Joshua Ferris (The Unnamed; To Rise Again at a Decent Hour) specializes in comic but soulful novels about everymen up against dehumanizing forces: the workplace, illness, technology. In the ceaselessly funny-wistful A Calling for Charlie Barnes, the eponymous protagonist's formidable adversary turns out to be none other than himself.

Charlie Barnes, age 68, is a Chicago-area financial planner whose big ideas have always fizzled. He's not a bad guy, but he's a lifelong cutter of corners with a checkered employment history, a trail of ex-wives and a complicated relationship with the truth. Case in point: as the novel begins, Charlie has just told his family and friends that he has pancreatic cancer--he's so sure!--but when the test results come back negative, he feels sheepish about sharing the good news and wonders if maybe he doesn't have to.

As Charlie sets out to try to realize one last great idea, Ferris, a faultless crafter of sentences, imbues him with archetypically American never-say-uncle ambition in the face of grim odds: "Charlie's solution to this was to tinker, with headlamp and toolbox, in the workshop of the American dream, and to emerge sometime later with a diamond-cut hope that might make him a killing and redeem his lost time."

This is a riotous bildungsroman, its delivery system a hilariously unreliable narrator who has a vested interest in Charlie's fights, for success and for life. By the time the narrator says, "This book is about Charlie.... It's a testament to Charlie and my love for him," readers will long have had an eyebrow raised. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Benjamin Labatut's When We Cease to Understand the World is an astonishing historical novel of war, human weakness and quantum physics. In a lovely translation from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West, the fictionalized histories of Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger and more come alive to disquiet and intrigue readers.

The book opens with Hermann Göring's addiction to dihydrocodeine and the suicides of many Nazi leaders by cyanide at the end of World War II. It gets only a little less grim from there. But even with such bleak subject matter, Labatut's imaginative evocations of disturbed minds from the rarified ranks of mathematics and physics are thoroughly captivating and strangely lovely, joining science with mysticism in surprising ways. "In the deepest substrate of all things, physics had not found the solid, unassailable reality Schrödinger and Einstein had dreamt of, ruled over by a rational God pulling the threads of the world, but a domain of wonders and rarities, borne of the whims of a many-armed goddess toying with chance."

Labatut's narrative travels in time and space, covering the development of pesticides, chemical weapons and Prussian blue pigment. This astonishing novel blends forms: lyrical, inventive and also rooted in history, concerned with the overlaps of genius and madness, innovation and destruction. "The physicist--like the poet--should not describe the facts of the world, but rather generate metaphors and mental connections," writes Labatut. The vision of reality painted by When We Cease to Understand the World is terrifying but finely wrought, and will live long in readers' minds. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

When celebrity chef, author and world traveler Anthony Bourdain died by suicide in 2018, fans were shocked. But many of the 91 friends, coworkers and colleagues interviewed in the compelling Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography share riveting tales of how his life always gravitated toward extreme highs and lows. "He became this great cultural anthropologist whom everyone so loved," said Lydia Tenaglia, Bourdain's TV producer for more than two decades. "But fundamentally he was like a teenage boy with his emotional development."

Laurie Woolever, who was Bourdain's assistant for nearly a decade and co-authored Appetites: A Cookbook and World Travel: An Irreverent Guide with him, admirably pieces together Bourdain's private and professional life with input from his mother, two ex-wives, daughter, brother, publishers, and the producers, writers and technicians on his TV shows. The main person missing from this tapestry is Asia Argento, the Italian actress Bourdain fell in love with, and for whom he left his wife and began alienating friends. His suicide followed a tabloid frenzy suggesting she was cheating on him. She's not interviewed, but numerous friends and colleagues feel his obsession with her was his downfall.

