Book Reviews

B.J. Hollars' book is both a quirky primer on some of the Midwest's oddest stories — and a fresh perspective on small-town culture.

In an epic story, Marie Arana gets at the identity conundrum of Latin America with storytelling that is both clear-eyed and evocative.

Our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles says the cartoonist Raina Telgemeier is almost like a personal friend to her own children, who fight over tattered copies of Telgemeier's graphic novels.

Rob Hart's new dystopian cyberthriller imagines a near-future America in a state of semi-collapse, where the only jobs available are in company towns built by an enormous conglomerate called Cloud.

In Stacey Lee's new novel, an opinionated and talented Chinese American girl makes her way in Reconstruction-era Atlanta while preserving her secret work as an advice columnist in the local paper.

Gabriel García Márquez's intricate, confusing, magnificent novel centers around a monstrous, nameless dictator — known only as the General or the Patriarch — who sells the entire Caribbean Sea.

Rion Amilcar Scott's second story collection returns readers to his fictional town of Cross River, Md., site of America's only successful slave uprising, and God is one of the best-known residents.

James Gregor's novel about a gay man who falls into an intense relationship with a woman mixes old-fashioned style and contemporary setting. His observations on human nature are precisely rendered.

Margaret Renkl's vivid and original essays capture the cycle of life in a new book that will make you want to stay put, reread and savor everything about the moment.

Jill Heinerth's memoir leads with her thoughts as she wonders if she will die underwater, setting the tone for an honest and engaging book about life as one of the world's top cave divers.