Book review: Make it Scream, Make it Burn — by Leslie Jamison

(Little Brown and Company) Leslie Jamison, author of the award-winning essay collection, “The Empathy Exams,” is an astute observer of the people she investigates, holding her skepticism in check, as well as herself, and how she relates to the stories she uncovers and what they say about the storytellers, herself, and the human race at large. Her topics are fascinating — 52 Blue, a blue whale whose song was recorded at an impossible (for blue whales) frequency; virtual lives; a quarter century photography p … (read more)

(Rootstock Publishing) Luke isn’t interested in learning anything about Peshawar or Pakistan, because even though his dad “had him over Christmas vacation. It said so in the divorce,” Peshawar, and the “Great Goddamn Project,” as he and his mother referre … (read more)

(Atria Books) The epigraph at the beginning of William Kent Krueger’s could not be more apt: “Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story” from Homer’s epic “The Odyssey.” The award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling novel “Ordinary Grac … (read more)

(St. Martin’s Press) Renia’s diary — because that is what you hold in your hands, the diary of a young girl, a teenager, whose childhood was, as Greta Thunberg would say, stolen from her — feels private and due consideration should be accorded when readin … (read more)

(University of Georgia Press) As an essay collection, Emily Arnason Casey’s new book succeeds on every level. Her writing is evocative, relatable, haunting and magical. Using descriptive prose that stimulates your every sense, the essays transport you to … (read more)

(Knopf Publishing Group) As the Cold War began to intensify in the mid-1950s, the not-so-venerable C.I.A., referred to as “the Agency” in Lara Prescott’s sensational new novel, devoted a portion of its resources to playing the long game, and one of its ob … (read more)

(G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers) Frank Li is “Frankly in Love,” but just who is he in love with? Frank, a Korean American teen who runs with the Apeys-crowd (they’re sober kids, all in the same Advanced Placement (AP) classes), is torn. Can he … (read more)

(W. W. Norton & Company) A collection of stories as refreshingly cool and bright as these last few weeks have been in our Land of Milk and Honey, and shot through with startling observations on the human condition that are occasionally as difficult to gra … (read more)

(Minotaur Books) Steadfast readers of Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series of murder mysteries: rest assured that “A Better Man,” the 15th book in the award-winning series, will exceed your expectations. Gamache returns to the Sûreté du Québec, though not … (read more)

(G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers) In a follow-up to Small Spaces, Katherine Arden, bestselling author of the Winternight series, has crafted another spellbinding ghost story about a trio of young kids who must navigate a treacherous path relyin … (read more)

(Graywolf Press) Rereading is its own simple pleasure, and discovering a book that you want to reread is a treasure. I first read “Out Stealing Horses” by Per Petterson, when published in the U.S. in 2007 and since then, it is often the book I name when a … (read more)

Will McCallum has been at the front of the antiplastics movement in his role at Greenpeace U.K. He recently spent a month in Antarctica with his team, investigating whether plastic is reaching the most remote region on the planet. It is. Plastic waste and … (read more)

(Gallery Books) It is 1953, and Iran’s intense political upheaval, that culminates with the democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh being overthrown, coincidentally orchestrated by the United States, is at its peak. Amid this unrest and c … (read more)

(Tin House Books) “Costalegre,” Courtney Maum’s slim new novel (smartly designed with a colorful textured jacket), will whisk you away to the beaches along the western coastline of the Mexico. Narrated by Lara — the 15-year-old daughter of Leonora Calaway … (read more)

(Milkweed Editions) “Late Migrations” is, on the surface, a collection of essays. Astute observations and vignettes of natural surroundings, place and wildlife, that set the scene for anecdotes of family, ancestry and heredity. There’s remembrance and rec … (read more)