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Fawcett, drenched in sweat, peered into a valley and saw trees shaped like spiders and parachutes and clouds of smoke; waterways threading back and forth for thousands of miles; a jungle canopy so dark it appeared almost black—Amazonia.
--The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann (Doubleday, $27.50) Memoir
Twenty-two years after my car accident, in the last days of summer 2006, I sat nervously eyeing a physician's assistant. I had been walking around for weeks with head and neck pain, unable to move my head in any direction … Staring at my MRI, the assistant finally announced, "Your neck is still broken."
--The Body Broken by Lynne Greenberg (Random House, $25)
Short Stories
My father's troubles had started ten years or so ago when his memory started to erode. He lost wallets and sets of keys … And then last month, he woke up from a two-day nap and couldn't recognize my stepmother. He called the police. She'd had to show two forms of ID not to get arrested for trespassing in her own house.
--Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $24)
Spirituality
I have rushed through much of my life as if I were late for an appointment. I have spent decades ruminating about the past and the future while skipping over the present … Even now, when I_meditate, I'm tempted to set the timer on 29 minutes instead of 30.
--Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World by Mary Pipher (Riverhead, $25.95)
Novel
He had a habit of massaging his own arms, as if discreetly assessing their muscularity. And from time to time, when someone else was talking, he raised one leg and swung his arm back in an extravagant mime of throwing a ball. He was either very charming or very irritating: she had not yet decided.
--The Believers by Zoë Heller (Harpercollins, $25.95)
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