Complete books coverage for Sunday, April 26, 2009

Michael Moorcock’s “Elric” series portrays a desperate, superhuman loner who struggles with his destiny.

Whitehead’s clever charm helps drive an amiable tale of summer boyhood that otherwise is on the road to nowhere.

He wrote some of the most compelling books of the last century. So why do so few remember?

The author contends that the conflict between the Arabic world and the West can be solved only by addressing finite, rather than rhetorical, issues.

The unhappy adventures of Maximilian and Carlota, Mexico’s imperial couple

The lies people tell to deny that a tragedy has happened.

A memoir of growing up communist in the land of indulgence and plenty.

The Dangerous World of Butterflies The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists Peter Laufer Lyons Press: 272 pp., $24.95 Peter Laufer was a little bit tired of writing about wars and American prisoners held against their will in foreign countries, and about neo-Nazis and Mexican immigrants.

Fiction weeks on list1.Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $22.99) The final book in the “Twilight” saga finds Bella choosing immortality.372.Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death.403.The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial Press: $22) A writer corresponds with islanders after German occupation.374.Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney (Amulet: $12.95) Greg’s dad enlists him in sports to toughen him up.135.Long Lost by Harlan Coben (Dutton: $27.95) Private eye Myron Bolitar takes the case of a woman accused of murdering her ex.36.The Women by T.C.

Fiction 1. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer ($10.99) 2. The Shack by William P. Young ($14.99) 3.

Author and book events for the week of April 26, 2009