More important than travelogue, however, is Washington Black’s interrogation of human attachment.

Wiman’s writing works to save by remembering. And remember it does, if only for some time. Highly contingent and uncertain, this is how memory saves.

What else should we make of social media, online brands, and the dopamine jackpot of going viral, other than a monetization of individual histories?

The whole business of protecting New York from pure evil could devolve into a depressing and torturous burden but Leyva is willing to be funny about it all.

Each of Levin’s inquiries is an entryway into fundamental questions about justice, care, and transformation. Each line is a mode of grasping at the truth.

What makes a tall tale like “Whiskey When We’re Dry” so distinctly American, though, is its interest in chronicling the individual rather than the past.

In a business full of paranoiacs and would-be messiahs, William Cooper is the prototype: the insider-turned-outsider, the radio show host behind a movement.

Pamuk’s novel is masterful in drawing out the inherent tension of a society in the midst of an identity crisis related to its own history.