Starred Review

The Intangibles: Friendship, Fatherhood, and the Love of the Game

by Nick Paumgarten

What is it about hockey that causes people long past their athletic prime to don bulky equipment and risk their wellbeing in such a violent game? With just the right mix of candor and affection, that's the question longtime New Yorker staff writer Nick Paumgarten ponders in his engaging memoir, The Intangibles: Friendship, Fatherhood, and the Love of the Game.

Paumgarten was raised in privileged circumstances on New York City's Upper East Side, coming to the sport as an eight-year-old playing in Central Park

Blood on the Leaves

by Hope Wabuke

Ugandan American poet Hope Wabuke's second collection, the resolute and radiant Blood on the Leaves, illuminates motherhood in a time of racist atrocities and climate anxiety.

Wabuke's parents escaped Idi Amin's genocide. Remnants of their ordeal would surface in unexpected places. For instance, in the stunning opener, "Ode to Kale," the speaker serves her son healthy fruit-and-vegetable-juice ice pops while they're living in a domestic violence shelter. For her, kale embodies maternal care; for her mother--who

Sherlock Time

by Héctor Germán Oesterheld, trans. by E. Rowan Mena

Sherlock Time, the first collaboration of two legendary comics makers--Argentinian writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Uruguayan-born Argentinian artist Alberto Breccia--was revolutionary in the genre when it was first serially published in 1958. This groundbreaking graphic novel-in-stories has aged remarkably well and arrives in a handsome edition, smoothly translated from the Spanish by Puerto Rican poet/book artist E. Rowan Mena.

At its core, Sherlock Time is a dizzying, rollicking buddy adventure.

Bathtime for Snow Monkeys

by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illus. by Yas Imamura

Bathtime for Snow Monkeys is an exquisite picture book by author Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrator Yas Imamura, the talented duo behind Love in the Library. It uses eloquent haiku and elegant illustrations to depict the warmth and tranquility experienced by a troop of macaques luxuriating in a mountain steam bath.

The opening haiku centers readers in the scene: "Mountains surround you./ This is Jigokudani,/ A park for macaques." Nihonzaru (snow monkeys, also called Japanese macaques) make their way through

Dreamweaving

by O.O. Sangoyomi

Adult author O.O. Sangoyomi's first YA fantasy, Dreamweaving, is an exhilarating occult mystery about five teens investigating the death of a former student at their prestigious prep school.

The women in Black 16-year-old Deja Freeman's family are magic workers who "heal or physically alter themselves." To be a "weaver," an older woman must induct a girl into "The Web," a mystical energy source. Deja's mother, Renée, "sacrificed her spot at the best secondary school in the United States for... drugs,"

Where the Wild Horses Are

by Amy Alznauer

Children's author Amy Alznauer (The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor) adds to the tradition of great "horse girl" books with her charming middle-grade novel Where the Wild Horses Are.

Six-year-old Nash and her cousin Benny share a dream: to each have a horse of their own. Like both of Nash's parents, Benny is Deaf, and she and Nash, who is hearing, are as close as sisters, signing to each other from their windows across their Chicago alley. Then Nash and her parents move to Smoke County, Pa., separating

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Shelf Discovery

What She Saw: Stories of Love and Resistance

by Ariel Dorfman

Ariel Dorfman's superb What She Saw collects eight trenchant stories about witnesses to war, criminality, and other atrocities, and the quest for closure and restitution.

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Stations

by Louise Kennedy

Profound and immersive, this emotionally complex novel explores the intense relationship between two Northern Irish teenagers in the 1980s.

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Saved by the Spell

by Tanya Huff

A teacher at a magical high school must identify which student is the mysterious villain in this clever, humorous spin on the chosen one trope.

Read Full Review »

Rumor Has It

by Sarah Mlynowski, Christina Soontornvat, illus. by Madi Wong

In the captivating first title in the immersive Luckies series, two teens navigate their newly blended family very differently, resulting in unintended havoc and unexpected kinship.

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The Heights

by Ian Rankin

An insightful police detective investigates a murder at a luxury London apartment building while juggling caregivers for her mother in this satisfying stand-alone procedural.

