The Laughing Monsters

Denis Johnson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Roland Nair calls himself Scandinavian but travels on a U.S. passport. After ten years' absence, he returns to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to reunite with his friend Michael Adriko. They once made a lot of money here during the country's civil war, and, curious to see whether good luck will strike twice in the same place, Nair allows himself to be drawn back to a region he considers hopeless. Adriko is an African who styles himself a soldier of fortune and who claims to have served, at various times, the Ghanaian army, the Kuwaiti Emiri Guard, and the American Green Berets. He's probably broke now, but he remains, at thirty-six, as stirred by his own doubtful schemes as he was a decade ago. Although Nair believes some kind of money-making plan lies at the back of it all, Adriko's stated reason for inviting his friend to Freetown is for Nair to meet Adriko's fianc�e, a college girl named Davidia from Colorado. Together the three set out to visit Adriko's clan in the Uganda-Congo borderland-but each of these travelers is keeping secrets from the others. Shadowed by Interpol, the Mossad, and MI6, Nair gets mired in lust and betrayal in a landscape of frighteningly casual violence as he travels with Adriko and Davidia, gets smuggled into a war zone, gets kidnapped by the Congo Army, and is terrorized by a self-proclaimed god ruling over a dying village. Their journey through a land abandoned by the future leads Adriko, Nair, and Davidia to meet themselves not in a new light, but rather in a new darkness.

The Siege

Arturo Perez-Reverte, Frank Wynne

Random House

C�diz, 1811: The Spanish port city has been surrounded by Napoleon's army for a year. Their backs to the sea, its residents endure routine bombardments and live in constant fear of a French invasion. And now the bodies of random women have begun to turn up throughout the city-victims of a shadowy killer. Police Comisario Rogelio Tiz�n has been assigned the case. Known for his razor-sharp investigation skills-as well as his brutal interrogation methods-Tiz�n has seen everything. Or so he thought. His inquiry into the murders reveals a surprising pattern: Each victim has been found where a French bomb exploded. Logic tells him to pass it off as coincidence; his instinct tells him otherwise, and he begins to view C�diz as a living chessboard, with himself and the killer the main players. In a city pushed to the brink, violence and desperation weave together the lives of a group of unlikely people: the Spanish taxidermist who doubles as a French spy; the young woman who uses her father's mercantile business to run the enemy blockade; the rough-edged corsair who tries to resist her charms; and the brilliant academic furiously trying to perfect the French army's artillery and bring C�diz to its knees once and for all. And as Napoleon presses closer, Tiz�n must make his next move on the bomb-scarred chessboard before the killer claims another pawn.

I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend

Martin Short

Harper

In this engagingly witty, wise, and heartfelt memoir, Martin Short tells the tale of how a showbiz-obsessed kid from Canada transformed himself into one of Hollywood's favorite funnymen, known to his famous peers as the "comedian's comedian." Martin Short takes you on a rich, hilarious, and occasionally heartbreaking ride through his life and times, from his early years in Toronto as a member of the fabled improvisational troupe Second City to the all-American comic big time of Saturday Night Live and memorable roles in movies such as Three Amigos and Father of the Bride. He reveals how he created his most indelible comedic characters, among them the manic man-child Ed Grimley, the slimy corporate lawyer Nathan Thurm, and the bizarrely insensitive interviewer Jiminy Glick. Throughout, Short freely shares the spotlight with friends, colleagues, and collaborators, including Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Gilda Radner, Mel Brooks, Nora Ephron, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Shaffer, and David Letterman. But there is another side to Short's life that he has long kept private. He lost his eldest brother and both of his parents by the time he turned twenty, and, more recently, he lost his wife of thirty years to cancer. In I Must Say, Short talks for the first time about the pain that these losses inflicted and the upbeat life philosophy that has kept him resilient and carried him through. In the grand tradition of comedy legends, Martin Short offers a show business memoir densely populated with boldface names and rife with retellable tales: a hugely entertaining yet surprisingly moving self-portrait that will keep you laughing--and crying--from the first page to the last.

Science...for Her!

Megan Amram

Scribner Book Company

Megan Amram, one of "Forbes"' "30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment," "Rolling Stone"'s "25 Funniest People on Twitter," and a writer for NBC's hit show "Parks and Recreation," delivers a politically, scientifically, and anatomically incorrect "textbook" that will have women screaming with laughter, and men dying to know what the noise is about. In the vein of faux expert books by John Hodgman and Amy Sedaris, "Science...for Her " is ostensibly a book of science written by a denizen of women's magazines. Comedy writer and Twitter sensation Megan Amram showcases her fiendish wit with a pitch-perfect attack on everything from those insanely perky tips for self-improvement to our bizarre shopaholic dating culture to the socially mandated pursuit of mind-blowing sex to the cringe-worthy secret codes of food and body issues. Part hilarious farce, part biting gender commentary, Amram blends "Cosmo" and science to highlight absurdities with a machine-gun of laugh-inducing lines that leave nothing and no one unscathed. Subjects include: this Spring's ten most glamorous ways to die; tips for hosting your own big bang; what religion is right for your body type; and the most pressing issue facing women today: kale Be prepared to laugh about anything in this outrageous satirical gem.

An American Cardinal: The Biography of Cardinal Timothy Dolan

Christina Boyle

St. Martin's Press

The most powerful Roman Catholic leader in the United States had humble beginnings. Timothy Michael Dolan was born in Maplewood, Missouri in 1950. From an early age, those around him knew that he would become a priest. Through college and seminary, his power and spirituality grew. He was formally ordained in 1976. In 2009, he was made Archbishop of New York. Several months later he was elevated to cardinal. There were clear signs that the ailing Pope Benedict XVI saw him as a bright hope for the future. During the 2013 conclave, Vatican experts seriously wondered if he would be chosen to lead the Catholics of the world. The cardinal's rise is not, however, without its controversies. He was one of the Catholic leaders who dealt, harshly say some, with abusers and the abused in the church's sex scandal. He is a consummate player who doesn't shy away from picking a political battle. Christina Boyle's An American Cardinal is a book about power and the Roman Catholic church today framed by the life of a man who might someday become the first American pope.

Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page

Cynthia Rylant, Arthur Howard

Harcourt Brace and Company

Mr. Putter and his fine cat, Tabby, love reading their favorite books over and over. So when Mr. Putter sees a sign at the library that says "Read Aloud with Your Pet at Story Time," he signs up But then Mr. Putter's friend and neighbor, Mrs. Teaberry, wants to join. If Mrs. Teaberry reads aloud at the library with her good dog, Zeke, who knows what will happen? With Zeke up to his usual tricks, story time might get too exciting.