One of the book's most fascinating chapters details the writing and publication of Kitchen Confidential, his frank and profane memoir, which changed his life, brought him fame and magnified his best and worst traits. Although those interviewed are mainly friends and family, this oral biography doesn't shy away from examining Bourdain's loneliness, addictions, abrasive nature and bouts of depression. This is an outstanding and illuminating biography of a complex man plagued with many demons. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant

When Kate Bowler, an associate professor at Duke Divinity School, was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer at age 35, her chances of surviving two years were just 14%. No Cure for Being Human is the wry, touching follow-up to Bowler's 2018 memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved), and its associated podcast. Here, Bowler continues to combat unhelpful religious/self-help mantras as she ponders what to do with the extra time medical breakthroughs have given her.

After multiple surgeries, a promising immunotherapy drug trial gave Bowler hope that she would live to see her 40th birthday and her young son start kindergarten. Working on her bucket list, she found that small moments outshined large events: on a trip to the Grand Canyon, what stood out was a chapel in the ponderosa pinewoods where she added a prayer to those plastering the walls. In the Church calendar, "Ordinary Time" is where most of life plays out, so she encourages readers to live in an "eternal present."

The chapters function like stand-alone essays, some titled after particular truisms (like "You Only Live Once"). The book's bittersweet tone finds the humor as well as the tragedy in a cancer diagnosis. Witty re-created dialogue and poignant scenes show the type-A author learning to let go: "I am probably replaceable," she acknowledges, but here in the shadow of death "the mundane has begun to sparkle." These dispatches from the "lumpy middle" of life and faith are especially recommended to fans of Anne Lamott. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader and blogger at Bookish Beck

In the poetic memoir Dance or Die, Ahmad Joudeh recounts his journey from stateless refugee to Middle Eastern reality TV dancing star to international ballet dancer. With candor, he showcases how difficult his life was even before ISIS bombed out the homes of everyone he knew. Joudeh had always been a refugee; born in the Al-Yarmouk camp just outside of Damascus, Syria, he was the descendent of Palestinian refugees (and by Syrian law, unable to become a citizen).

His passion for dancing isolated him from friends and family--particularly his father--who wanted him to give it up. Then ISIS arrived, completely obliterating Al-Yarmouk. Joudeh danced on rubble-strewn streets after his dance academy was destroyed. He began receiving death threats because of his refusal to give up his dancing, so he tattooed "Dance or Die" on the back of his neck, right where an executioner's axe would land.

But although videos of his dancing earned him derision locally, they gained him accolades internationally. He was able to leave for Lebanon for a few months to appear on So You Think You Can Dance? and eventually he escaped Syria for the Netherlands, joining the Dutch National Ballet.

Ahmad's passion for dancing shines through the scary parts of his story, making him an encouraging example of how to persevere. In spite of unlikely beginnings and countless obstacles, he achieved his dream of becoming a world-renowned dancer, and he is an inspiration for many. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Flagstaff, Ariz.

If scientist Thor Hanson's fascinating Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid could be summed up in a brief thesis, it might read something like this: biology is uncompromisingly brilliant, and that genius persists even in the throes of climate change. There's no getting around the fact that a warming planet is bad for the environment. But watching the mastermind of biology at work, shifting and adapting in the midst of a rapidly changing habitat, is not far from a holy experience, or so Hanson posits. In a tone that can only be described as upbeat, he leaps from study to study, expert interview to expert interview, describing what scientists are witnessing as temperatures tick up. He pauses only to update readers on his personal, riveting excursions into the natural world--including those that take place in his own backyard.

Even faced with the sobering reality of climate change, and its many dangerous effects on flora and fauna, Hanson is never exactly morose. He breaks down complex scientific data with the wit of an intrepid park ranger on a guided nature walk. Tackling complex, sometimes alarming phenomena--such as the speedy mass-migration north of entire oak forests in North America, or the redistribution of aquatic life in a warming ocean--Hanson is always eager for the next adventure. He is not willfully optimistic, and yet he's not without hope, either. Hurricane Lizards is a spyglass peering into the perhaps overlooked side effects of climate change: how creatures are already adapting, and--for better or worse--what the world might look like once they do. --Lauren Puckett, freelance writer

