The News from Spain: Seven Variations on a Love Story
By Joan Wickersham (Knopf, $24.95)

A wise, courageous, and often brilliant collection of stories.

Back to Blood By Tom Wolfe (Little, Brown, $30)

This novel wriggles its toes in the white sand of Miami Beach and with its large cast of characters, allows Wolfe to explore (and mock) the denizens of Miami’s
sex-obsessed, trendy society.

Essays in Biography By Joseph Epstein (Aixos, $24)

Unabashedly personal, this hefty collection is flavored throughout by a wit that never stays in the background for long.