Los Angeles Times book coverage for May 9, 2010.

In ‘The Cardturner,’ the bestselling author of “Holes” turns to one of his favorite games: bridge.

In “The Boy with the Cuckoo-clock Heart,” a young man looks for love and stays alive thanks to a little wooden clock. Plus: “The Bradbury Report’s” unsettling vision of the near-future.

The British writer’s ‘The Pregnant Widow’ travels back to the days of the sexual revolution.

In the author’s new novel, a marriage turns into a war of weaknesses.

A Shakespeare scholar comprehensively addresses the issue: Who wrote the plays attributed to the Bard?

A bored law clerk claims to have discovered several Shakespearean relics. He is eventually exposed as a fraud.

In setting out to pen an Eisenhower biography of his own, the writer takes note of famed historian Ambrose’s less-than-detailed sourcing.

One woman’s quest for her dream home.

Plus: ‘Take Good Care of the Garden and Dogs,’ ‘Cold Earth’ and ‘Wait.’