Woodson’s beautifully imagined novel (her first novel for adults since 2016’s Another Brooklyn) explores the ways an unplanned pregnancy changes two families. The narrative opens in the spring of 2001, at the coming-of-age party that 16-year-old Melody’s grandparents host for her at their B... Continue reading »

Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse’s third pastiche (after 2018’s Mycroft and Sherlock), their best yet, provides intriguing challenges for both Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes while continuing to present plausible backstories for the brothers. In 1873, Mycroft and his longtime friend and partner, Cyr... Continue reading »

J.R.R. Tolkien gets what’s coming to him in this hilarious fifth YouSpace novel (after The Good, the Bad, and the Smug), a witty parody of high fantasy. A few contemporary humans travel to an alternate reality known as the Hidden Realms and immediately attempt to gentrify it, though it is o... Continue reading »

Desert clippers and light rail, magic-powered cellphones, black royalty, and a princess negotiating chronic illness bring both depth and delight to this kind, lighthearted romance. Once upon a time, Princess Abelia Olivia Jayne Venenza Ribaldi Porchenzii renounced matriarchal Brevspor’s throne for a... Continue reading »

Takei, best known for his role on Star Trek, relates the story of his family’s internment during WWII in this moving and layered graphic memoir. Japanese-Americans were classified as “Alien Enemy” after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and were forced to relocate to camps when President Franklin... Continue reading »

An autobiographical speaker (a mother and first-generation American) catalogues the flotsam and jetsam of late-stage capitalism in the stunning sixth collection from Smith (Milk and Filth). With a prophetic voice rooted in awareness of a dying planet, 20 poems and a middle lyric sequence ar... Continue reading »

This entertaining tale from Johnson (A Sparkle of Silver) explores a woman’s slow process of forgiving herself. Anne Norris, disgraced and ashamed after serving time on “accessory to domestic terrorism” charges for unknowingly helping her boyfriend bomb an oil rig, has run from California t... Continue reading »

Fox delivers a gripping memoir about the near decade she spent working for the CIA to help stop terrorism. The 2002 kidnapping and beheading by extremists of her writing mentor, journalist Daniel Pearl, compelled Fox to apply to the master’s program in conflict and terrorism at Georgetown University... Continue reading »

This generous cookbook and travelogue will have readers booking trips to the Alps of Italy, France, Austria, and Switzerland. Despite Joe Beef coauthor Erickson’s protestation that “it’s not all about cheese,” the food (organized by country) is hearty: a typical Italian soup contains cabbag... Continue reading »

Greenstein (Essays on Biblical Method and Translation), a bible professor at Bar-Ilan University who has spent decades studying the Book of Job, shares the fruits of his labors in this excellent, accessible translation that supports his new interpretation of the famous text. Rather than por... Continue reading »

Caught in a brawl between romance and family expectations, Frank Li isn’t sure which one will knock him out first. His Korean immigrant parents have already disowned his sister for dating a non-Korean, so when Frank falls for a white classmate, he settles on a con. His partner in crime is fellow Kor... Continue reading »