March 8-14: Bird-Watchers, A-Bombs And A Notorious Italian Dynasty

In her follow-up to Autobiography of Red, poet Anne Carson revisits the myth of Geryon and Herakles.

Brian Kimberling's debut novel is a loose-limbed collection of stories about an aimless ornithologist named Nate, who, as the book opens, is possessed of a glitter-covered pickup truck and a massive crush on redheaded dream girl Lola.

In Oak Ridge, Tenn., during World War II, thousands of young women were helping the war effort. They knew that sharing even seemingly innocent details about their labors could be cause for dismissal. Their work was as mysterious as it was top-secret — until the bombs were dropped.

A tale inspired by the lives of Borgia siblings Lucrezia and Cesare traces the notorious family's rise in Renaissance Italy, during which war, a terrifying sexual plague and the family's reputation forge an intimate bond between brother and sister.

Domenica Ruta is an addict, alcoholic and occasional drug user, but perhaps the most complicated and toxic part of her addiction is the relationship she has with her mother — a bleached and tattooed brawler who believed it was more important to be interesting than good, who did and occasionally dealt drugs, and who allowed her daughter to stay home from school whenever a good movie was on.