COSPLAY: A HISTORY: The builders, fans and creators who bring your favorite stories to life, by Andrew Liptak. (Saga, paper, $24.99.) Liptak, a member of a famous fan organization that champions “Star Wars” villains, explores the origins and rich culture of cosplay, from its origins in the 1400s to the technology that today’s intricate costumes makes possible.
AFTER THE HURRICANE, by Leah Franqui. (Morrow, $27.99.) Family memories and trauma take center stage in this gripping novel, which follows a daughter who returns to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in search of her missing father, a brilliant lawyer struggling with mental health and alcoholism.
NO NO NO! A man’s story of depression, mental anguish, and a bus tour of the Holocaust, by Jerry Stahl. (Akashic, $26.95.) Stahl embarks on Holocaust tourism in this meditative yet humorous account, weaving a personal narrative with reflections on current and past global events.
GEOGRAPHY IS THE DESTINATION: Britain and the World: A 10,000 Year History, by Ian Morris. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $35.) This history takes a mammoth scope and examines how migration has shaped British life over the millennia, while forecasting world politics to 2100 and beyond.
DISCOVER FICTION, by Yan Lianke. Translated by Carlos Rojas. (Duke University, paper, $23.95; canvas, $89.95.) Covering both Western and Chinese literature, this literary critique by the acclaimed Chinese novelist states that realistic fiction contains “four different levels of truth.”
THE RESERVOIR, by David Duchovny. (Akashic, $19.95.) In the former X-Files actor’s fifth novel, a lone ex-financier trapped in his apartment during the Covid-19 pandemic becomes obsessed with the Central Park Reservoir and slowly goes mad. .
FUNNY BUSINESS: The Legendary Life and Political Satire of Art Buchwald, by Michael Hill. (Random House, $28.) The late Washington Post columnist’s approach to satire, friendships with the likes of John Steinbeck and Frank Sinatra, childhood in foster care, and struggles with depression all come to light in this captivating biography of “a of America’s greatest satirists.”
INTERNET FOR THE PEOPLE: The fight for our digital future, by Ben Tarnoff. (Verso, $24.95.) A technology writer argues that the Internet has been destroyed by corporate profit, and that it must be taken away in order to truly serve ordinary people.