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Set in the near future, C Pam Zhang's atmospheric novel centers on a chef who takes a job at a tech entrepreneur's isolated compound after smog kills most of Earth's plant and animal species.

In honor of the NCAA tournament and the official start of spring, Lev Grossman recommends the timeless The Canterbury Tales, while Tim Lane looks to the sports bio, Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich.

Claire Messud's new novel, The Woman Upstairs, delves into the inner life of the quiet, friendly — and secretly furious — woman upstairs, a frustrated artist named Nora who becomes obsessed with a glamorous immigrant family.

Maggie Shipstead mocks the pretensions of New England WASPs, while Jessica Lott executes unexpected riffs on the student-professor relationship plot. Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews two stellar fiction newcomers.

Charlie Huston's new thriller is a fast-paced and action-packed tale of a retired assassin who rejoins the game to protect a roboticist as she tracks a computer virus. But reviewer Alan Cheuse says "the action comes bracketed with a load of rhetoric," which ultimately put him to sleep.

Adam Begley says Updike created an everyman in his Rabbit book series, and inhabited him fully, "allowing that everyman's senses to be totally open to the American experience."

Ovidio Guzmán López, a son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, faces drug trafficking, money laundering and other charges in the United States. Mexican security forces captured Guzmán López in January.

India is not a member of the G-8, but it is one of several emerging powers included in the G-20. Many believe these countries should have a greater say in global decision making. President Bush hosts a G-20 summit Friday. India believes key international financial institutions should be strengthened so the economic fallout on developing countries is minimal.

The current political crisis in Pakistan centers on a campaign led by lawyers who say they are trying to establish a genuinely independent judiciary. Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association President Muneer Malik persuaded the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, to take his case to the streets of Pakistan after Musharraf tried to fire him.

Manmohan Singh is sworn in Friday for a second term as India's prime minister. Last week, his Congress party achieved its biggest election victory in many years. It means India's new ruling coalition will be stronger than the last — but it's also under greater pressure to deliver.