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Ken Kalfus' new novel about an astronomer obsessed with attracting the attention of Martians appears at first to be an homage to the scientific romances of H.G. Wells and the lost-world sagas of H. Rider Haggard. As the novel develops, however, its unique social commentaries emerge.

In his new book, pilot and columnist Patrick Smith explains why you have to turn off your cellphone for takeoff and landing, and why your ideas about autopilot are probably all wrong. He wants people to "re-appreciate the act of air travel. It's not as horrible as everybody thinks it is."

Ohioans voted "yes" on a proposed amendment that provides protection for abortion, miscarriage, birth control and reproductive rights.

Olivia Laing illuminates the complex relationships between writers and alcohol in The Trip to Echo Spring — Echo Spring being, of course, the euphemism Tennessee Williams used for the liquor cabinet in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Reviewer Jane Ciabattari says the book is "beautifully written, haunting, tragic and instructive in the best sense."

A new biography from Sam Wasson examines the life and legacy of the Broadway, TV and film director Bob Fosse, who is known for such game-changing entertainments as Cabaret, Liza With A Z and Chicago. NPR's Bob Mondello says the book has both substantial research and vivid descriptions.

In her new book of essays, I See You Made an Effort, comedian Annabelle Gurwitch muses on middle-aged life. Critic Heller McAlpin says that the book, infused throughout with "sharp wit," is hilarious.

Pakistan's opposition wants President Pervez Musharraf to lift a week-old state of emergency. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says emergency rule would make campaigning "difficult" in a promised election in January. Musharraf says the emergency decree is needed for a fair vote.

In fiction, Erin Morgenstern conjures star-crossed magicians, Rachel DeWoskin revisits the horrors of high school, and Dean Bakopoulos' widower pursues new love. In nonfiction, James Carroll visits the real and imagined Jerusalem.

Juan Vidal recommends three Latin American masterpieces that were translated this year: a boundary-pushing novella, a noir tale of an assassination plot and a complex exploration of identity and history. There are no noble heroes in these pages — instead, they feature hapless, struggling souls in search of meaning.

FOP President Jeff Simpson commented on a social media post defending a Jason Aldean song and said about lynching, "[B]ack in the day, that was the penalty you got for doing really bad things. Today you get nothing."