 | THE NEWLYWEDS, by Nell Freudenberger. (Knopf, $25.95.) The story of a Bangladeshi woman, her new American husband and their previous romantic entanglements is told with empathy, an effective writing style and an international sensibility. . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
 | ARE YOU MY MOTHER?: A Comic Drama, by Alison Bechdel. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $22.) Bechdel’s engaging, original graphic novel explores her troubled relationship with her distant mother. . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
 | HHHH, by Laurent Binet. Translated by Sam Taylor. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26.) This gripping novel examines both the killing of an SS general in Prague in 1942 and Binet’s experience in writing about it. . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
 | WHEN GOD TALKS BACK: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship With God, by T. M. Luhrmann. (Knopf, $28.95.) Evangelicals believe that God speaks to them personally because they hone the skill of prayer, this insightful study argues. . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
 | BAD RELIGION: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, by Ross Douthat. (Free Press, $26.) A Times Op-Ed columnist laments America’s departure, since the 1960s, from what he calls its “Christian center.” . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
 | TINDERBOX: How the West Sparked the AIDS Epidemic and How the World Can Finally Overcome It, by Craig Timberg and Daniel Halperin. (Penguin Press, $29.95.) Fighting the spread of AIDS in Africa. . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
 | REAGAN AND THATCHER: The Difficult Relationship, by Richard Aldous. (Norton, $27.95.) This well-informed account casts new light on the heroic version of the two leaders’ association. . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
 | THE RIGHT-HAND SHORE, by Christopher Tilghman. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.) A dark, magisterial novel set on a Chesapeake Bay estate. . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
 | ABSOLUTION, by Patrick Flanery. (Riverhead, $26.95.) A talented first novelist shows how the history of apartheid still affects South African life. . . . REVIEW. | ||||||||||||||||||
The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: http://www.nyt.com/pages/books/index.html |
