Panic!: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity, edited by Michael Lewis [W.W. Norton & Company, $28]
In this enlightening (and frightening) anthology, the Moneyball and Liar's Poker author collects the best reporting and analysis of every Wall Street crisis of the past 20 years. As a source of aid in these troubled times, the book's only competition is a bottle of Scotch. Timothy Hodler
American Buffalo by Steven Rinella [Spiegel & Grau, $25]
In 2005, Rinella became one of 24 people allowed to hunt wild bison that year and was one of only four to register a kill. The wry result is part hunting memoir, part trivia-soaked history of the buffalo—as if pulled straight from the brainpans of Steve Irwin and Ken Jennings. Timothy Hodler
Photograph by Tim Hout
In an age when Barnes & Noble's shelves seem to be stocked by a handful of companies and every dinner-party conversation revolves around the same five books, finding a fresh read can be daunting. Rather than plodding through a string of letdowns, seek out niche publishers that curate their lists with care and taste. Here are three of the best bets. Timothy Hodler
This publisher was launched in 1984 as a side project of the Review of Contemporary Fiction, and landed works by many of the last century's most challenging writers, like Stanley Elkin, Gertrude Stein, and David Markson.
Try If You Like: David Foster Wallace, Thomas Pynchon
Recent Picks: William H. Gass' Cartesian Sonata, Stanley Crawford's Log of the S.S. The Mrs. Unguentine
Started in 2005 by Eric Obenauf, a bartender, and his wife and brother, this tiny upstart has already produced an impressive array of subversive fiction from former literary big-leaguers—like Rudolph Wurlitzer and Jay Neugeboren.
Try If You Like: Jonathan Lethem, Cormac McCarthy
Recent Picks: Lawrence Shainberg's Crust, Francis Levy's Erotomania
Founded by Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners) and her husband, this quirky press puts out surreal fiction by such undersung storytellers as Sean Stewart, Maureen McHugh, and John Crowley.
Try If You Like: Susanna Clarke, José Saramago
Recent Picks: John Kessel's The Baum Plan for Financial Independence, Geoff Ryman's The King's Last Song
Salmonella Men on Planet Porno by Yasutaka Tsutsui [Pantheon Books, $22]
Sort of a Japanese Vonnegut, Tsutsui wrote this collection of satiric parables on subjects such as erotic-dream-producing houseplants in the seventies, but this is the first time it's been published in the United States. Haruki Murakami fans shouldn't miss it. Timothy Hodler
Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton [W.W. Norton & Company, $25]
In this deftly assembled exposé, Thornton probes the nooks and crannies of the art world—from money-crazed Christie's auctions to bullshit-shoveling art-school critics to Takashi Murakami's out-there studio—in all its simultaneously inspiring and repellent glory. Matt Hendrickson
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs [Grove Press, $24]
More than a decade before they published their period-defining novels, the two cowrote this WWII-era detective novel based on their involvement in a friend's murder—a work that illuminates the links between Sam Spade and Sal Paradise, noir nihilism and Beat exuberance. Timothy Hodler
George, Being George, edited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr. [Random House, $30]
Featuring interviews with cohorts like Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, and Gay Talese, this oral portrait covers George Plimpton's expulsion from Exeter, his romantic intrigues, and celebrity-packed parties—and even squeezes in a few pages about his writing. Timothy Hodler
Photograph by Jan Cobb
Since the publication of The Areas of My Expertise, his first book of invented "world knowledge," John Hodgman, 37, has become something of a celebrity, by way of The Daily Show and the ubiquitous Apple ads in which he plays the hopelessly unhip PC. Back with another book of fanciful nonfacts, More Information Than You Require (Dutton, $25), the reigning expert on nonsense discusses his specialty.
Q: How did you become a television personality?
A: One of my big role models was George Plimpton, because he could run the Paris Review and do television ads for Intellivision. If George Plimpton could stand against a white background and talk about a video-game console, certainly I could go before a white background and advertise a computer.
Q: Did you grow up reading a lot of reference books?
A: Oh, yes, I loved them. This book was inspired largely by The Book of Lists, and Big Secrets by William Poundstone, because the author sought to explicate the big secrets, like the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken and the dining club in Disneyland that is the only place you can drink alcohol.
