Laughter in the Dark, by Vladimir Nabokov (New Directions, $12.95, 308 pages): You may not need another reminding kick-in-the-pants to read Nabokov, but nevertheless here it is. His fourth novel, Laughter in the Dark—originally published in Russian as Kamera Obskura in 1932 and translated by the author four years later—is often considered the precursor to his masterpiece, Lolita. The middle-aged art critic Albinus abandons sanity to take up a lover half his age: "Albinus' specialty had been his passion for art; his most brilliant discovery had been Margot." Though told with a more playful and less self-conscious tone than his later works, it's a timeless and delightfully cruel look at the follies of love, with a new introduction by John Banville. It's Nabokov, for chrissake!
The Children's Hospital, by Chris Adrian (McSweeney's, $24, 480 pages): Adrian, author of Gob's Grief, is a pediatrician and student at Harvard Divinity School. What he brings to the table seems like something you've heard before—a semi-post-apocalyptic tale, in which the only building remaining after a massive flood is a children's hospital, floating atop 7 miles of water. Its inhabitants, led by pregnant med student Jemma, encircle and bob around the earth as disease threatens to kill them off. Yes, there are more than two Biblical allusions (it's narrated by a "recording angel") and a bit of med-speak, but at heart, The Children's Hospital is a wildly imaginative tale of loss and redemption, its writing as varied and textured as the story it brings to life.
