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Christian Wiman's new essay collection, My Bright Abyss, explores his ideas about faith and life during a time of intense crisis — in Wiman's case, a rare and painful cancer. Reviewer Walton Muyumba says Wiman's "intense questioning and dense resolutions are challenging," but ultimately rewarding.

The second novel in Hilary Mantel's trilogy positions Thomas Cromwell as Henry VIII's trusted consigliere and a specialist at getting unwanted wives out of the way. But if the machinations in Bring Up the Bodies are of the cruelest kind, Mantel's language couldn't be more sublime.

NPR's Backseat Book Club takes the yellow brick road back to its origins with L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900.

Anthony Marra's debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, takes place in war-torn Chechnya — a world of perpetual violence, fear and exploding land mines. But reviewer Meg Wolitzer says the characters are so vivid and the language so brilliant you want to stay there.

David Crist's The Twilight War is a realistic — and often pessimistic — analysis of America's relationship with Iran. Crist covers decades of policy and history, while balancing this military and diplomatic detail with concern for humanity in his narratives.

The president's push to address gun violence and mental health centers largely on training teachers and others who work with children, teens and young adults to recognize illness as it's developing.

Writer and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips explores the paradox of dissatisfaction: Although not getting what we want may cause us pain, Phillips concedes, we should think of frustration as a natural part of existence, and one that can provide us pleasure if we let it.

American pioneers saw the endless stretches of grassland of the Great Plains as a place to produce grain and beef for a growing country. But one casualty was the native prairie ecosystem and animals that thrived only there.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's case against Goldman Sachs hinges on whether the Wall Street titan should have told its customers more about the derivatives it was selling them. But The New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson wonders whether the rating agencies and those who bought the derivatives should have done more homework.

T.C. Boyle's past work is largely satirical and tough on his characters. In San Miguel, readers will find the same biting tone, but none of the irony. Loosely based on ranchers' memoirs of a grim California island, this chillingly written novel exposes a bleak and savage reality.