Q: That must be helpful for alcoholics stuck at an amusement park.
A: No. Walt Disney saw it as a place where he could wine and dine. Now it's hardly a secret, because the Internet exists precisely to ferret out these bits of esoterica. When someone suggested I do a trivia book, it was like a lightbulb exploding in my head—an old Edison bulb that smashes and burns down the barn: Because trivia is an exercise in folklore anyway, why not just make it all up? Also, it saved me research time. Timothy Hodler
Death With Interruptions by José Saramago [Harcourt, $24]
The Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese author of Blindness makes a hoary concept (death takes a holiday) new again, teasing out the implications of immortality, from the practical (overpopulated retirement centers, unemployed undertakers) to the profound (the end of religion). Timothy Hodler
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell [Riverhead, $25]
The NPR addict's favorite historian returns with a pop exploration of the Puritans who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and their lingering influence on American culture. Vowell's quirky tone doesn't always jibe with her subject matter, but this is still invigorating stuff. Timothy Hodler
The Butt by Will Self [Bloomsbury USA, $25]
No one will accuse the sardonic Brit of going soft with his latest novel, a pointed satire about an Anglo tourist in a developing nation who accidentally drops a lit cigarette from his balcony, burns an old man, and finds himself entrapped by complicated (and surreal) tribal laws. Timothy Hodler
True Crime, edited by Harold Schechter [The Library of America, $40]
This extraordinary, expansive anthology lays bare more than 300 years of criminal violence in America—from Revolutionary War-era ax murderers to the Menendez brothers—through reportage by writers from Nathaniel Hawthorne to Theodore Dreiser to James Ellroy. Timothy Hodler
Photograph by Clare Cornwell/Courtesy of Knopf
As the son of the spy novelist John Le Carré, Nick Harkaway could have played it safe with a quiet tale of political intrigue in the mold of his father's Cold War realism. Instead, the 35-year-old produced a fantastical first novel, The Gone-Away World (Knopf, $25), filled with ninjas, futuristic super-weapons, mutant doppelgängers, hammy jokes, and absurd fight scenes (who knew Tupperware could be a weapon?). "I was more concerned with people having fun than with being taken seriously," Harkaway says. "I had a rule for myself as well: If I was in doubt, I'd turn it up rather than take it out—there is nothing more awful than to fall flat because you didn't go far enough." Timothy Hodler
Photograph by Liam Goodman
Le Corbusier, Le Grand [Phaidon, $200]
This retrospective nearly matches the ambition of its subject, the most influential architect of the last century. Packed with thousands of photos of the Swiss-born modernist and his designs—as well as sketches, urban plans, and handwritten letters—the book reveals the secret iconic projects—the capitol complex of Chandigarh, India, and the Villa Savoye at Poissy, France. Timothy Hodler
Photograph by Andrew Councill/The New York Times/Redux
With his latest, The Given Day (William Morrow, $28), the 43-year-old Bostonian finally arrives in the big leagues, weaving a gargantuan historical epic involving police strikes, anarchist bombings, and the Red Sox' infamous 1920 trade of Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
Q: Why did a crime writer like you decide to write a historical novel?
A: I began to believe—after I wrote Mystic River [2001]—that I was living in a time I was incapable of writing about. The post-9/11 world is one that I'm only capable of reflecting on by writing about the past. I just don't think I could write about Facebook. Were I to write about the political landscape in the last seven years directly, I'd get enraged.
Q: Was it hard to maintain authenticity while writing about a different era?
A: I discovered with only one draft to go that there was a great swearword that I can't use: motherfucker. If I'm doing my job correctly, I should be able to write about anywhere. It's the people that I have to have a comfort level with. I can write something set in, say, the Dust Bowl in the thirties, because I grasp what they were going through. But I don't do rich people well. I don't understand what's in their kitchens.
Q: So did you need to do a lot of research?
