The first issue of A Public Space, a new quarterly edited by yearlong Paris Review editor Brigid Hughes, is out, and the contents look quite appetizing. Rick Moody, fiction from Charles D’Ambrosio and Kelly Link, poetry, Haruki Murakami on grapefruit, an essay from Marilynne Robinson. Return of the Reluctant, which can not say no to such a motely crew, plans to get its hands on this and report back our findings.
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (Bat Segundo interview with Bissell)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China Miéville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious. 
here is what their email told me:
GREAT WORK, GREAT TASTE
they congratulated themselves on their “GREAT TASTE” which is absurd
and expected
i was not surprised
here is what I think about the previous comment:
SO WHAT, WHO CARES
Commenatator implicitly congratulates themself on prescience
saying things like “GREAT TASTE,” and thinking things like “GREAT TASTE” will cause pain and suffering in the world, the real world, with real people
i will prove it soon then send you the link
you will say, “SO WHAT, WHO CARES,” and life will go on, our important literary lives will go on, “SO WHAT, WHO CARES,” is right, i guess
http://reader-of-depressing-books.blogspot.com/2006/03/gene-morgans-little-essay-on-bear.html
gene morgan’s thoughts on it, and i like them
mine are in the post below that