State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (Harper). This superb novel by the author of “Bel Canto” and “The Patron Saint of Liars” tells the story of Marina Singh, a pharmaceutical researcher who reluctantly accepts a terrible mission: to travel from Minnesota where she lives and works to the jungles of Brazil. There she must discover how a beloved colleague died, hopefully reclaim his body, and confront a fabled, mysterious scientist who is supposedly developing a new wonder drug among the tribes of the Amazon. Marina has a personal reason for dreading this task: She was once a student of Dr. Annick Swenson – demanding, demeaning, and determinedly regardless of the human side of her work. In the strange and occasionally terrifying world of the jungle, Marina must face and vanquish her fears or suffer grave consequences. The book is intelligent and thrillingly detailed, and the ending is simply miraculous.

Robert Redford: The Biography by Michael Feeney Callan (Knopf). His good looks and natural talent made stardom almost a cinch for Robert Redford. But in many ways, the Golden Boy persona worked against him. Here is Redford from his conflicted boyhood in L.A. – where he battled an uncommunicative, conformist father – to his rebellious teen years to his tentative start in acting. Before he made it big, Redford did the obligatory pauper’s tour of Europe. But when he turned to the stage and then films, success quickly followed. The rigors of stardom made marriage and fatherhood difficult, but to Redford’s credit, his union with first wife, Lola, endured for decades, in spite of besotted co-stars like Elizabeth Ashley (the stage version of “Barefoot in the Park”) and Barbra Streisand (“The Way We Were”). The book details the star’s fractious relationship with mentor Sydney Pollack, his fierce environmental and political activism, his sponsorship of the arts through the Sundance Institute, and his gifts as a director (“Ordinary People,” “A River Runs Through It,” “Quiz Show”). If you think of Redford as just a pretty-boy leading man or a poseur when it comes to politics, you’re in for a surprise.

You Only Rock Once by Jerry Blavat (Running Press). The so-called “Geator with the Heator” – who first rose to renown on the “Bandstand” TV show of the 1960s, and became a popular deejay, radio personality and record producer – was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This fast-paced, entertaining bio tells why. Along with lots of show-biz dish (i.e., Chuck Berry was a jerk with body odor), Blavat’s book leaves no secret untold, from his unwitting sexual encounter with a transvestite to his close friendship with Philly crime boss Angelo Bruno. Blavat’s larger-than-life persona, boundless self-confidence and professional bombast make this story a barrel of fun. He tells of his courageous defense of disgraced “Bandstand” host Bob Horn, who preceded Dick Clark; his friendships with the rich and famous (Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr.); his business savvy; his many affairs; and his almost singlehanded popularization of the oldies concept. “You Only Rock Once” is informed ultimately by the fierce ambition and cocky confidence of a runty Jewish-Italian kid from South Philly who just loved classic rock and roll.

Blackwell: The Encounter Begins by Michael E. Gunter (self-published). This entertaining sci-fi novel will win you over with its humor and intelligence, its cast of engaging characters, and its endless plot twists. Like “ET: The Extraterrestrial” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Blackwell” offers that most effective paradox – it’s a down-to-earth novel about aliens. With a setting and characters that are normal to the point of being mundane, the author then introduces these out-of-this-world beings to shake everything up. The novel opens with a spacecraft landing on a Wyoming ranch owned by East Coast ex-pats Rick and Jane Blackwell. Aliens Aldi and Elsa-Eska, from the planet Klyv, are very tall and very good-looking. They’re also fast learners, and pick up English in no time by mimicking their hosts and also TV (in one amusing segment, after watching “Star Trek,” they begin talking like Spock, and even refer to their space ship as the Enterprise). Once the earthlings get over the shock of hosting a pair of aliens, the couples forge a close bond. The Blackwells make it their mission to shield the vulnerable visitors from discovery by others, from scientists to UFO-hunters to the news media to the Klyvians’ alien enemies. But are Aldi and Elsa-Eska really benign guests, or do they harbor a secret, diabolical agenda? Read this wonderful first novel to find out.

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (Knopf). With an economy of style reminiscent of haiku, this follow-up to the bestselling “When the Emperor Was Divine” tells the story of a group of Japanese “picture brides” shipped off to San Francisco, betrothed to Asian-American men they have seen only in photographs. Written in the first person plural – everything happens to “us,” to “we,” this sisterhood of young women who believed they were leaving their homes for a much better life – it recounts in simple, elegant prose their swift realization that they were sold into a sort of indenture. They endure lives of servitude, subjugation and childrearing under husbands who are their masters. When World War II comes, their men are picked off and sent to internment camps. When the war ends, the women search for remnants of their heritage, and do not find it among their Americanized children. This is a stylish and beautiful evocation of the sometimes bitter fruits of immigration.