Asia's New Arms Race

Dear Book Lover

• 

  The Vast Terrain of Canadian Fiction

  Cynthia Crossen recommends authors and novels from north of the border.

• The Best Novels by Men in 2010

  Cynthia Crossen recommends her favorite books by male authors from last year.

• The Best Books by Women in 2010

  Cynthia Crossen recommends her favorite books by female authors from last year.

• Great Literature About the Land Down Under

  Cynthia Crossen recommends novels and nonfiction about Australia.

• Books & Ideas

• 

  How Many Friends Can Your Brain Hold?

  The "social brain hypothesis" and the relationship of one's social network to the size of a lobe in the brain.

• New Apps: Thinking Outside the Litter Box

  Joe Queenan on smart-phone applications for kitties, lost Republicans and balding men.

• 

  Would Bogie Wear Gore-Tex?

  Virginia Postrel, in her Commerce & Culture column, says the next big thing often consists of lots of little things.

• 

  Talk That Walks

  Novelist John L'Heureux on how Hemingway's dialogue powers a story.

• The Dismal Science Meets Modern Matrimony

  How married people really feel about love, money, sex and their spouses: A survey from the new book "Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage and Dirty Dishes."

  • Graphic: 'Spousonomics'
  • Video: Solving Everyday Marital Conflicts
  • Poll: Is your marriage more or less work than you thought?
• 

  Highbrow Movie Trivia

  A new book goes behind the scenes of your favorite movies.

• 

  The Great Italian Novel, a Love Story

  Alessandro Manzoni's "The Betrothed," Italy's national literary classic, was an instant success when it was first published in 1827 and introduced a new genre, the historical fiction.

• 

  The Spymaster's Spymaster

  Franklin Roosevelt made him his top spy in World War II, and he was the director of the country's first national intelligence agency. "Wild Bill Donovan," is the biography of a fascinating intelligence officer. Andrew Roberts reviews.

• 

  H-Bombs on a Hair Trigger

  In "15 Minutes," L. Douglas Keeney argues that America's nuclear doctrine grew out of a careful attempt to address real-life problems in a tense and shifting Cold War climate. Arthur Herman reviews.

• Roaming on Urban Streets

  Sam Sacks reviews Teju Cole's debut novel, "Open City," in which the narrator, an émigré named Julius, wanders through New York City recollecting his thoughts. Nathacha Appanah's novel, "The Last Brother," traces the memories of an old, unsteady man.

• 

  Remembering the Hour of Lead

  In "A Widow's Story," novelist Joyce Carol Oates inventories every aspect of grief experienced by her in the aftermath of her husband's death. F. Cord Volkmer reviews.

• 

  The Life Well-Read

  Eric Ormsby on the infectious passion of authors who are moved by their reading to pay tribute to the ones that formed them.

• 

  Photo-Op: Miami Chic

  "Miami Beach Deco," a book of photographs by Steven Brooke, catalogues the development of a unique architectural aesthetic in 1930s Miami.

• When Trouble Cascades

  Tom Nolan reviews new mystery novels, including Richard Yancey's "The Highly Effective Detective Crosses the Line," in which a hyper-self-conscious security guard becomes a private eye.

• 

  The Revolutionary Novelist

  Even as a 12-year-old, writer Victor Serge said that his concept of life could be summed up as: Thou shalt think, thou shalt struggle, thou shalt be hungry, though shalt fight back. Looking at Serge's writing from the 30s and 40s,Tess Lewis finds in his work a moral obligation to enlighten others, whatever the price.

• 

  When the Tea Party Began

  Dominic Sandbrook's "Mad As Hell" makes the populism of the 1970s feel familiar—sometimes very familiar. Michael C. Moynihan reviews.

• 

  The Refugees Who Built an Empire

  What became of the Americans who remained devoted to the British crown after the triumph of George Washington's Continental Army? Maya Jasanoff's "Liberty's Exiles," is the story, as the subtitle has it, of "American loyalists in the revolutionary world." Brendan Simms reviews.

• 

  Truly, Madly, Remotely

  Allison Pearson's coming-of-age novel, "I Think I Love You," charts the journey of Londoner Petra Williams—from her years as a teenager obsessed with David Cassidy, to her life as a soon-to-be divorced music therapist with a teenage daughter of her own. Clare McHugh reviews.

• 

  Remarkable Hollywood Lives

  Stefan Kanfer recommends his favorite books on Hollywood luminaries of yore, including Frank Capra's autobiography, "The Name Above the Title," and Patricia Bosworth's "Montgomery Clift."

• 

  When Imagination Blasts Into Orbit

  A shelter cat expresses his concerns through Japanese verse, a little fox named Lucy sets off on an expedition, and a rich and brilliant child spends hours collecting creatures found on his parents' estate. Meghan Cox Gurdon reviews new books for children.

• 

  Tobias Grey: The Work, Not the Author, Matters

  One British novelist reviews the characters created by his predecessors.

• 

  A Pioneer in the Private Life of the Brain

  Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio has transformed a century's conventional wisdom about how feelings and emotions inform decision-making.

• 

  Is this Guy the Next Stieg Larsson?

  Japanese crime writer Keigo Higashino's book sales number in the millions in Japan. His latest, "The Devotion of Suspect X," was published in the U.S. on Feb. 1. Will he experience runaway international success along the likes of Swedish author Stieg Larsson?

• 

  Blissful Transmissions

  Lisa Napoli, a radio journalist from Los Angeles, packs her bags and moves to Bhutan for six weeks to help set up a youth-oriented radio station called Kuzoo FM. "Radio Shangri-La," is the story of her adventures in, as the subtitle has it, "the happiest kingdom on earth." Melanie Kirkpatrick reviews.

• 

  Mongols on the Moskva

  "Empire of Silver," Conn Iggulden's latest installment in a series of books on the Mongol dynasty, charts the life and legacy of Genghis Khan and his sons. Allan Mallinson reviews.

• 

  Rumsfeld's View of White House

  In excerpts from his new memoir, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reveals tensions within the George W. Bush administration, criticizing Condoleezza Rice for her role in the handling of post-war Iraq and disclosing that he tried to resign after the Abu Ghraib scandal.

  • Opinion: Rumsfeld's 'Slice of History'
  • Review: War and Remembrance
  • Korea Real Time: Memo on Roh's Election
  • Photos: Rumsfeld Through the Years
• 

  Books and Sequestered Nooks

  A row is shaping up in the U.K. over the projected mass closures of public libraries, with novelist Philip Pullman adding stardust to the protests.

• 

  Christian Rocca: The Nile, Then and Now

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Tragedy of Korosko" tells a century-old tale of radical Islam and Western appeasement that's eerily familiar.

• 

  Now College is the Break

  College students have long had the reputation for being lazy and doing nothing to prepare themselves for the real world that comes after. But maybe they're not the ones to blame?

• 

  Moderation in Most Things

  David Brown's "Palmerston," is the story of an inimitable figure in Victorian politics and the man who guided Britain's foreign policy in the pivotal decades of the mid-19th century. William Anthony Hay reviews.

• 

  Wherever Home May Be

  Elizabeth Bishop was a restless, searching, meticulous writer, whose poems celebrate the wonder of being human. On the occasion of her centenary, Dana Gioia places her firmly in the American literary canon.

• WSJ Reading Group

  • discuss ▶

  “What books are you reading now?”

  —Join the Journal Community's WSJ Reading Group to discuss books and authors.