Daugherty, Tracy. Larry McMurtry: A Life. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2023. 560p. ISBN 9781250282330. $35. BIOGRAPHY/LITERATURE

Guo, Xiaolu. Radical: A Life of My Own. Grove. Sept. 2023. NAp. ISBN 9780802161567. $32. MEMOIR/LITERATURE

Kim, Daniel Dae. Untitled. Harper. Sept. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780062991744. $26.99. MEMOIR/LITERATURE

Leon, Donna. Wandering Through Life. Atlantic Monthly. Sept. 2023. 208p. ISBN 978002161581. $NA. MEMOIR/LITERATURE

McGilligan, Patrick. Woody Allen: Life and Legacy. Harper. Sept. 2023. 848p. ISBN 9780062941336. $45. CD. BIOGRAPHY/PERFORMING ARTS

Washington, Kerry. Thicker than Water: A Memoir. Little, Brown Spark. Sept. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780316497398. $30. lrg prnt. CD. MEMOIR/PERFORMING ARTS

The biographer of Donald Barthelme, novelist/essayist Daugherty now assays the life and work of Pulitzer Prize–winning King-of the-West Larry McMurtry. In Radical, a book about multiple separations, Best of Young British Novelists Guo examines her year away from her partner and child teaching in the United States, whose unfamiliar culture has her questioning everything. More than a memoir, Kim’s Untitled considers ongoing issues of Asian American representation in U.S. culture, referencing both his personal life and his professional struggle to conquer Hollywood’s casual racism. Mystery queen Leon takes us Wandering Through Life and through the world, from New Jersey to Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, and, famously, Venice, the setting of her Guido Brunetti series. Reportedly even-handed in its treatment of Woody Allen, assaying both his influential oeuvre and his damaging behavior, Hollywood biographer McGilligan’s new work will likely be as controversial as its subject. An Emmy-winning and Golden Globe–nominated actor, director, and producer, Washington is also a wife, mother, and Black activist, and she gives readers her life’s big picture in Thicker Than Water.