Bookmarks

HARDBACKS

"AN APPLE A DAY: The Myths, Misconceptions, and Truths About the Foods We Eat," by Joe Schwarcz, Other Press, 352 pages, $23.95 (nf)

Schwarcz's purpose in writing the book is to separate the "sense from nonsense," and tell us what is worth worrying about from what's not in our sometimes hysterical ideas about food and nutrition. The book discusses such things as naturally occurring chemicals in our foods, the pros and cons of manipulating our food and contaminants in our food supply.

"DELICATE EDIBLE BIRDS: And Other Stories" by Lauren Groff, Voice, 320 pages, $23.95 (f)

From a Midwestern farm girl who falls in love with a French playboy and a stay-at-home-mom taking night poetry classes to a war correspondent during World War II and a championship swimmer, this collection of nine short stories reveal the drama within the lives of 20th-century women.

"HAUNTED HEART: The Life and Times of Stephen King," by Lisa Rogak, Thomas Dunne Books, 304 pages, $24.9 (nf)

Rogak interviews King's friends and did exhaustive research to delve into the mind that created the stories that have terrified and delighted us for more than 30 years. Some of the things she discusses are King's childhood and the effects his father's abandonment of the family may have had on his writing and how a 1999 accident led to drug use and writer's block.

"THE SKY BELOW," by Stacey D'Erasmo, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 288 pages $24 (f)

Gabriel Collins, an obituary writer at a fading newspaper with a part-time job ghostwriting novels about a spunky group of women in jeopardy, is diagnosed with a terminal illness. He flees to Mexico and begins to undergo a mysterious, painful and, quite possibly, hallucinatory transformation.

"RANDOM ACTS OF HEROIC LOVE," by Danny Scheinmann, Thomas Dunne Books, 400 pages, $24.95 (f)

Seemingly unconnected lives intertwine as one man seeks solace after his beloved's death and another risks his life to return to his childhood sweetheart after decades at war. The parallel powers of love and grief join these two men together as they fight for love and its incredible power to surpass time, war and death.

"SNARK: It's Mean, It's Personal, and It's Ruining Our Conversation," by David Denby, Simon & Schuster, $15.95 (nf)