A literary tour of boldface names, Sidney Offit's second memoir offers threadbare reminiscences of his 50 or so years as a fixture on the New York literary scene.

The last thing executives want to take to the beach are hefty business books that tie them to work, but these quick reads address pressing challenges. Forum

In a bonus excerpt from his new book "A Few Seconds of Panic," Stefan Fatsis sits down with Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan for insight into his obsessive preparation and reaction to a player caught using a banned substance.

Mark Abley's "The Prodigal Tongue" and David Crystal's "Hook or by Crook" cover accents, dialects, slang and how we got from King James to hip-hop swagger.

"The House on First Street" is a semicomic story about the trials of renovating a creaky 19th-century mansion. It's an elegiac Katrina narrative, recounting the tribulations of fleeing the city in the storm and of an unsteady homecoming.

In Barbara Ehrenreich's new essay collection "This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation," she takes on the role of satirist.

Garen Thomas writes worshipfully in what is largely a condensed version, for ages 10-16, of the account that Barack Obama has given of himself in his own books.

Paul McHugh on books about the factions and follies of psychiatry

In an excerpt from his new book "A Few Seconds of Panic," Stefan Fatsis details his elation and misery as a writer who joined the Denver Broncos at summer training camp.

As the author behind "The Devil Wears Prada," Lauren Weisberger knows fashion. But any sign of stilettos or couture clothing is buried deep within Ms. Weisberger's wardrobe – she much prefers jeans and flip flops.

Today Beijing has a lively expat community again, and it is again composing books that lament the destruction of the "old" city.

With access to routine data, the government could have identified and connected all 19 of the 9/11 terrorists.

Dan and Mary Ellen Slattery, the couple at the heart of Rand Richards Cooper's elegant novel "The Last to Go," gradually come to hate things about each other they had once loved. How does that happen, and why does it happen so often?