A: For this book I read everything I could get my hands on about that time period, about the Boston police strike. Then I put all of that aside and just wrote. It took four years to write. I'd rather make it up and then double-check if I got it right later, because I won't get hemmed in by the way things really happened. Who gives a shit how it happened? It's what's dramatically interesting. Timothy Hodler
American Lightning by Howard Blum [Crown, $25]
This pop history starts with the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times Building and follows the aftermath through the eyes of detective Billy Burns, the celebrity lawyer Clarence Darrow, and the film director D.W. Griffith. Blum's engaging prose makes this scandal—with its O.J.-trial-like impact—come alive. Timothy Hodler
Indignation by Philip Roth [Houghton Mifflin, $26]
Death and politics are on Roth's mind, judging from his past decade's worth of novels. His latest—about the short life of Marcus Messner, a New Jersey butcher's boy adjusting to life at an Ohio college during the Korean War—is no exception. It may seem familiar to Roth readers, but no one rings these changes better. Timothy Hodler
Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman [Scribner, $24]
The critic sticks to his favorite subjects (music, sports, alcohol, the eighties, and North Dakota) in his first novel. The story, about the town of Owl and its new teacher (and lone single girl), is almost devoid of character development, though the last leg, about an early-February blizzard, adds depth to an otherwise trifling tale. Timothy Hodler
Vacation by Deb Olin Unferth [McSweeney's, $22]
In this oblique, absurdist debut novel, a man starts to spy on his wife—and learns that she is stalking someone else. Eventually, his obsession drives him to follow the mystery man across the globe, through earthquakes and credit-card cancellations. If you don't mind a bit of whimsical symbolism, this is well worth a look. Timothy Hodler
Scattershot by David Lovelace [Dutton, $25]
Memoirs of bipolar disorder are as common as dirt, but Lovelace steers clear of self-pity and self-aggrandizement as he describes, with disarming candor, his childhood with two manic-depressive parents, his time as a drug addict, and his acceptance of his own diagnosis. Timothy Hodler
Photograph by Tim Hout
The Circus: 1870-1950, edited by Noel Daniel [Taschen, $200]
Before the advent of movies, people in search of entertainment went to the circus. The big top's glory days may be long gone, but this visual treatment—a book containing hundreds of shots by everyone from Weegee to Charles and Ray Eames, and more than 300 posters (like one for BLACAMAN: HINDU ANIMAL HYPNOTIST)—lets you marvel at the Chinese acrobats, boxing kangaroos, and bike-riding bears you were born too late to see in person. Timothy Hodler
As originally conceived, The 19th Wife [Random House, $26], David Ebershoff's novel based on the life of Ann Eliza Young, who publicly divorced Mormon pioneer Brigham Young, was to be set solely in the 19th century. But after he traveled to the compound of Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect, Ebershoff realized that, 200 years later, little had changed. "I noticed there was a cop on my tail," says Ebershoff, 39. "I was literally driven out of town. I thought, 'Can that happen in the 21st-century United States?'" In the resulting book, Ebershoff meshes Mrs. Young's story with that of a present-day 20-year-old man investigating his father's murder after his mother (a 19th wife) is accused of the killing. "I personally don't have reason to object if a man wants to live with 19 women," Ebershoff says, "but when children are involved, it becomes a much more complicated question." Timothy Hodler
Man in the Dark by Paul Auster [Henry Holt, $23]
Brooklyn's most accessible absurdist ventures into Philip K. Dick territory in this eerily sparse novel, in which an elderly auto-accident victim imagines an alternate America where the 2000 presidential election led to civil war—and the World Trade Center was never destroyed. Timothy Hodler
X-Films: True Confessions of a Radical Filmmaker by Alex Cox [Soft Skull, $18]
The director of cult classics like Repo Man and Sid & Nancy chronicles his battles with film executives and actors including Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, and Harry Dean Stanton. But this isn't just a memoir: It's also an inspiring—and acerbic—how-to guide. Timothy Hodler
Courtesy of JRP-Ringier
This is, in part, what Hedi Slimane's been up to since leaving Dior Homme: Rock Diary—a three-volume collection of his black-and-white photographs of Pete Doherty, Amy Winehouse, and a topless Kate Moss interspersed with shadowy portraits of anonymous rock fans. Courtney Colavita
Leather Maiden by Joe R. Lansdale [Knopf, $25]
