A look at what’s steaming up the shelves this month.
After the Fall: From the End of History to the Crisis of Democracy, How Politicians Broke Our World
By Ian Shapiro
An astute, sobering assessment of lawmakers’ blundering.
Passion & Presence
By Jupiter Berrysmith
Reflections on the Capital Love LitFest.
An occasional series in which writers speak for themselves.
Kink: Stories
Edited by R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell
Its titillating subject matter aside, this collection is strangely uninspired.
The journalist talks Icebound, polar bears, and the utter darkness of Arctic nights.
Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith
By Richard Bradford
Though ably capturing his subject’s life, this biographer seems dismissive of her work.
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
By George Saunders
The Booker Prize-winning novelist explores how some of the greats spun their magic.
Humble Pi
By Matt Parker
A witty and wide-ranging foray into arithmetical blunders.
Ghosts of the Missing
By Kathleen Donohoe
An Upstate New York home turned writers' colony anchors this smart, atmospheric tale of loss.
They Just Seem a Little Weird: How KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz Remade Rock and Roll
By Doug Brod
The hair and the sound were both bigger in the 1970s.
