Complete book coverage for March 7, 2010

The idyllic environment of school life in Carol Goodman’s ‘Arcadia Falls’ is undercut by secrets of the most threatening kind.

With publisher publicity departments backing away from traditional author tours, writers are left to their own devices (and strangers’ couches).

Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney were fun-loving souls who married only to die soon after.

In his media manifesto, a fed-up author makes a case for reality.

A poignant memoir of how grandparents fill the gap left when their daughter dies.

A Japanese novelist tries to understand why his longtime filmmaker friend committed suicide, raising issues of art, postwar identity and Japan’s coexistence with nationalism.

Must everything be turned into pop cultural slogans? the poet asks in his new collection.

Also reviewed: ‘The Man Who Ate His Boots’ by Anthony Brandt; ‘The Hollywood Economist’ by Edward Jay Epstein; ‘Dreams in a Time of War’ by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

Fiction Weeks on list1.The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined as they change a Mississippi town. 39 2.The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell (Knopf: $25.95) A transcontinental search is under way for the truth behind a massacre in a Swedish village. 1 3.The Postmistress by Sarah Blake (Putnam: $25.95) An American radio reporter links a small Cape Cod village with war-torn Europe.1 4.Worst Case by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $27.99) A kidnapper snatches the son of a wealthy N.Y. family playing a game of Q & A to determine the outcome.35.The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $25.95) A hacker implicated in two murders must revisit her past to prove her innocence. 276.Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt: $27) The rise of Henry VIII’s advisor Thomas Cromwell. 167.Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney (Amulet: $13.95) Greg desires to spend summer vacation indoors despite his mother’s wishes for outdoor family fun. 158.The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (Disney Hyperion: $17.99) Percy Jackson and his army of demigods battle to stop the Lord of Time. 159.Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich (Harper: $25.99) A woman struggles to understand and quite possibly escape her loveless marriage to a downtrodden painter. 3 10.The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R.

Fiction 1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson ($14.95) 2.