Book Reviews

Writer, critic and humorist Damon Young chronicles his efforts to endure the battles that come with being black; the beauty of his book is that he never tries to make it comfortable for his audience.

David Wallace-Wells' The Uninhabitable Earth and Nathaniel Rich's Losing Earth offer valuable perspectives on climate change — if we're committed to being adult enough to face the future.

Amy Hempel's first book of new material in 14 years showcases her immense talents as a fiction writer. It's a powerful collection of stories about uneasy, unmoored, even desperate people.

When Salvador Dalí met Harpo Marx, he was so infatuated that he wrote a treatment for a surreal Marx Brothers film, Giraffes on Horseback Salad. The film didn't fly, but this graphic novel does.

As he approaches his 100th birthday, the legendary Beat poet and publisher has a new book. Billed as his "literary last will and testament," Little Boy is part memoir, part rambling free-association.

Reporter Joan Biskupic portrays the chief justice as a dedicated conservative who now "has the court he's always wanted" — and she says the law "will likely be what he says it is."

Zen Cho's followup to her Regency fantasy of manners Sorceror to the Crown builds solidly on the world she's invented, mixing historical froth with real substance.

Lillie Vale's new young adult novel follows Babe Vogel, who's perfectly happy in her small town life, even though her friends have mostly moved on — until a "summer boy" arrives to complicate things.

The depth of Margaret Leslie Davis' research on the tome's history cannot be understated — her writing is straightforward and, at times, heartbreaking, but outstanding reporting lies at the core.

Barry Lopez's new book is a biography and a portrait of some of the world's most delicate places, but at heart it's a contemplation of the belief that the way forward is compassionately, and together.