Read Full Review »

Sunflower Season

by Danica Nava

When June leaves San Francisco to buy a sunflower farm in Love County, Okla., her second-chance romance with Noah blooms with witty banter, chemistry, and belonging.

Read Full Review »

The Science of History: Ingenious Inventions from the Ancient Romans to Pirates, Vikings, Cowboys, Samurai, and More

by Mark Brake, Benjamin Bryant

The Science of History is a jaunty exploration of how earlier cultures came up with solutions that 21st-century life still depends on.

Read Full Review »

No Such Thing as Monday

by Siân Hughes

Set in contemporary working-class England, this poignant, darkly satirical drama centers on a woman's search for the sister who ran away from home in her teens.

Read Full Review »

Mina and the Monster

by Silvia Romeral Andrés

Mina and the Monster is a beguiling picture book about a brave child who seeks a legendary monster; although she believes her quest unsuccessful, illustrations prove otherwise.

Read Full Review »

The Fist of Memory

by Wole Talabi

This action-packed, sci-fi thriller follows a complex, multifaceted cast struggling to escape their past traumas while the world prepares for impending first contact.

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Shelf Awareness

Media Heat

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

The View: Rachel Maddow, author of Department of Fate: The Promise, the Power, and the Collapse of America's Most Consequential Institution (Crown, $35, 9780593444542).

Late Night with Seth Meyers: Dustin Hoffman, author of Look at Me (Simon Six, $35, 9781668200698).

Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Fresh Air: Mona Chalabi, author of Ten Lives: How What We Have Shapes Who We Are (Random House, $30, 9780593243671).

Good Morning America: Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle, co-authors of Book Meets World: The Definitive Inside Story of the Hit Sitcom Boy Meets World (Hanover Square Press, $29.99, 9781335002853).

Also on GMA: Corre Larkin, author of Season to Taste: Comforting Recipes You Won't Find in a Restaurant (Voracious, $37.50, 9780316600903).

Today: Dustin Hoffman, author of Look at Me (Simon Six, $35, 9781668200698).

Also on Today: Gary Sinise, author of Graceful Warrior: The True Story of a Son, a Father, and a Family Who Carried Each Other Through (Thomas Nelson, $29.99, 9781400208159).

Monday, November 9, 2026

CBS Mornings: LeVar Burton, co-author of Take My Word for It: A Memoir (Random House, $32, 9798217198276).

Today: Sissy Goff and David Thomas, authors of Capable: How to Teach Your Kids the Strengths, Skills, and Strategies to Build Resilience (Baker Publishing, $24.99, 9780764245329).

Also on Today: Chloe Melas, co-author of The Girl's Guide to Guts: Everything Your Doc Didn't Tell You (But Your Bestie Would) (The Dial Press, $29, 9780593979204).

The View: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, author of Unapologetic: Clarity and Conviction in a World Gone Crazy (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250457721).

Jimmy Kimmel Live: Andy Richter, co-author of Elf Unwrapped: Andy Richter's Oral History of the Making of Elf, the Beloved Holiday Film Starring Will Ferrell (Dey Street, $30, 9780063445147).

Thursday, November 5, 2026

Here & Now: Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein, authors of The Two Saddest Kitchens: A Comics Conversation (Bloomsbury, $29.99, 9781639735181).

Fresh Air: Min Jin Lee, author of American Hagwon (Cardinal, $36, 9781538752036).

Today Show: Andre Fowles, author of My Jamaican Table: Vibrant Recipes from a Sun-Drenched Island (Artisan, $35, 9781648293740).

Also on Today: Carlos and Alexa PenaVega, authors of Joy Isn't Canceled: What Grief Taught Us About Pain, Peace, and Purpose (Thomas Nelson, $29.99, 9781400234882).

Drew Barrymore Show: Nigel Ng, co-author of Don't Mess Up Your Rice: 70 Recipes to Impress Uncle Roger (Simon Element, $32.50, 9781668095799).

Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Good Morning America: Tini Younger, author of Today We Are Cooking: Recipes That Teach You to Think Like a Chef (Clarkson Potter, $36, 9798217035410).

Drew Barrymore Show: Rebecca Gayheart discusses My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments by her late husband, Eric Dane (The Open Field, $32, 9780593995662).