Nonfiction

The last thing you may wish to read at the end of a workday or workweek would be a book-length essay about work. But consider Alain de Botton’s latest as he does all the heavy thinking about work for us. With characteristic wit and intelligence, de Botton explores the vagaries, frustrations, and love/hate feelings we have for all that exertion we do to put food on the table. —V.L.

In A Human Eye, acclaimed local author Adrienne Rich examines a diverse selection of writings and their place in past and present social disorders and transformations. “Rich continues to refuse to separate the artistic from the political, and she articulates in powerful ways how a truly radical political agenda can draw upon an aesthetic vision…a vision both unsparing and full of hope,” says the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kidder’s Strength in What Remains is an extraordinary story about the beauty of second chances. Kidder introduces us to Deo, a student immigrant from Burundi, a country ravished by war and neighboring Rwanda’s genocide. Deo ends up homeless in Central Park before he makes his way into Columbia University Medical School. Kidder’s account of what happens when Deo and Kidder travel to Burundi is a moving testimony to the hope that survives in people who have witnessed unspeakable brutality. —S.M.C.

I’m always checking in to see what Christopher Hitchens has to say next—about anything! Even when I don’t agree with him, I can’t help but swoon over his eloquence, wit, and intellect. In his new memoir we get an intimate glimpse of the events (including those crazy Oxford years!) that shaped him into the enigmatic character he is today, along with invaluable perspectives on recent history. —Joe