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10 best books of October: the Monitor's picks

Here, according to the Monitor's book critics, are 10 of the best of the new fall book releases.

3. 'The Empire of Self,' by Jay Parini

Jay Parini's "Empire of Self" is an expertly crafted biography of Gore Vidal, the brilliant and combative essayist, novelist, and public intellectual whose fascinating life doubles as a history of 20th-century American culture. A novelist himself, Parini writes with perfect pacing. As a close friend of Vidal's, he's able to draw on decades of memories to complete his portrait of this complex man. You can read the Monitor's full review of "Empire of Self" here.

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