5. "THE SINGULAR MARK TWAIN: A BIOGRAPHY," Fred Kaplan, Doubleday, 726 pages, $35. A gifted biographer, Kaplan has portrayed Mark Twain, perhaps the most important literary figure of all time. Twain is depicted here as an outsized personality who traveled widely and lectured all over the world. His bad business judgment caused him to go deeply into debt, so he wrote and lectured his way out of it. In spite of his humorous reputation, Twain was almost never funny. But he wrote and lectured with force and charisma.

6. "A WINDOW ACROSS THE RIVER," Brian Morton, Harcourt, 289 pages, $25. A lyrical novel about Isaac and Nora, whose romance is threatened by her tendency to write books about the people in her life.

7. "SONS OF MISSISSIPPI," Paul Hendrickson, Alfred Knopf, 343 pages, $26. Hendrickson, a sharp reporter, started with a 1962 Life Magazine cover of seven racist sheriffs and wrote a nonfiction contemporary history that gives civil rights new meaning.

8. "SAUL AND PATSY," Charles Baxter, Pantheon, 317 pages, $24. A quirky novel about an ordinary married couple whose life together suddenly takes on extraordinary proportions.

9. "ISAAC NEWTON," James Gleick, Pantheon, 272 pages, $22.95. A splendid biography of the great 17th century scientist, whose discoveries in physics, optics and calculus prepared the way for modern science.

10. "FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT: THE STORY OF A SCIENTIFIC SPECULATION," Joao Magueijo, Pereseus, 279 pages, $26. The theory that could supercede Einstein's Theory of Relativity, proposed by a Portuguese scholar in London.

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E-mail: dennis@desnews.com