In Hisham Matar's Anatomy of a Disappearance, Kamal is a Cairo widower; Nuri is his son. When they both fall in love with the same woman, it is Kamal who gets the girl, but then shortly thereafter disappears under mysterious circumstances. Read more.

_{Photo: The Dial Press}

Kurt Vonnegut became a cultural legend with novels like Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, Galapagos, and many others. His novels and even his artwork is iconic, but less known is his personal life. Until now. Charles Shields, who was working with Vonnegut on this biography when the author died at the age of 85, has delivered an engaging and definitive biography in And So It Goes.

Review of And So It Goes, Kurt Vonnegut: A Life

_{Photo: Henry Holt & Company}

In Naoyuki Ii's The Shadow of a Blue Cat, 51-year-old Japanese businessman Yuki Yajimi traces a path to his present by reflecting on the events of the past.

Review of The Shadow of a Blue Cat

_{Photo: Dalkey Archive}

Save Thirteen Reasons Why for a rainy day, when you're feeling down and prepared to read about teen suicide and the effects of rumors on teenagers. This is a dark, tragic novel, predicated on the suicide of teenager Hannah Baker. Before her death, she records cassette tapes with 13 stories about people and events that led to her decision. We follow along with these stories along side one of the tape's recipients, the likeable Clay Jenson. While the book tackles tough topics, the writing and plot is suspenseful, and readers will find the book difficult to put down, and fast to read.

Review of Thirteen Reasons Why

_{Photo: Penguin}