just the wrong thing to his girlfriend, the lovely law professor Marine Bonnet. They're enjoying a weekend away when he gets a phone call from Commissioner Bruno Paulik. The head of the local university's theology department, Dr. Georges Moutte, has been found with his head bashed in. Antoine and Marine must head back to Aix-en-Provence in order to catch the killer. Could it be a colleague who wanted Moutte's prestigious post? Could it have been a student angling for the elite Dumas fellowship, which Moutte was about to grant to one lucky applicant? Or could the doyen's murder be related to his extensive collection of rare Gallé vases?

The list of suspects seems endless as Antoine and Bruno uncover an ever-growing array of people who might have wanted to kill Moutte. Meanwhile, Marine has made a few discoveries of her own through her mother's contacts in the theology department. Will they be able to put all the pieces together before someone else dies?

The second in the Verlaque and Bonnet mystery series by M.L. Longworth, Murder in the Rue Dumas is a fun escape to southern France. Antoine, Marine and Bruno are all likable, nuanced characters, even if sometimes their dialogue is a little overcomplicated. But the mystery is intriguing, the characters are well-drawn and the sense of place is irresistible. Murder in the Rue Dumas is meant to be read with a cup of coffee and a croissant in hand. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm

British music journalist Sylvie Simmons (Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes) decodes the peculiar enigma of songwriter/poet/Buddhist monk Leonard Cohen in I'm Your Man, a hefty but spirited biography. Displaying the fruits of comprehensive research, Simmons reports the fascinating details of Cohen's life as well as the way those life events combined with the mechanics of artistry to create a body of work that has inspired fans as diverse as Lou Reed, Philip Glass and Jeff Buckley. This is a revelatory biography that investigates not just an artist's life, but the life of his art.

Simmons traces Cohen's path from a wealthy Jewish enclave in Montreal through his early successes as a bohemian poet in Canada, his time on an idyllic Greek island, his residence in Manhattan's famous Chelsea Hotel and all the concert halls, spiritual retreats, park benches and Spartan domiciles where his oft-tormented life has played out. She balances a deserved reverence for the power of Cohen's words, music--and that incredible voice--with a gimlet eye to the rather frail, fallible human who created them. It's been said you either "get" Leonard Cohen or you don't. After reading I'm Your Man, both those who hear the voice of an ironic god in Cohen's sonorous drawl and those who consider it "music to slit your wrists to" will understand where the music and poetry come from. --Cherie Ann Parker, freelance journalist and book critic

There was nothing glamorous about Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, yet as Pope John XXIII he became a "spiritual celebrity," a popular, charismatic figure in the Roman Catholic Church. Greg Tobin explores Roncalli's life and legacy in The Good Pope, starting by focusing on this pious peasant priest's humble northern Italian roots. A long shot for pope, Roncalli emerged from outside the powers-that-be in Rome and was elected to the office in 1958. During the next four and a half years, until his death, Pope John was admired for his social teachings on peace and tolerance. He convened the Second Vatican Council, which sought to reform the church, committed to preserving core traditions while opening the faith to the secular, modern world. Tobin illustrates how "Il Buono Papa" advocated to update and unify the relationship between the institutional church and non-Catholics/non-Christians and how he effectively imparted a new focus on the vernacular mass, the liturgy and the role of the clergy, hierarchy and laity.

Tobin's well-rounded, comprehensive biography offers an authoritative portrait of an inspiring, courageous man who radiated "an aura of humility, humor and sanctity" even in the face of opposition. Intimate passages from Roncalli's journal reveal how he aimed to stay on course in living out his faith, suffering serious bouts of anxiety while serving as God's messenger. Tobin reinforces how, five decades later, Pope John's legacy continues to influence and embolden the contemporary Catholic Church. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

A major component of the Allied effort in World War II took place far from the front lines, on an isolated country estate in Buckinghamshire called Bletchley Park, where a team of codebreakers and support staff labored to crack Enigma and other codes used by the German military. The information they decrypted saved thousands of lives and helped the Allies win a war that otherwise might have lasted much longer.

