In the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout (My Name Is Lucy Barton) traced the life of a rigidly stoic, set-in-her-ways, lifelong inhabitant of fictional Crosby, Maine. Olive--a former high school math teacher and the wife of a small-town pharmacist--is judgmental, with often-grating hard edges that forge her opinions and resilience.

In Olive, Again, Strout picks up Olive's story in her seventh and eighth decades. Olive, an aging widow, contends with a now elusive world and her feelings for widower Jack Kennison, the antithesis of Olive. Jack, a staunch Republican and former professor at Harvard, migrated to Crosby after a co-worker accused him of sexual harassment and he was fired. He is drawn to Olive, questioningly.

As the narrative unfolds, readers learn that Olive and Jack have married. Despite their vastly different pedigrees, they are moored in similar emotional harbors, which unites them. Olive and Jack had first marriages to good people, yet both carry--and grapple with--guilt. Loneliness plagues them. They take stock of their fates, choices and destinies in a changing world, while facing the often-humiliating infirmities of aging. Jack tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter, a lesbian whom he never accepted. Similarly, Olive contends with her strained relationship with her son, who's married and raising a blended family in New York City.

The 13 episodic stories that constitute Olive, Again are deep and meaningful--made richly entertaining and accessible through Strout's skillful blend of the serious with the comedic. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

During a sweltering summer in 1915 Chicago, a little girl wanders off with a stranger and is never seen again. Her mother tells the girl's sister, 14-year-old Pin, that the world is too dangerous for little girls and Pin must now dress and act as a boy to be safe. This suits Pin just fine, because boys are treated better than girls anyway. Pin's mother reinvents herself as Madame Zanto, who tells fortunes just outside the local amusement park.

Pin wanders the park doing odd jobs and searching for dropped coins. She discovers the body of young girl at one of the attractions. Then, a few days later, another dead girl is found nearby. It's clear a serial killer is preying on little girls, but the owner refuses to shut down the park because people are flocking to see where the murders took place. The police are pressured to make any arrest whatsoever, while Pin suspects the murderer is the same person who took her sister.

Nebula and World Fantasy Award winner Elizabeth Hand (Hard Light) has created a host of strange, dangerous and misunderstood characters with whom Pin interacts on her quest to find the killer: Lord Clyde the Hoo Doo King, who also plays Satan at another attraction; Ida the Living Mermaid & Eighth Wonder of the World; disgraced cop Fatty Bacon, who works in park security; slow-witted Henry, the man-child who claims he's been hired to protect little girls in the park; and a wild group of boys who pickpocket and dole out beatings with impunity. But it's the tight writing that moves this killer story along like a runaway roller-coaster. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer

A Bitter Feast, the 18th entry in the Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series by Deborah Crombie, is a gently paced mystery set in the beautiful Cotswolds, part of the English countryside characterized by rolling hills and houses built of golden stone. Duncan and Gemma, both high-ranking police officers, are taking a long weekend with their children at the gorgeous, stately home of the parents of Melody Talbot, Gemma's detective sergeant.

Viv Holland, a well-respected local chef is planning a charity luncheon, and the Talbots hope it helps Viv make a name for herself. Gemma is looking forward to the luncheon, and for a chance to explore the fall foliage. But Duncan is delayed by several hours. When he does appear, he's bloodied and dazed, the victim of a car accident in which the other driver and passenger died. And, it turns out that the other car's passenger was a chef with an old connection to Viv.

Despite its place well into the series, A Bitter Feast almost reads as a standalone, a vacation from overarching plot-lines just as it's supposed to be a respite for Duncan and Gemma. But, of course, they can't ignore deaths in their near vicinity, especially when another body turns up. So, they have a bit of a "busman's holiday," helping the local police investigate the deaths. Character-driven and nuanced, Crombie's novel will draw readers deep into the Cotswolds. Perfect for fans of Louise Penny or Donna Leon, A Bitter Feast is a lovely, autumnal mystery. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Tucson, Ariz.

Figure skating Olympic medalist Adam Rippon delivers a gold medal-worthy memoir that is both laugh-out-loud funny and inspiring. Rippon's sassy, outspoken personality and his skating skills made him a star of the 2018 Winter Olympics. At age 28, he was a decade older than his teammates. He had missed out on two previous Olympics and had broken his foot a year before he finally made the team. But he was also skating at his best. "I think people really connected with all that," he writes. "And I was doing Invisalign, so my teeth were straight and perfect."