British author Susanna Clarke won legions of fans with her debut, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. With Piranesi, a Shelf Awareness Best Book of 2020, Clarke introduces a dreamlike new world and the charming, curious soul who lives in it and loves it. A bold blend of mystery-thriller and speculative fiction, this literary fantasia was inspired by the etchings of 18th-century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

In a vast, austere labyrinth of halls and stairs and filled with ocean tides, a lone occupant catalogues its nooks and crannies. He believes that "since the World began it is certain that there have existed fifteen people," but 13 are skeletons he watches over as a reverent caretaker. Currently he can confirm only that the world, which he calls the House, has two occupants: himself and an older man he calls the Other. Together they search for "a Great and Secret Knowledge" hidden somewhere in the House. The Other calls the narrator Piranesi. Their peculiar talks culminate in the astounding revelation that he and Piranesi are not the only living human beings in existence. As the nature of the House and his presence there slowly come to light, Piranesi must decide whom to trust if he wants to survive long enough to learn the whole truth.

Clarke's wry, masterful use of dramatic irony fuels both humor and suspense as the story builds to its climax with disciplined pacing. Though brief in length, it holds its secrets tightly until the right moments and leaves one with the sense of having glimpsed a boundless cosmos through a keyhole. --Jaclyn Fulwood

In Walter Mosley's short story "Haunted," a publisher has sent a rejection letter to a dead man, about whom he complains, "He wrote all that genre stuff and tried to pretend it was literary." It's impossible to read this line as anything other than Mosley's wink at readers: being seen as less than true artists is the bane of good writers known primarily for their genre fiction. If Mosley, best known for his beloved Easy Rawlins crime novels, feels undervalued, The Awkward Black Man, the charged, fleet and often funny 17-story collection in which "Haunted" appears, may redress the misunderstanding.

The Awkward Black Man features men who are, as Rufus Coombs, the naive and sweet-natured narrator of "Pet Fly," would put it, "one shade or other of brown." In "Pet Fly," Rufus, who is stuck working in a mail room at an insurance company despite having a political science degree, is accused of sexual harassment after he leaves gifts for a female colleague. In "Between Storms," a man's paranoia following Hurricane Laura compels him to skip work and hole up in his Manhattan apartment; his self-isolation becomes a news story, which leads to his misbegotten valorization as "a people's hero who was refusing to take one more step before the other side made changes."

Fifty-plus books into his career, Mosley hasn't run out of inspired plots, and his interest in social issues remains acute, although he editorializes with the lightest of touches. Leave it to a master of the crime novel like Mosley to give several stories a shocking final twist: a happy ending. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

John Rocco's Hurricane shares a preoccupation with two of his earlier picture books, Blackout and Blizzard: all reinforce the importance of neighborliness when a community is faced with the unexpected. And both Hurricane and Blizzard expertly nail a child's giddy anxiety--or is it anxious giddiness?--when confronted with extreme weather.

"This is my dock," begins Hurricane's young narrator. "Really, it's the neighborhood's dock, but nobody ever comes here except me." From his dock the boy passes the time fishing or studying the minnows below. One day he notes that "today feels different. The air is still, and the sound of hammering echoes down the street." At home, his father tells him that a hurricane is brewing. The next morning, the boy wakes to find a decimated neighborhood and an all-but-obliterated dock; he asks his neighbors for help fixing it, but they say they're too busy mending their damaged properties. After he gives them a hand, the boy sets out to rebuild his dock alone... until his neighbors' consciences get the better of them.

Caldecott Honoree Rocco captures the earth-battering elements at full roar, but Hurricane's showstopper is a shimmery two-page spread featuring an illustration touched by fantasy: on the night of the storm, the sleeping boy dreams of the sea creatures that might swim beneath his dock, dolphins and turtles where in true life minnows would be. Otherwise, Rocco keeps it real, from the front endpapers showing how hurricanes form to the back endpapers diagramming the parts of a dock. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author