When her father died, the author of “Americanah” produced a slim work of nonfiction. When her mother died, she poured her grief into a sprawling 416-page novel.
In “Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party,” the science writer Edward Dolnick takes on the 19th-century discovery of dinosaur fossils: “What was it like to try to grapple with an idea that hadn’t occurred to anybody?”
Five recent books collect photographs, memories and ephemera from the hardcore band Agnostic Front, the mysterious dance artist Aphex Twin, the rap collective Odd Future and more.