Book Reviews

The British author writes beautifully of her own recent bout with a personal winter, a period when she felt low and overwhelmed — and aims to help others to embrace their winters.

In We Keep the Dead Close, author Becky Cooper revisits the killing of Harvard graduate student Jane Britton. The 440+ page book is overstuffed with suspects, motives, red herrings and interviews.

Felicia Luna Lemus' memoir chronicles her attempt to make a life in California with her new wife — dealing with casual racism and homophobia, and then, terribly, the impact of the recent wildfires.

The hitmaker, now celebrating 30 years into her career, has released a memoir — The Meaning of Mariah Carey — as detailed and entertaining as her songs.

Meena Kandasamy's new novel is ostensibly about a married couple in London dealing with storms both intimate and geopolitical — but the writer also manages to work her own story into the margins.

Marissa Meyer's new novel follows a girl who — after a karaoke rendition of John Lennon's "Instant Karma" and a blow to the head — develops the ability to visit swift retribution on wrongdoers.

Journalist Delphine Minoui tells the true tale of a young man who refused to escape the terrors of Assad's regime in Syria, instead working with friends to make a library — a beacon of hope.

If you expect the heroine of Megan Hunter's new novel to turn into an actual harpy, you'll be disappointed; The Harpy is actually a quiet, slightly surreal meditation on a failing marriage.

Nicole Krauss's novels often have complex structures, but the simplicity of her new story collection allows the beauty and precision of her writing to shine through.

Bowling Alone author Robert Putnam joins with Shaylyn Romney Garrett to form the thesis that America's Gilded Age shows remarkable similarity to today — with a societal focus on "I" rather than "we."