Like Jonathan Franzen’s previous novel, “The Corrections,” this is a masterly portrait of a nuclear family in turmoil, with a majestic sweep that gathers every sociocultural morsel of our shared millennial life.

Complete contents of the Book Review since 1997.

Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE POSTCARD KILLERS, by James Patterson and Liza Marklund
2. THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, by Stieg Larsson
3. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
4. THE COBRA, by Frederick Forsyth
5. STAR ISLAND, by Carl Hiaasen

Milan Kundera’s essays illuminate music, painting and writing in the context of what he calls a “post-art” era.

The final book in a four-volume series describes the fate of nuclear weapons since the Soviet Union fell.

The story of a 1945 Mississippi case of a black man accused of raping a white woman that exposed the seething tensions of the early civil rights era.

How the Industrial Revolution transformed invention itself.

Seeing the march of American history in the story of the Boston Post Road, a colonial highway turned modern-day ribbon of retail.

“The Postcard Killers,” a collaboration between James Patterson and the Swedish crime writer Liza Marklund, hits the fiction list at No. 1.

An expansive mix of medical reportage, history and memoir explores our relationship to pain.

Craig Childs explores archaeology’s ethical debates and the costs of discovering lost history.

This memoir of traveling Europe is not shy about reporting on sex, drinking marathons or personal humiliation.

An absorbing biography of a man who was an academic, a writer, a tattoo artist and an avid sexual adventurer in pre-Stonewall gay America.

In this first novel, a Somali orphan roams the world.

The hero of Alan Furst’s novel is devoted to ouzo, women and saving people from the Nazis — until they invade Greece.

No money for Venice or Machu Picchu? Try hitting the literary hot spots of Pottsville and Scranton.

Recently reviewed books of particular interest.

Featuring a conversation about Jonathan Franzen’s novel “Freedom”; and Suzanne Collins on her “Hunger Games” trilogy.

A Library of America collection showcases Shirley Jackson’s fascination with psychology, society and the terrors of everyday life.

In the dystopia of this wry first novel, a hierarchical society forces young bachelors to find brides — or else.