At age five, Rippon begged his parents to take him ice skating after he saw an image on a popcorn tin of people skating. He was really more interested in getting a white muff like one held by a female skater in the illustration. Over the next decade, Rippon began competing and winning medals at local, national and international skating competitions. Despite fears that it might keep him off an Olympic team, Rippon publicly came out as gay a year before he finally made the team. He became the first openly gay U.S. athlete to win a medal at any Winter Olympics. Months after his win, his popularity exploded when he attended the Academy Awards wearing a leather harness, began training for Stars on Ice, and signed on for a season of Dancing with the Stars (and won).

Rippon's winning personality shines through on every page. Jaunty and thoughtful, Beautiful on the Outside is the feel-good memoir of the season. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant

Although both critics and other actors generally acknowledged Marlon Brando as one of the world's finest actors, he consistently downplayed his talent and the acting profession. For decades, the media lamented that he found no fulfillment in acting. But in this outstanding, intelligent and insightful biography, The Contender, William J. Mann (Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn) examines Brando's life and passions from a different angle. He posits that Brando found true satisfaction in his fight for civil rights and his relentless commitment to social justice.

Brando (1924-2004) was a complex and sometimes difficult man, but Mann's expert research finds the reasons behind his actions. Brando was a bookworm and "a thinker, an observer, an examiner of himself and the world with the goal of figuring out both," writes Mann. But he was also a sexual adventurer with both men and women.

Playing Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire (on Broadway and in the 1951 film) catapulted Brando's career, yet by the 1960s, few film projects earned his full attention. His 1961 directorial debut, One-Eyed Jacks, was recut by the studio, leaving him depressed and disillusioned. At this point, his political activism began to take center stage. With few exceptions (The Godfather; Last Tango in Paris), his post-1970 films served only to finance his activism, alimony and lifestyle. Mann calls the last 30 years of Brando's life "a catalog of tragedies that approach the Shakespearean."

At more than 700 pages, The Contender is a brisk and adroit read that is perceptive, thoughtful and gives fans a new view of their idol. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant

In the 1930s, a woman seeking employment at Walt Disney Studios beyond its pink-collar-ghetto Ink and Paint department was apt to receive the company's stock rejection letter: "Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that task is performed entirely by young men." Change had to start somewhere, and Nathalia Holt (Rise of the Rocket Girls) devotes The Queens of Animation to the iconoclastic women who got in early at the House of Mouse. Among her five principal subjects are English-born Sylvia Moberly-Holland, who through her work on Fantasia's "Waltz of the Flowers" became Disney's first female story director; plucky Retta Scott, who through her work on Bambi became the studio's first credited female animator; and the legendary Mary Blair, a painter who brought a refreshingly modern look to Disney animation and was a bona fide art director by the time she worked on Peter Pan.

The Queens of Animation does double duty as the story of Disney's animation studio, which was in debt for years and continually seeking financial relief through new technologies. Holt, foremost a science writer, is good at describing how innovations like Technicolor, the optical printer and xerography work. Her book takes readers through the studio's early 21st-century switch to CGI, which finally obliterated the need for cripplingly costly hand-drawn animation. Of course, the irony is that in the studio's financially unstable golden era, when its male employees thought it beneath them to draw fairies, it was movies about women--a princess here, a Poppins there--that reliably saved Piglet's bacon. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

In The Art of Taking It Easy: How to Cope with Bears, Traffic, and the Rest of Life's Stressors, Brian King demonstrates how humor and the right attitude can facilitate stress and anxiety management. It's well documented that humor can alleviate tension, but King's particular approach is original and refreshing. He combines a winning balance of accessible science, engaging stories and comic relief to drive home a compelling message.

Feeling stressed is really about feeling out of control, the way one might feel when confronted with a bear in the wilderness or when traffic is a mess. These are two distinct scenarios with different possible outcomes, but the underlying point is that it's not about the particular stressor, rather it's about how one responds to it. King (The Laughing Cure) is a psychologist, humor therapist, stand-up comedian and new parent. All four roles influence his advice in this book.

