Arts

The Last Embrace works as literary film noir: There are bombshell babes, unsavory gangsters, and — of course — a grisly murder.

Are rampant claims of discrimination clouding our discussions of social problems and race? Law Professor Richard Thompson Ford examines abuses of the so-called "race card" while looking at wider problems of institutional racism.

Paris: the city of lights, the city of love, and — maybe most importantly — the city of food. Alexander Lobrano of Gourmet magazine samples the gastronomical delights of over a hundred Parisian restaurants, creating a guide that would satisfy any foodie.

Half shantytown, half boomtown, the teeming and complex Mexican capital defies coherent description. David Lida's sharply drawn vignettes are expansive and vivid — like the city itself.

Equal parts thriller, travelogue and literary puzzle, Hotel Crystal is The Bourne Identity by way of Borges.

Stop Me If You've Heard This Before, Jim Holt's funny, scholarly history of humor, ranges high and (very) low to answer the question, "What are you laughing at?"

In The Book of Chameleons, a gecko narrator weaves fragmentary tales of invented pasts into a story of charming airiness. The prize-winning Portuguese novel is set in post-civil war Angola.

Excerpt: 'The Lace Reader'