By Hector Tobar Los Angeles Times

11:38 a.m. AKST, January 14, 2013

Lisa Jarnot, "Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus: A Biography"

Tom Reiss, "The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo"

CRITICISM

Paul Elie, "Reinventing Bach"

Daniel Mendelsohn, "Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays from the Classics to Pop Culture"

Mary Ruefle, "Madness, Rack, and Honey"

Marina Warner, "Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights"

Kevin Young, "The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness"

FICTION

Laurent Binet, "HHhH"

Ben Fountain, "Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk"

Adam Johnson, "The Orphan Master’s Son"

Lydia Millet, "Magnificence"

Zadie Smith, "NW"

NONFICTION

Katherine Boo, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity"

Steve Coll, "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power"

Jim Holt,  "Why Does the World Exist? An Existential Detective Story"

David Quammen, "Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic"

Andrew Solomon, "Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity"