NYT Books

In “Ira Gershwin: A Life in Words,” Michael Owen offers a sympathetic portrait of the lyricist, overshadowed in a life that had him tending the legacy of his younger sibling George.

In Ella Baxter’s novel “Woo Woo,” a feminist performance artist starts to question herself on the eve of a provocative solo exhibition.

In “Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife” the historian Hetta Howes seeks to relate to figures of the past.

The protagonists of “A Day With Mousse,” “Little Shrew” and “Lone Wolf Goes to School” feel happiest on their own.

In “The Icon and the Idealist,” Stephanie Gorton tells the story of two women who fought a patriarchal system — and each other.

Lydia Reeder’s “The Cure for Women” tells the story of the remarkable Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi.

In “The Rest Is Memory,” Lily Tuck imagines the life of a Polish teenager during the Holocaust.

In “A Century of Tomorrows,” Glenn Adamson offers a hurtling history of the art, science and big business of looking ahead.

A posthumous collection of essays by the anthropologist and activist David Graeber shows a bold thinker whose original arguments could strain credibility.

In Weike Wang’s novel “Rental House,” a couple invite their families to visit them on vacation.