Just because you procrastinate doesn't mean you're lazy. In his new book, The Art of Procrastination, John Perry argues that many procrastinators are actually perfectionists: "My book says, 'Oh, come on, you're not so bad!' "

Zadie Smith returns to old haunts in her latest novel, but it is a sobering homecoming. Where her first novel, White Teeth, was a wild ride into the diverse, vibrant rhythms of a city in transition, NW is a complex exploration of where the inhabitants of that world have landed.

In his new book, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, scholar Yoram Hazony makes the case that the ancient texts are a work of philosophy in narrative form. The scriptures are a cautionary tale 鈥� an epic that advocates wariness of great imperial powers and individualism in the face of authority.