State Scarlet, David Aaron (Putnam’s). In this...

State Scarlet, David Aaron (Putnam’s). In this novel, the author, a national security specialist, “offers the reader more enjoyment than usual in the hunt for political commentary, policy critique and . . . technical mistakes” (Douglas M. Hart).

Claros Varones de Belken/Fair Gentlemen of Belken County, Rolando Hinojosa; translated from the Spanish by Julia Cruz; The Road to Tamazunchale, Ron Arias (Bilingual Review, Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University). “In a beautiful, witty verbal tapestry, Rolando Hinojosa captures the intra-history of the collective experience of the Chicano.” Ron Arias’ “skillful and imaginative novel” centers on “a retired bookseller and collector who is dying” (Alejandro Morales).

Life Without Friends, Ellen Emerson White (Scholastic). A “plucky, heartening” young adult novel. “The lives of the young people it portrays are complex; their happiness dug for like buried treasure” (Marianne Gingher).

Sir Walter Ralegh: Selected Writings, edited by Gerald Hammond (Penguin), “allows us to know Ralegh intimately, to experience through Ralegh’s own words . . . the dark terrors that haunted him unto the axman’s block” (Jonathan Kirsch).