New Arrivals for the Week of August 4

Elaine Castillo—known for her sharp cultural criticism and formally inventive fiction—returns with a satirical love story set in the virtual workplace. When a star content moderator rises into the elite world of VR surveillance, a guarded romance begins to upend her tightly managed world. “Castillo’s flinty satire of the tech industry [transforms] into a sultry romance novel,” writes The Atlantic, “as we watch Girlie’s defenses melt.”

Marking the 50th anniversary of Born to Run, this behind-the-scenes chronicle revisits the album that launched Springsteen into legend. Carlin—author of Bruce and definitive biographies of Paul Simon and R.E.M.—draws on rare access to reveal how pressure, ambition, and vision converged in a studio-bound crucible. A song-by-song portrait of a record that reshaped American rock.

Jason Mott, whose Hell of a Book won the National Book Award, returns with a novel that follows two Black writers, one traveling the country on a book tour, the other facing a school community still reeling from a shooting. "A book that begs for an immediate reread, People Like Us hits the soul hard," raved BookPage. "It is haunting, vivid literary fiction at its finest."

This selection brings together Kincaid’s essays, reportage, and criticism from The Village Voice, Ms., and The New Yorker. From her early reflections on leaving Antigua to her writing on gardens, and language, the pieces trace five decades of clear-eyed, incisive observation.

Drawing on newly uncovered correspondence, the acclaimed Elvis biographer offers a fresh portrait of the bond between Presley and Colonel Tom Parker—one built on strategy, loyalty, and ambition. "A new entry in Guralnick's Presley chronicles is practically the equivalent of an update to Robert Caro's series on Lyndon Johnson," writes The New York Times

In 1970s New York, a student abandons campus life for a seductive experimental theater company—and decades later, a letter forces her to confront what really happened. "[Soloski] is gifted at revealing the subtle emotions that emerge when actors are on the stage or in the studio, while sustaining a sardonic, noir-like style," writes the Los Angeles Times.

The former U.S. Secretary of Labor reflects on six decades of political and civic life—from civil rights activism to the Clinton administration. He examines how economic power reshaped American democracy and what remains undone in the fight for justice and inclusion. "Clear-eyed and critical, Reich's assessment of where America is headed is both sobering and, characteristically, hopeful," writes Booklist.

A millennial drifter leaves a crumbling New York for a mythic Texas town where shoemakers speak in riddles and miracles might still happen. "Dwelling is social commentary wrapped into a delightful allegory about identity, work, ritual and tradecraft," raved Los Angeles Times.

National Book Award finalist and former Marine Elliot Ackerman returns with a fast-paced, darkly funny thriller about two unlikely operatives sent to repossess a private jet in a remote African airfield. “Fast-paced… offers frisson and humor in equal doses,” praised Library Journal.

Jerry Garcia’s life and music shaped a generation. This sweeping biography traces his journey from the California folk scene to global icon, placing the Grateful Dead at the center of a shifting American counterculture—one that embraced community, improvisation, and the pursuit of freedom.