NYT Books

In “How the World Eats,” the philosopher Julian Baggini grapples with “everything that affects and is affected by” our comestibles.

“Rogues and Scholars,” James Stourton’s erudite and authoritative history, doesn’t spare the color.

Ali Smith’s latest novel, “Gliff,” infuses a Y.A. plot with her distinctive verbal magic.

Jon Kalman Stefansson’s novel “Heaven and Hell” recounts a 19th-century fishing trip and its aftermath.

Joseph O’Connor’s novel “The Ghosts of Rome” explores a World War II resistance network based in the Vatican.

Call her Ruth, or Baby, or Sunday: A San Francisco sex worker’s carefully compartmentalized life starts to unravel in Brittany Newell’s vivid “Soft Core.”

In “The Age of Choice,” Sophia Rosenfeld questions whether choosing — what to buy, whom to vote for — is actually worth it.

In Anne Tyler’s new novel, a socially inept mother faces hurdles in her personal, professional and family lives.

A new biography of Charles W. Chesnutt, by Tess Chakkalakal, explains the friendships and tensions he had with his white literary contemporaries.

In “Memorial Days,” Geraldine Brooks retreats to an island off Australia hoping to pick up the pieces after the sudden death of her husband.