TOP SHELF

Recommendations of recent books from the staffs of a rotating list of Bay Area independent bookstores. This week’s list is from the Booksmith, 1644 Haight St., San Francisco. (415) 863-8688. www.booksmith.com. FICTION

A Clue to the Exit, by Edward St. Aubyn: St. Aubyn’s humor is drier than great Champagne and grimmer than the grave. Finally available in the U.S., this is sure to delight Patrick Melrose fans and anyone feeling that life looks a little empty. You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, by Alexandra Kleeman: Weird, piercing, with characters so bizarre you recognize them instantly. Kleeman’s first novel is a dark, hilarious satire that’s impossible to summarize, and everyone should read it. Beauty Is a Wound, by Eka Kurniawan: Sprawling, magical and multigenerational, Kurniawan’s novel is a (finally translated) masterwork of Indonesian literature, just in time for a big, gorgeous fall read. Let Me Tell You, by Shirley Jackson: For those familiar with Jackson’s morbid humor and love of the gothic, the ephemera, stories and recollections in “Let Me Tell You” — deft, full of wit and warmth — will be a surprising delight. NONFICTION

Trans: A Memoir, by Juliet Jacques: Jacques chronicled the full course of her sexual reassignment surgery for the Guardian; “Trans” is the context of that series, and also provides the broader narrative of the author’s life as a young writer finding her place in the literary scene. The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World, by Andrea Wulf: Von Humboldt, the 18th century German naturalist, is portrayed in Wulf’s book as a daring adventurer, endlessly curious, and, she argues, the founder of our contemporary use of the idea of “nature.” Negroland: A Memoir, by Margo Jefferson: Jefferson’s memoir is an insightful, illuminating glimpse of the social milieu she came from: affluent, prestigious black America, a social elite based in Chicago that required removing itself from both black and white mainstream America to establish its pre-eminence. The Food Lab, by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt: Lopez-Alt is one of the wizards of contemporary cuisine. Aficionados of Cooks Illustrated and a science-based approach to the kitchen will find “The Food Lab” a captivating, bright read.