Books in brief
"The Boys" by Katie Hafner; Spiegel & Grau (256 pages, $27)
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Think of Katie Hafner as Anne Tyler, but much weirder. Ethan, the main character in "The Boys," could easily slide into "The Accidental Tourist" or "French Braid": Mild, socially awkward and a loner, he's struggling to understand why everyone else doesn't see the world the way he does.
"Boys" opens with a letter from a travel company, referring to an incident on an Italian bicycle tour and banning Ethan from future tours, without revealing why. Having set up that tantalizing mystery, Hafner backtracks to show how the end of Ethan's marriage and the adoption of two troubled boys contributed to drama on the hills of Italy, despite the efforts of an unusually understanding tour guide. Hafner is a smart, funny observer of human foibles and in Ethan she has created a character so endearing that it would not be a surprise if this debut novel led to a career with Tyler's longevity.
