On this Books & Beats, Betsy Burton brings you two hefty tomes: Atlas Obscura (Workman) by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ell Morton; and John Derian…

Betsy Burton reviews The Various Haunts of Men (Overlook Press) by Susan Hill this week. It’s a British mystery, the first of a series, and Betsy says…

Charles Ellis Johnson and the Erotic Mormon Image (University of Chicago Press) by Mary Campbell chronicles the Mormon Church’s turn-of-the-century…

The Gustav Sonata (Norton) by Rose Tremain is the story of best friends Anton Zweibel and Gustav Pearle. Anton is a musical prodigy. Gustav must take care…

The Girl from Venice (Simon & Schuster) is the latest thriller from Martin Cruz Smith. The story blends together two of Shakespeare’s plays: “The Two…

News of the World (Morrow) is Paulette Jiles’s new novel. It’s about a Civil War vet and the young girl he’s been hired to take back to her own people…

In Lying Awake (Vintage) by Mark Salzman, a Carmelite nun living in Los Angeles is suddenly struck with numinous visions. But are they just the result of…