by Nick Harkaway (Knopf, $25.95)

You probably haven't heard about this book, because no one knows what to do with it. It's hard to say whether it's the next Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or the next For Whom the Bell Tolls. What you need to know is that it's about the end of the world, and the terrible danger of people who allow themselves to become cogs in the machines of governments or companies, and the difficulties of growing up into yourself. It also has pirates, ninjas, explosions, young love, longing, conspiracies, politics, monsters, heroes, and British humor at its finest since PG Wodehouse. Normal people who read this book are getting obsessed with it. You want to be one of those people.