In the section titled "Worry Is the Worst," King explains that worry is when the brain creates its own stress. It's a familiar and often comforting pattern of thought, so our brains tend to default to worry, which is different from realistic concern--the former extracts a high cost from the worrier in the form of compromised physical and mental health, while the latter does not negatively impact well-being. Readers of The Art of Taking It Easy will find themselves mentally reframing their approach to problems and stressors based on King's persuasive instruction, which will in turn improve their chances of surviving confrontations with the proverbial bears in their lives. --Shahina Piyarali, writer and reviewer

Popular television host, narrator, actor and product pitchman, Mike Rowe presents 35 cleverly written short mysteries about public figures and notables that are culled from his podcast, The Way I Heard It. Between the mysteries, Rowe, with his signature humor and dry wit, ties in entertaining anecdotes about his own life--childhood adventures while growing up in a tight-knit Baltimore family; his mentors and his girlfriends; his penchant for Travis McGee novels; and his many comical experiences on the winding, bumpy road to success.

Rowe has hosted several offbeat shows on networks such as QVC, the Science Channel, CNN and National Geographic. He's most known for Dirty Jobs, where he performed 300 messy occupational duties alongside regular, hardworking employees. Rowe's affinity for the programs of radio broadcaster Paul Harvey served as inspiration for his creation of the mysteries of the book--what he pitches as "some true stories you probably don't know about some famous people you probably do." This includes obscure facts about presidents, musicians, writers, sports figures and more--the living and the dead--as well as places and events.

Readers will be greatly amused and intrigued by Rowe's presentation of each story. He offers just enough information and clues to keep readers engrossed--and guessing--about the who or what of each subject before he delivers surprising twists and reveals the mysterious identity at each story's conclusion. For all the jobs Mike Rowe has held in his storied career, writing might just prove to be his forte. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

How much do we really know about the people around us? The students at Latimer Middle School are typical kids: energetic, seemingly carefree and full of life. But beneath the surface, there are stories that sometimes even those closest to them have never heard. Everyone knows the Low Cuts steal pocket change; no one knows the oddly heartwarming reason. Say-So's teacher, in an attempt to keep her from "derailing the entire lesson," permits the class clown five minutes of jokes at the end of each period; Mrs. Stevens doesn't know that Say-So relies on jokes to make her hardworking mother laugh and to bond with her ailing grandfather. And those two boys clamoring down the hall--small Kenzi riding piggyback on "walking anvil" Simeon's back--aren't trying to be disruptive: Kenzi's diminutive stature has resulted in injuries from accidental elbows to the face in the crowded halls.

Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds (Long Way Down) is an unconventional, clever exploration of the secret trials and tribulations of middle schoolers. The 10 connected and intertwining tales are not neatly contained nor completed at the end, but rather left ambiguous, allowing readers to decide what happens next. Each of Reynolds's characters is so highly developed and memorable that they are easily noticed as background players in the others' vignettes. This insightful novel contains thought-provoking truths, often found within hilarious slice-of-life moments. --Kyla Paterno, freelance reviewer

In Margarita Engle's Dreams from Many Rivers, nuanced stories in verse about the territory now called the United States ring out from the pages in a chorus of distinct voices. Each poem--inspired by historical figures and a multitude of Latinx experiences--has a name, a location and a year attached in an effort to "portray a few glimpses of a vast and complicated past." The 2017-2019 Young People's Poet Laureate wanted to face "the shameful atrocities of Spanish conquistadors and their descendants" and "acknowledge that the history of the modern US begins in Puerto Rico," highlighting how people "have felt simultaneously accepted and rejected." Split into six sections, the poems begin in 1491 Borikén ("now known as Puerto Rico") and span generations, each section paired with an illustration depicting the growth of the United States.

Engle's poems show a variety of emotions, inviting in a range of readers. In "Daydreams," Yaima asks, "Are all little girls/ just as happy/ as I am/ when I swim/ with quiet manatees,/ telling them/ enchanting stories?" Spanish soldier Vicente de Zaldívar laments in "Vicious" that "violence/ is like a fever, contagious, destroying/ everything in its path, including/ my conscience." Beatriz Gutierrez Hernandez, in her picture-book debut, depicts in sharp, gray-scale art specific details of Latinx life, giving the reader a more concrete experience with the time period discussed and the emotional state of the speaker.

The book ends on an upbeat note, though the poem comes from Elsa in Florida, who has just survived a school shooting: "We are the hopeful future,/ triumphing over this country's/ troubled past." Young readers may see this as an invitation to learn from history and "be leaders, not followers." --Clarissa Hadge, bookstore manager, Trident Booksellers & Cafe, Boston, Mass.