Lauren Groff’s engrossing second novel, Arcadia, centers on the first child born in an upstate New York commune where utopian ideals inevitably clash with the darker side of human nature.  

 Marjorie Celona’s Y and Leah Stewart’s The History of Us are more than just novels by writers who happen to be female; they’re sensitive, psychologically complex works that deal the nature of identity in ways both singular and incisive.   

 It’s a frigid weekday afternoon in early February, less than three weeks after the publication of Leah Stewart’s fourth novel, The History of Us, a Cincinnati-set coming-of-age tale marked by psychological insight, a sneakily addictive narrative thrust and a deft use of dialogue.   

The story has long been set in Rock & Roll lore: Ian Curtis, lead singer for Joy Division, hanged himself the day before the Manchester, England-based band was to embark on its first tour of America.  

The four English and one American gentlemen who came together at the end of the turbulent 1960s to form the comedy troupe known as Monty Python’s Flying Circus were highly intelligent, well-educated, profoundly funny, incredibly creative, incessantly silly, politically satirical, highly neurotic and explosively successful.  

A deadly firefight between U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents is caught on video by a Fox News crew and before the eight surviving members of Bravo Company can get back to their barracks, the video has gone viral on the Internet.  

What first started as a community forum to reach neighborhood children resulted in a nonprofit organization called WordPlay, which offers a place outside the home where kids can get tutoring and work on creative projects that aim to create confidence and allow for positive social engagement.   

Less than a year ago, word began circulating of a new “definitive” biography of Rock and Roll icon Bruce Springsteen. These rumors were like manna from heaven for frustrated Springsteen fans, who have been waiting for decades for this kind of biography. And who could blame them?  

Pity poor Harold Silver, the loveable protagonist in A.M. Homes’ latest and perhaps finest novel, May We Be Forgiven. Set over the course of one nightmarish year, from one disastrous family Thanksgiving to the next year’s “remains of the day,” Homes has cooked up the blackest of comedies.  

Long an incisive cultural critic, a dedicated teacher and a nimble-minded writer, Camille Paglia is known for her polarizing opinions on everything from politics (she’s voting Green Party this year) to pop culture (she recently confessed her love for Real Housewives of New Jersey, which she says is a more accurate depiction of the state’s residents than The Sopranos, which she hated).