Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin

Should the phone ring I will answer it." Kamby Bolongo Mean River (Dzanc Books, September 2009) by Robert Lopez. Second book, novel. Agent: None. Editor: J. A. Tyler. Publicist: Dan Wickett.

"Hello, this is Paul Chowder, and I'm going to try to tell you everything I know." The Anthologist (Simon & Schuster, September 2009) by Nicholson Baker. Twelfth book, eighth novel. Agent: Melanie Jackson. Editor: Sarah Hochman. Publicist: Julia Prosser.

"Don't look for dignity in public bathrooms." Big Machine (Spiegel & Grau, August 2009) by Victor LaValle. Third book, second novel. Agent: Gloria Loomis. Editor: Christopher Jackson. Publicist: Jynne Martin.

"Paradise lies beneath the feet of your mother." Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities (Wesleyan University Press, September 2009) by Kazim Ali. Third book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Suzanna Tamminem. Publicist: Stephanie Elliott.

"Spiders live in all the park cupolas / the joints / she ties the balloons to." Weapons Grade (University of Arkansas Press, September 2009) by Terese Svoboda. Tenth book, fifth poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Enid Shomer. Publicist: Lauren Cerand.

"We are on our way to the hospital, Ryan's father says." Await Your Reply (Ballantine Books, September 2009) by Dan Chaon. Fifth book, third novel. Agent: Noah Lukeman. Editor: Susanne Porter. Publicist: Brian McLendon.

"Later, when Duncan teases apart the moments before the accident, splits the seconds with atomic precision, he'll take some satisfaction in telling Lily that his instincts were good." New World Monkeys (Shaye Areheart Books, September 2009) by Nancy Mauro. First book, novel. Agent: Jamie Brenner. Editor: Sarah Knight. Publicist: Rachel Rokicki.

"The whipped soul, the whacked and wounded self, // the bleeding bowels, the suffocating shadow, / the post-war flashing star in the broken bottle // of the nation, I had acute something the matter // with me." Stupid Hope (Graywolf Press, August 2009) by Jason Shinder. Third book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Jeffrey Shotts. Publicist: Mary Matze.

"The dreamer was still soaring high above an endless city." Wheeling Motel (Knopf, September 2009) by Franz Wright. Eleventh book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Deborah Garrison. Publicist: Nicholas Latimer.

"I'm Homer, the blind brother." Homer and Langley (Random House, September 2009) by E. L. Doctorow. Fifteenth book, eleventh novel. Agent: Amanda Urban. Editor: Kate Medina. Publicist: Jynne Martin.

"Two days after I turned fourteen the son of our neighbor set his stepmother alight." The Boy Next Door (Little, Brown, September 2009) by Irene Sabatini. First book, novel. Agent: Paul Bresnick. Editor: Judy Clain. Publicist: Marlena Bittner.

"She tucks her arm limp as a doorknocker under her arm." Selected Poems (Wave Books, September 2009) by Dara Wier. Eleventh book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Matthew Zapruder. Publicist: Brandon Shimoda.