REQUIRED READING

Eat the Apple Matt Young (memoir, Bloomsbury)

A memoir about toxic masculinity and the effects of war as Matt Young recounts teenage years spent adrift in the US, leading him to three deployments to Iraq as an infantryman. Vulnerable and beautifully written.

That’s What She Said Joanne Lipman (nonfiction, William Morrow)

How can men and women work productively together to bridge the gender divide? Using a combination of study results, case studies and anecdotes from her own professional experience inn a male-maledominated industry, Lipman’s book aims to get men and women talking to each other honestly and without fear.

Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Thomas Ramge (nonfiction, Basic Books)

The bestselling author of “Big Data” shows why and how data is replacing money as the main driver of market behavior.

Sadness is a White Bird Moriel Rothman-Zecher (fiction, Atria Books)

A young man serves in the Israeli army while attempting to reconcile this with his two Palestinian siblings and asks himself whether family or country comes first.

Asymmetry Lisa Halliday (fiction, Simon & Schuster)

This debut novel has received accolades, and with good reason; it’s both beautiful and topical. The book is written in three sections — one, “Folly,” explores a relationship between a twentysomething mething woman and a much older, famous author, while another is narrated by an Iraqi-American man detained in Heathrow Airport.

Only Killers and Thieves Paul Howarth (Harper)

Set in the untamed frontier of an 1880s Australia with strong parallels to the American Wild West, two brothers seek revenge after their parents are found murdered, possibly by their Aboriginal stockman. Set duringng a shame-shameful period in Australian history.