Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny (Knopf, $26). World entered: an overpopulated New York City apartment. This book has a veneer of ordinariness but harbors a wickedly funny set of characters — an oversharing wife and a reticent husband united in devotion to their son, an autistic origami prodigy. A meditation on marital loyalty, the persistence of bad guests, and so much more. The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis (Vintage, $16). World entered: chess — specifically the suspenseful, treacherous world of high-stakes tournament chess as experienced by a prodigiously talented orphan.