Sinclair McKay reveals the inner workings of this elite group of men and women in The Secret Lives of Codebreakers, beginning with their recruitment, when national security necessitated they be told little about the work except that "it was very important, very interesting, and that the pay was lousy." The codebreakers resided in improvised huts on the Bletchley grounds and made do on rations like the rest of the country. Through firsthand interviews with Bletchley Park veterans, McKay also details the pastimes and romances that kept the codebreakers sane as they dealt with the pressure of decoding messages that, while valuable to military commanders, made little sense to them.

McKay describes debutantes gamely forgoing more comfortable circumstances to serve their country and flamboyant characters such as the erratic Angus Wilson, who once threw himself into a pond in a fit of temper (and would become an acclaimed novelist after the war). Ian Fleming, then a naval intelligence officer, also puts in an appearance.

McKay offers a rare and fascinating look at a group of heroes who played an invaluable role in hastening the end of World War II. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger, Infinite Reads

In The Oath, journalist and attorney Jeffrey Toobin takes up where his 2007 book, The Nine, leaves off, painting a portrait of an activist Supreme Court, headed since 2005 by Chief Justice John Roberts, whose treatment of judicial precedent has been anything but conservative.

The foundation of Toobin's reportage is his interviews with the justices and more than 40 of their law clerks. The insights he gleans from these conversations, including the light they shed on the personal relationships among the justices (highlighted by the unlikely friendships between Antonin Scalia and his "Democratic" colleagues Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan) and their sharply divergent judicial philosophies, make for lively reading.

But the liberal-leaning Toobin offers much more than an inside-the-robing room tell-all; his research points him to a disturbing conclusion about where the law is headed as long as the Roberts/Scalia/Kennedy/Thomas/Alito bloc remains intact. Toobin points out how, time and again, in the name of trying to divine the original meaning of the Constitution's text, the Court's conservative wing (led by an increasingly partisan Scalia) has overturned interpretations of the document that have been settled for decades.

With four of the nine justices aged 74 or older, the odds are high that the president elected in 2012 will have a chance to fill at least one or two vacancies. After reading Toobin's clear-eyed book, it should be apparent why those choices could be fateful ones. --Harvey Freedenberg, attorney and freelance reviewer

"Christmas miracle: cat saves humans from despair" isn't a new theme. In The Cat Who Came Back for Christmas, however, Julia Romp gives a well-known story new life by including it in a larger and more honest account of her life raising an autistic son. Romp was jobless and living in public housing when she had her son, George, who grew up struggling with communication and daily living. One day, when George is nine years old, a starving, mangy stray cat turns up in the garden shed. George dubs him "Ben," and the boy's first-ever genuine friendship is born.

As the story unfolds, Ben opens up George's world. By caring for Ben with his mother's help, George learns to practice compassion; by telling inventive stories about Ben's exploits, George and Julia talk to one another. So when Ben goes missing one summer day, he's more than just a cat on a ramble--he's the missing foundation of a functional family. Without him, George regresses, and Julia despairs--until Christmas morning, when a phone call from more than 70 miles away reunites a cat and the family he loves.

It's hard not to love Ben after reading Romp's intimate descriptions of the cat, and it's even harder not to care about George and Romp herself. The Cat Who Came Back for Christmas offers a fresh take on a classic tale, one perfect for a holiday read. --Dani Alexis Ryskamp, blogger at The Book Cricket

Ursula K. Le Guin is best-known as the Hugo- and Nebula-winning author of science fiction and fantasy novels like The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven and the Earthsea series. She has also been writing and publishing poetry--11 books and chapbooks since the 1960s, which she draws upon for the retrospective Finding My Elegy. The wistful, pensive title is taken from one of several new poems that also appear in the collection, in which she tells us "my search" for an elegy "must be a watch,/ patiently sitting, looking out the open door."

The titles of many poems invoke the Pacific Northwest landscape Le Guin has grown to love: the Columbia River, Mount Rainier, the Coast Range Highway, Cannon Beach and more.

There are a number of gems in this collection, including "The Queen of Spain, Grown Old and Mad, Writes to the Daughter She Imagines She Had by Christopher Columbus," "The Elders at the Falls," "For the New House" and the just about perfect short poem, "Pelicans," with its wistful echo of Hopkins:

They're awkward, angular, abstruse,
the great beak on a head so narrow,
a kind of weird Jurassic goose
lurching into the modern era.
But the blue arc of sky lets loose--
look, now!--the brown, unerring arrow!
And see how beautiful, how grave,
the steady wings along the wave.

