What-to-Do? a novel is a work made up of a number of mostly inter-linked chapters, all of which bear, in one way or another, on the question, What are we to do with our lives? One character who reappears at different points in the book is a middle-aged rural widow whose son has mentioned to her that no one ever seems to have written out - spelled out - all the numbers from one to one million. Alone and with time on her hands, she sets out to do just that. Another character is a southern black man who served in World War II. Upon his return home, he builds a personal library of books, an act...