Recent content from Hamilton Cain
![photo of author Dinaw Mengestu](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/TPGFSJENARFCPJXLRBKYGPXVFY.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
A mysterious death and an urgent quest power this novel's troubled protagonist
FICTION: Dinaw Mengestu's wise "Someone Like Us" illuminates the immigrant experience and the legacy of addiction.
![Gertie (Drew Barrymore) says goodbye to E.T. in "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial."](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/NMZUWJNVMPIKVIPSL2CPDDM2AI.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
New book looks back at 1982, when "E.T.," "Blade Runner" and "The Thing" revolutionized how we see movies.
NONFICTION: Chris Nashawaty's paean to 1982′s sci-fi films is "the perfect nonfiction beach read."
![photo of author Emily Nussbaum in front of a brick wall](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5M7AIFZ2W5EFTPO25E3DDHZVW4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
'I didn't come here to make friends': Great book traces fallout of 'Real Housewives' and 'Survivor'
How did we end up at "The Real Housewives?" Emily Nussbaum's book about reality TV, "Cue the Sun!," has the answers.
![photo of author Garth Risk Hallberg](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/22XOVZFHGVAGRO6XIPOXTRPAXU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
'City on Fire' author wobbles with ambitious second novel, 'The Second Coming'
FICTION: Gifted Garth Risk Hallberg's new book is an uneven epic.
![photo of author Morgan Talty](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/N7AGD2I5S5D4HEGTMS35GRDYPQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
A Penobscot novelist wonders what it means to be Native in 'soulful' family drama 'Fire Exit'
FICTION: Morgan Talty's exquisite novel delivers on the promise of his prize-winning debut.
![photo of novelist Claire Messud](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/533NMU72UFAGDJVUTT5UL23HAA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Stretching from WW II to the present, Claire Messud's new novel is a 'masterpiece'
FICTION: Sweeping, autobiographical "This Strange Eventful History" is textured and revelatory.
![About 170 Samoyeds were removed from a breeding facility on the Minnesota-Iowa border.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/VHX72GFQRSEAL5PIF6ICKCTNYE.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Looking at the historic bonds of animals and humans in 'Our Kindred Creatures'
NONFICTION: "Our Kindred Creatures" vividly re-creates the rise and spread of the ASPCA.
![photo of author Kathleen DuVal](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5BIUCU32FRBGPDGVCPSUJ4EO2A.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
New book looks at the 'Native Nations' that called this land home before colonists arrived
NONFICTION: A single-volume history of Indigenous nations is both majestic in scope and intimate in tone.
![photo of novelist Colin Barrett](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/EPXBA3WTLBGN5BV4345QF3WI4M.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Cheeky humor enlivens 'Wild Houses,' a tale of desperate Irish gangsters
FICTION: Colin Barrett's wondrous first novel delivers on the promise of his acclaimed short fiction.
![black and white photo of author Gabriel García Márquez](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/OR6JGP5UEFAT5MEXTAQCT7PPPI.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
'Until August' is the final novel from one of the all-time greats
FICTION: Gabriel García Márquez's final novella is short but as fully realized as his masterworks.
![photo of author Brad Gooch](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/H7EUXA5AV5FEHAUDGBCS4XRNQQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Before upcoming Walker exhibit, biography 'Radiant' shows Keith Haring was a charmer and tyrant
NONFICTION: Brad Gooch's biography illuminates an iconoclastic life devoted to art.
![KATHRYN SCHULZ credit Casey Cep](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/SAJNDMSIZQGP6Q6ZEU4XJZFR5A.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'Lost & Found,' by Kathryn Schulz
A sublime, erudite memoir explores the connection between grief and love.
![Wengrow & Graeber photo credit Kalpesh Lathigra](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/3RPF4RPF2BQAH7FA3EJHOUFS2U.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'The Dawn of Everything,' by David Graeber and David Wengrow
"The Dawn of Everything" is a vibrant if uneven survey of inequity through the ages.
![Alex Danchev](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/7SWCPI5ARYVMON6Y5DNE5DDB5Q.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'Magritte: A Life,' by Alex Danchev
A superb new biography illuminates the life and art of a leading Surrealist.
![50+ essential books for your winter reading and holiday shopping lists](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/DJROGJW4MRM5KGN5LR37IK6QJM.png?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
50+ essential books for your winter reading and holiday shopping lists
Page-turners that will make you laugh, cry, reflect and escape when the weather outside is frightening.
![Woody Holton photo by Judy Self](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/TVJUC4XNEZ3ZRDRTED3JFKD6K4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'Liberty Is Sweet,' by Woody Holton
A prize-winning historian broadens and enriches our understanding of the American Revolution.
![Gary Shteyngart](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/IQZWTSI5S7KPIARGE3G7LDI37I.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'Our Country Friends,' by Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngart's rollicking, playful new novel skewers the mores of cultural elites during a pandemic shutdown.
![573512306](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ZKJBBUXAKKKTP2WTIG4CK4T4KA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'Harlem Shuffle,' by Colson Whitehead
FICTION: Colson Whitehead's enthralling, evocative new novel transforms a petty heist into a resonant exploration of race and class.
![573512075](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/HO7IYGIOA5A6KQM6E4KK7ETXDQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'Late City,' by Robert Olen Butler
FICTION: A Pulitzer Prize winner returns with a robust if uneven novel that encapsulates the American Century.
![573511339](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/POU3CXSKCIESZVKO55KDZSY35Y.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'Skinship,' by Yoon Choi
FICTION: A debut collection centered on myriad facets of the Korean-American experience.
![573508428](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ABNSVDFJ3DJQEN7GISIIROQBNM.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'The Plague Year,' by Lawrence Wright
NONFICTION: A master of literary journalism explores the COVID-19 pandemic in revelatory detail.
![573506647](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/HFSHBM5S5EMO7YL4GWWVVKS6DY.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'Finding the Mother Tree,' by Suzanne Simard
NONFICTION: "Finding the Mother Tree" illuminates the career of one of our most brilliant ecologists.
!["The Five Wounds" by Kirstin Valdez Quade](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/OLQZWO7JM3PFDNL42MIKICS7GI.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'The Five Wounds,' by Kirstin Valdez Quade
FICTION: This vibrant novel showcases one man's road to redemption.
![573503518](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/CA7L4JXAXI5SDXDHBBEUM4UZAU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: "Foregone," by Russell Banks
FICTION: Russell Banks' new novel explores morality and mortality.
![573502681](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/2JLU7QXXNNFMOSUTJS4FG24LNI.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Review: 'The Black Church,' by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
NONFICTION: A companion book to the PBS series "The Black Church" chronicles the intricate history of an institution at the heart of the American Experiment.