Michael Lindsay-Hogg might not be a name that is readily recognizable, but the man has been part of our lives for more than a quarter-century. His stellar and innovative work as a director for British television (remember Brideshead Revisited?) made him a likely candidate to direct early music videos for the Rolling Stones and The Who.

“I have spent a lifetime depending on what not telling the truth will do to get me by.” That truth is at the heart of this deeply affecting memoir by Gerald Duff, author most recently of Fire Ants, a remarkable collection of short stories many of which are set in the East Texas of Duff’s youth.

Maine, the new novel from the author of the best-selling Commencement, begins as this year’s beach read, but eventually emerges as an exquisitely written examination of four women who have little else in common but the fact that they are family, plain and simple.

Adam Ross continues to astound, just as he did in last year’s Mr. Peanut, which remains as witty and discomfiting a modern novel as readers are likely to find.