As "The New Republic" opens, Edgar Kellogg, a former prep-schooled fat kid, embarks on a financially suicidal reinvention: well-paid, bored Wall Street lawyer to freelance foreign correspondent for a second-rate rag. His first assignment sends him to the fictional Portuguese peninsula of Barba, where he attempts to fill the shoes of Barrington Saddler, a legendary British journalist who has suddenly gone missing. Barba's homegrown terrorist group provides the peninsula's claim to fame and soon Saddler's ghost thrusts Kellogg absurdly into the heart of international terrorism.

Lionel Shriver creates a clever plot, which twists and turns agilely, though languidly, around vivid scenes and wry observations about love, hero-worship and journalistic delusions. A bold and gutsy undertaking, Shriver's satire succeeds in provoking thought though ultimately falls short in entertainment value because of arch characterizations and excess ramblings.

Heather Birrell has mastered the art of writing about the universal themes of marriage, family, motherhood, death and sex in a both familiar and unsettling manner. Her prose is at once fluid and dense with detail, carrying the reader deep into the minds of her carefully constructed characters. Thus, a voyeuristic quality exists in "Mad Hope"; these figures come off as so wonderfully human that to bear witness to their hurts, despairs, ecstasies and triumphs elicits a discomfort akin to invading another's privacy. Birrell exposes the darkness hidden in all of us but does so in such a way that simultaneously captivates and repulses the reader. Ultimately, she allows us to see the ugly side of life without being overwhelmed by its darkness.

Contrary to the genre of Tiger Moms and Bébés, "No Regrets Parenting" teaches parents not how to raise kids but how to find the time to raise kids, thus turning minutes into cherished moments. This non-judgmental book frees both working and stay-at-home parents from guilt by reframing the concept of quality time.

From building trust to actively listening to creating memories to slowing down to ultimately letting go, this book covers universally relevant topics. Its short chapters, positive tone and helpful ideas make it a delight to read.

Greg Kearney's clever, irreverent and unabashed voice immediately grabs the readers attention in "Pretty," a short story collection that ridicules and makes theatrical the unglamorous nature of modern domestic life. It presents witty criticism of contemporary living and imparts sympathy for awkward and disenchanted characters, resulting in a mostly thought-provoking read.

The author brazenly portrays uncomfortable truths about marriage, family and sex and features honest protagonists who harbour no illusions. These figures have an awareness of a "pretty" aesthetic from which they feel alienated, a fact that makes them at times relatable. At other times, though, their situations seem too outrageous to rouse more than detached sympathy.

But even if Kearney's outcasts fail to reflect the depths of human experience, they do entertain uproariously. And even if the stories fail to deliver weighty meditations on the human condition, they do contain clever anecdotes which illustrate just how ugly relationships can be.

Kate Shaffer has written much more than a cookbook here. "Desserted"'s recipes include spectacular flourless peanut butter blondies and its step-by-step instructions for tempering chocolate make it easy to produce shiny, gourmet truffles.

More unexpected but equally impressive are the interspersed honest and sweet tales of a life lived on a tiny island; ones which combine a curious spirit, love, and a drive to do what makes you happy.

In "Bringing Up Bébé," journalist Pamela Druckerman embraces the "French do it better" genre. She describes how educated professionals living in Paris handle pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood and compares the methods to North American ones. The book does not take the process beyond the early years, though doing so might have allowed us to draw conclusions about whether French parenting makes children turn out better when they're older.

Facts reported in Druckerman's book sometimes get in her way but she ultimately delivers an entertaining, enlightening and excellent read. Exploring everything from breastfeeding to park behaviour to spanking to sleeping habits to division of labour between the sexes, the book highlights what North Americans can learn from the French and offers some useful parenting advice.

But do the French really do it better? Giving birth and raising children is messy and confusing in any society. It's perpetual trial and error ' whether in France or elsewhere. Nowhere does a baby come with a user's manual.

Investigative reporter Charles Duhigg has written an entertaining book to help readers change their habits. 'The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business' takes a serious and in-depth look at the science of habit formation without adopting a condescending "self help" tone.

Duhigg remains optimistic about how we can put the science to use. He suggests that, by understanding the nature of habits, we can influence group behavior, turning companies into profit makers and ensuring the success of social movements. He makes his case through fascinating stories and case histories: how and why Target can tell which of its female customers are pregnant, how Rick Warren went from a depressed minister of a small congregation to the leader of one of the biggest megachurches in the world, why Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat started a movement and why a 1987 fire in a London Underground station failed to be contained, leading to the deaths of 31 people.

