Book Reviews

The stand-up comic's essays have soft and lovely moments, steering readers toward finding their own vulnerabilities. But Slate is not as open to self-exposure on the page as she is on the stage.

Journalist and Brain on Fire author Susannah Cahalan writes in an urgent, personal book that the '70s study by David Rosenhan had an outsized effect on psychiatry — and may have been fatally flawed.

Talia Hibbert's new novel stars Chloe, who's determined to get a life after years of coping with chronic pain, and Red, the mysterious and extremely annoying (at first) super at her new building.

Erin Morgenstern's long-awaited followup to The Night Circus imagines a world of magical doors leading to a literal underground sea — surrounded by layers of pleasurable mystery and mythography.

Wilson's new novel centers on a young woman taking care of two kids with a disturbing ability: When upset, they burst into flames. But in Wilson's hands, what could be scary is funny, even beautiful.

Nominally an environmental and social history of the Galápagos Islands, it lays bare the entangled issues confronting us as we attempt conservation efforts while facing a sweeping ecological crisis.

Writer Ben Blacker and artist Mirka Andolfo put a lively twist on the classic Stepford Wives story in their graphic novel Hex Wives, about a reincarnating coven of witches and their male adversaries.

Beneath the veneer of provocation, Andrea Long Chu's book is surprisingly tender, aiming to care for a universal ache — the frayed knot of selfhood, desire and power.

Anne Nelson links "the manpower and media of the Christian right," "finances of Western plutocrats," and "strategy of right-wing Republican political operatives" via the Council for National Policy.

Mira Ptacin spends time at Camp Etna and finds herself believing, at least, in the ideals of Spiritualism — emphasizing kindness, the importance of intuition, and the power of the unseen.