Le Guin has written, "It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end." The poems in Finding My Elegy help chart her journey. --Tom Lavoie

In Maggie Stiefvater's (Shiver; The Scorpio Races) spellbinding novel, the first in a planned quartet, she once again carves out new territory. Sixteen-year-old Blue has been raised by Maura, her mother, and her chosen tribe of fellow psychics. They have all made the same prediction: "If Blue was to kiss her true love, he would die."

Blue cannot detect what the psychics can, but her presence makes their gifts stronger. Their hometown of Henrietta, Va., is situated on a ley line (a "supernatural energy path that connect[s] spiritual places"), also known as a "corpse road." Each year on April 25, St. Mark's Eve, Blue records the names of the "future dead" who travel the corpse road as her mother announces them. But this year, Maura's half-sister, Neeve, goes in Maura's place. For the first time, Blue can see one of the travelers: a "raven boy," a student at the ritzy all-boy Aglionby Academy. He tells Blue his name: "Gansey." When Blue asks Neeve why she can see him, Neeve answers, "Either you're his true love... or you killed him."

Stiefvater explores American striations of class and privilege in a psychologically complex novel. Gansey leads three other raven boys on a quest to find the Raven King, believed to be buried on the ley lines. Stiefvater mines the questions that will determine the adults they'll become. Her exquisite writing captures what it's like to believe in something greater than oneself, and she leaves enough questions to ensure readers' return. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness

A darker side of London comes to life in debut author Tom Pollock's thrilling urban fantasy, where train-like demons jump their tracks, flames dance right out of their street lamps, and graveyard statues house the mortal bodies of the undead. All will be called upon to fight for control of the city.

Graffiti artist Beth Bradley's latest masterpiece gets her thrown out of school. Betrayed by her best friend and abandoned emotionally by her father, Beth runs away, only to be picked up by a Railwraith and plunged into a world she never knew existed. Filius Viae, aka "Son of the Streets," must somehow keep the increasingly powerful Reach, the Crane King and the face of urban sickness, from killing the City and enslaving its occupants. Beth manages to save Filius's life, and finds that she thrives on the danger. She joins him in his crusade to stop the Crane King from taking over before Filius's mother, the goddess Mater Viae, can return. To complicate matters, Beth's best friend becomes a pawn in Reach's army, and her father also gets caught up in this bizarre war for the heart of London.

Filius shows Beth a world at once gritty and beautiful, full of power and destruction. As Beth herself points out, long before she fully realizes the depth of truth in her statement, "The city's a dangerous place if you don't pay attention." Pollock crafts a highly imaginative tale, the first in a planned trilogy, with a superb cast of human and magical creatures. --Lynn Becker, host of Book Talk, the monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI

Gabrielle Zevin revisits 2083 New York and the world of 17-year-old Anya Balanchine in her strong sequel to All These Things I've Done. In Anya's world, chocolate is an illegal substance, and she has the misfortune to be a Russian mafia chocolate princess struggling to find her place in the world.

Anya's challenges continue: to balance guardianship of her siblings, school, her impossible love for the district attorney's son, Win, and a criminal record. Then there's her extended criminal family who may want her dead. Anya is fed up with the challenges posed by her heritage, exclaiming, "I can't honestly understand why anyone bothers with the stuff. If I woke up tomorrow and the world had no chocolate in it, I would be a happier person." Death threats drive Anya to take refuge in Mexico on a cacao plantation, where she learns the truth about this mysterious substance, and here she decides what its influence on her future will be.

Zevin's literary touches will resonate with fans of classic authors. She litters the text with asides to the "Reader" à la Charlotte Bronte, which creates the intimacy of a confessional diary, and each chapter head doubles as a Dickensian epigraph, e.g., "I Have Doubts." Zevin's writing will have broad appeal, and although some graphic violence may be too intense for younger teens (car bombings, shootings and a hand cut off with a machete), many will be fighting to be the first to read this one. --Jessica Bushore, former public librarian and freelance writer