Book Reviews

In her debut collection, Kimberly King Parsons writes with the unpredictable power of a firecracker, bringing flashes of illumination to sharp, compassionate stories about longing and disappointment.

Robert Asprin's rollicking Myth Adventures books get their laughs from whimsy, lightheartedness, buddy-movie banter, and, um, comic myth-understandings. They're a welcome antidote to grimmer series.

Author Alison Gervais suffered permanent hearing loss as a child; her new book follows a deaf girl who's tossed into a hearing high school when her family moves just before her senior year.

Olga Tokarczuk's novel, first published in Polish in 2009, follows an eccentric recluse in a village on the Czech-Polish border who's convinced she knows why dead bodies keep turning up around her.

His new book How To Be Antiracist is a manual to follow; the author writes that "being an antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination."

African Australian author Eugen Bacon's debut is a rich, multidimensional tale of a preacher's daughter whose life on Earth is upended by two interstellar visitors — and that's just the beginning.

By celebrating those who applied the substance as a drug, Walter A. Brown aims to raise awareness — and to demolish what remains of the myth that scientific progress is driven by rigorous dispassion.

The poet laureate's collection tells a tale of a fierce and ongoing fight for sovereignty, integrity, and basic humanity. It's a plea that Americans take responsibility for what's done in our names.

Writer Ibram X. Kendi's new book tackles one of today's most important topics. How to Be an Antiracist lays out his definition of what makes a racist — and what people can do to combat racism.

Sarah Broom's childhood house is the fulcrum for her memoir about her large and complex family. But perhaps more important, it stands in for the countless ways America has failed African Americans.