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Auster, Paul. Baumgartner. Atlantic Monthly. Nov. 2023. 208p. ISBN 9780802161444. $27. LITERARY

In the opening pages of this 18th novel from the sterling Auster, soon-to-retire philosophy professor Sy Baumgartner has just scorched a pot while boiling water, as he was dwelling (as he always does) on his beloved late wife, who died nine years previously in a swimming accident. The novel then unfolds Baumgartner’s spiraling memories since 1968.

Burbara, Rawya Jarjoura, ed. East Jerusalem Noir. Akashic. Nov. 2023. 196p. tr. from Arabic by Roger Allen & others. ISBN 9781617759857. pap. $17.95. MYSTERY

Edited by novelist and short story writer Burbura (I Do Not Want To Get Used to You), chief inspector director of Arabic at the Ministry of Education, this new volume in Akashic’s long-standing city-based noir series brings readers to East Jerusalem via newly minted stories by Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, all translated from the Arabic. To be published simultaneously with West Jerusalem Noir.

Eitan, Maayan, ed. West Jerusalem Noir. Akashic. Nov. 2023. 240p. tr. from Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan. ISBN 9781617752292. pap. $17.95. MYSTERY

Edited by novelist and short story writer Eitan (Love), this new volume in Akashic’s long-standing city-based noir series brings readers to West Jerusalem via newly minted stories by Israeli Jewish writers, all translated from the Hebrew. To be published simultaneously with East Jerusalem Noir.

Freiman, Lexi. The Book of Ayn.Catapult. Nov. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9781646221929. $27. FEMINIST

Following her Miles Franklin/Center for Fiction’s long-listed Inappropriation, Freiman’s latest features Anna, who gets caught up in the philosophy of Ayn Rand after being called out as classist for her recent novel. She hurries to Los Angeles, hoping to make a TV show about Rand, then ends up hopping from New York to Lesbos to find herself.

Jennings, James W. Wings of Red. Soft Skull: Catapult. Nov. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9781593767105. $28.99. BLACK FICTION/URBAN & STREET LIT

In Jennings’s debut, a gifted young Black writer with an MFA degree and a felony record struggles with being unhoused even as he works as a substitute teacher in the New York City educational system. Slowly, he begins to recognize that teaching could be a way forward.

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