Some standout nonfiction among our reviews this week: Enchantment, Katherine May's follow-up to Wintering,"offers poignant reflections on what it means to find--and feel--purpose"; More to Say, Ann Beattie's "28 enchanting essays" almost evenly split between literary and art criticism; The Poetics of Wrongness, four "fascinating" lecture-essays from Rachel Zucker; A Mystery of Mysteries, Mark Dawidziak's "real-life thriller," a recounting of Edgar Allan Poe's last days; and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat's "emotionally packed, uplifting graphic memoir" of his middle-school years, A First Time for Everything. Plus so much more!
In a fascinating discussion in The Writers' Life, YA authors Andrea Hannah (Where Darkness Blooms) and Trang Thanh Tran (She Is a Haunting) expose "the nature of horror." --Jennifer M. Brown, senior editor, Shelf Awareness