November must-read books: Lynda Barry’s comics, Carmen Maria Machado’s “In the Dream House” and more

The women of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” speak for themselves; disquieting novels revisit the Nazi and Pinochet regimes

ERIN KEANE • ASHLIE D. STEVENS

NOVEMBER 4, 2019 10:59PM (UTC)

As we begin our march toward the holiday shopping season, November’s new book releases are proof that readers will be spoiled for choice this year. Notable essay collections coming this month include new collections from two of our most exciting voices in cultural criticism — Lindy West’s “The Witches Are Coming” (catch West in conversation with “Salon Talks” on Tuesday, Nov. 5, the book’s release day) and Darryl Pickney’s “Busted in New York and Other Essays” (Nov. 12) — as well as comedian Jenny Slate’s “Little Weirds” (also out Nov. 5) and Michael Eric Dyson’s definitive close reading of Hova’s lyrics in “Jay-Z: Made in America” (Nov. 26).

Through in-depth reporting of structural inequality as it affects real people in Detroit, Jodie Adams Kirshner’s “Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises” examines one side of the economic divide in America, while Kristen Richardson offers an insightful and surprisingly relevant look at the traditions of the affluent in “The Season: A Social History of the Debutante,” both out Nov. 19. On the fiction side, keep an eye out for Dave Eggers’ new satire of contemporary American politics, “The Captain and the Glory: An Entertainment” (Nov. 19), about an ignorant and inexperienced disruptor whose antics might run a noble ship into the ground. (Sound familiar?)