Black humor and bad taste abound in Lansdale's Edgar-winning body of work, and the cult author's newest literary thriller—about Casey Stanton, a hard-drinking, Pulitzer-winning journalist (and Gulf War vet) who returns to his rural Texas hometown after losing his job in spectacular fashion—is no exception. As he investigates a cold-case murder for the local paper and stalks his ex, Stanton emerges as an appealingly ripe hayseed Sam Spade. Timothy Hodler
Photograph by Margaret Delves Broughton
When Philip Delves Broughton quit his job at London's Daily Telegraph to attend Harvard Business School, he wasn't planning on writing a book. "I was trying to get journalism out of my system," says Broughton, 35. But after he graduated in 2006 without a job, he found himself revisiting his student diaries. The result is Ahead of the Curve (Penguin Press, $26), a compelling insider's account of the celebrated training ground of power brokers as well as such famously flawed leaders as former defense secretary Robert McNamara, Enron ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling, and the current president. Broughton found a student body divided between the frivolous (Wall Streeters addicted to golf and "booze luges") and the diligent (military vets and nerds)—but united in eschewing the school's post-Enron emphasis on business ethics. "It was as if everyone had their fingers in their ears and was going la la la la la," he says. "What they wanted to hear was 'How can I be rich like Warren Buffett?'" Timothy Hodler
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami [Knopf, $20]
Murakami's fans may be disappointed that the famously reticent novelist doesn't reveal more personal details in this slim memoir about preparing for the 2005 New York City Marathon, but you can't fault him for a misleading title. All's not lost, however, as Murakami's hypnotic, deadpan tone (which can find absurdity in even the most mundane detail) is present in full force, and this may be as close to an autobiography as we'll get. Timothy Hodler
Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt [Knopf, $25]
Whether you frequently suffer from road rage or endure a crowded commute by bus, traffic has a profound effect on your (and the country's) daily life. Vanderbilt's engagingly brisk and smart examination of how we drive delivers a wealth of automotive insights both curious (up to 70 percent of urban drivers are just looking for a parking spot) and counterintuitive (the newer and safer your car, the more likely you are to get into collisions). Timothy Hodler
Studio Olafur Eliasson: An Encyclopedia [Taschen, $150]
If you caught Olafur Eliasson's recent retrospective at SF MOMA or Queens' P.S. 1, or the waterfalls he recently erected in New York's East River, you know how awe-inspiring the Danish-Icelandic artist's installations and sculptures can be. This gorgeous, career-spanning collection, which documents the hundreds of works born in Eliasson's secret Berlin laboratory (including his famed 2003 Weather Project exhibit), is nearly as breathtaking—and as big. Timothy Hodler
The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal edited by Jay Parini [Doubleday, $27.50]
Whatever you think of his fiction, politics, or literary persona, there's no denying that Gore Vidal is a master essayist, among the wittiest ever. The clearest proof lies in the choices for this collection, including the must-read "The Top Ten Best-Sellers According to the Sunday New York Times as of January 7, 1973." Timothy Hodler
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles [Houghton Mifflin, $22]
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris [Little, Brown, $26]
Six books in, Sedaris' comic memoirs are beginning to yield diminishing returns, but he's still one of the most dependable humorists around. Anyone looking for a flight's worth of distraction could do a lot worse than this collection of vignettes. See especially the story about Sedaris' umpteen-hour plane ride seated next to a weeping passenger. Timothy Hodler
Game Boys, by Michael Kane [Viking, $25]
Apart from the miniscule paydays, professional video-gaming, with its meddlesome team owners, egotistical star players, and stunning upsets, is just like professional sports. In this engaging (if workmanlike) narrative, Kane chronicles the rivalry between two top Counter-Strike teams as they compete for the championship. Timothy Hodler
Atmospheric Disturbances, by Rivka Galchen [Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $23]
A middle-aged New York psychiatrist is convinced his young wife has been replaced by a doppelgänger and enlists a patient who believes he's a secret agent who can control the weather to help find his "real" spouse in Galchen's bizarre, deadpan novel about cracking up. Timothy Hodler