Unfortunately, it's not always clear from Duhigg's book how we should boil down these examples into a prescription for change. Certainly, one way comes through repetition, practising a routing until it becomes automatic. Altering the habit loop of cue, habit, reward can help someone give up an afternoon cookie. But then there are compulsions and addictions, behaviors that involve dependence on a chemical substance, like nicotine or alcohol, or behaviours like gambling that have become so rewarding that they're nearly impossible to resist. As many wrecked families can attest, these habits are the hardest to change. Unfortunately there is no magic bullet, though intensive treatments and social support can work.

Habitual behaviors come in many different forms, and squeezing them into one framework misses some of the nuances of how to change behavior effectively. Nonetheless, 'The Power of Habit' is an enjoyable book, and readers will find useful advice about how to change at least some of their bad habits ' even if they want to eat their cake.

In her thought provoking debut, New York Times contributor Kate Stone Lombardi debunks the idea that 'a well-adjusted, loving mother is one who gradually but surely pushes her son away, both emotionally and physically, in order to allow him to grow up to be a healthy man.'

Citing her experience as the mother of an adult son with whom she has an intimate bond, the author argues that many modern women reject the cultural norm that a mother should neither comfort a son once he reaches school age, nor encourage him to confide emotional problems. Lombardi also debates the assumption that traits such as sensitivity and empathy are gender-specific 'female characteristics,' contrary to a healthy masculine identity. She notes that young women are encouraged to assume traditionally masculine roles but that the opposite is true for boys; they are expected to 'man up' and not cry or seek comfort when distressed.

Lombardi implies that supposed innate gender differences actually reflect culturally determined differences in nurturing. She cites recent research, which indicates that boys who receive less 'mothering' are more vulnerable to psychological problems and she contends that not only does mother/son bonding play a positive role in a boy's maturation, but that mothers are better able than fathers to help their sons develop better relationships with women.

"The Mama's Boy Myth" presents an insightful, timely study that contains relevant advice for parents of both sons and daughters.

The introverts of Susan Cain's new book, 'Quiet,' don't experience their inwardness positively; rather, they see it as "somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology." Many even fake extroversion through ebullience, dominance, risk-taking and thoughtlessness with disastrous results. Thus, in a book that combines reporting and social science research, Cain argues that we must now establish a "greater balance of power" between those who rush to speak and do and those who sit back and think.

A long and ploddingly earnest book, "Quiet" is at its best on the subject of children. Cain's accounts of introverted kids misunderstood and mishandled by their parents sheds light on the perceived negative trait of shyness. Cain's insights into the stresses of nonstop socializing for some children are welcome; her advice that parents should choose to view their introverted offspring's social style with understanding rather than fear is well worth hearing.

Cain convinces less when she writes about adults. Her definition of introversion widens constantly and ultimately expands to include anyone who is 'reflective, cerebral, bookish, unassuming, sensitive, thoughtful, serious, contemplative, subtle, introspective, inner-directed, gentle, calm, modest, solitude-seeking, shy, risk-averse, thin-skinned.' The category thus becomes meaningless. Another problem with Cain's argument is her assumption that most introverts are actually suffering in their self-esteem. This may be true among business school attendees but a world of introverts does exist in which citizens are quite contented.

Bottom line for the extroverts out there: 'Remember, someone you know, respect and interact with every day is an introvert, and you are probably driving this person nuts.'

'"No One is Here Except All of Us"'' opens in 1939 in the isolated Romanian outpost of Zalischik, where nine families, apprised of the war soon to envelop them, decide to reinvent the world. But, as the 11-year-old narrator, Lena, points out, "'[l]iving in the new world would not turn out to be that different from living in the old one."'' Thus, the reinvention ultimately becomes an indulgent game of make-believe.

Ausubel certainly has a striking eye for detail and writes in luminous prose but her characters often behave in ways that are psychologically dubious. Spirited and intelligent Lena, for example, goes willingly when her parents give her away to a childless aunt and uncle and complies when her aunt insists she behave like an infant. She later marries a callow boy incapable of shouldering adult responsibility.

When the war finally invades Zalischik, Ausubel captures the ensuing chaos with piercing lucidity. The narrative then splinters: Lena's husband ends up lazing around Sardinia while Lena herself flees from the village and starves with her two sons as they wander forests and farmland. Eventually, through another betrayal of character, Lena seeks out a second new world in America. On her passage, a fellow Jew informs her that Hitler has killed himself, the camps have been liberated, the war is over. ' 'I don't know what those things are," she admits.Here, Ausubel powerfully proves that Lena is a refugee not just from her family and home, but from the larger calamity of history itself.

As a stylist, Ausubel astounds readers with her ambitious nod both to her family history and to the rich tradition of Jewish fabulists. But her most affecting prose comes not in flights of imagination, but in those passages when her characters confront the crushing power of the real.