With each succeeding chapter, as Jennifer Egan takes ever more formalistic, stylistic, and narrative tacks and risks, A Visit From The Goon Squad (Anchor, $14.95) builds like a good mix tape: each song very different, but adding meaning to what comes before. Egan’s meditation on “time and music” darts through the music biz, PR, and journalism from the 1970s to the near future, with both stand-alone riffs and exhilarating convergences throughout. Each of the thirteen chapters is different in tone, with a different protagonist; the highlight for me is the penultimate, “Great Rock and Roll Pauses,” written by a twelve-year-old character in PowerPoint charts—it’s unforgettable. The book just won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; it was on nearly everyone’s 2010 Top Ten list, and deservedly so.