Books

This weekend in the arts in San Diego: Art Through the Glass at the Chula Vista Center Mall; the San Diego Symphony performs iconic Marvel music; Particle FM and Intervals bring sound art to Quint Gallery; "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" at North Coast Rep; San Diego International Mariachi Summit; drag performances at The Old Globe's AXIS: Pride; plus live music picks and more.

"Spark" is a new middle-grade "novel-in-verse" by local author and educator Chris Baron. It follows two rural, nature-loving 8th graders as they evacuate their small town due to a wildflower, and attempt to piece their lives back together.

Abrams isn't running for office — but she's not ruling it out, either. "Politics is a tool ... for getting good done, but it's not the only one." Her new thriller is Coded Justice.

After a bad breakup, writer Melissa Febos decided to abstain from sex and dating for a year. She didn't realize how much it would change her life. She tells her story in a new book, The Dry Season.

This week, new horror from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a funny college do-over from Jeneva Rose, and autofiction from Hannah Pittard. Plus, stories about the American South, and a deep dive into the Earth.

While serving a life sentence for a murder he was eventually exonerated of committing, Calvin Duncan studied law and helped many wrongfully convicted prisoners. His memoir is The Jailhouse Lawyer.

Jeff Lemire explores his career arc, the road to successfully delivering Essex County and other comics to the public, in a new graphic memoir.

Helen Whybrow's memoir, The Salt Stones, is a closely-observed account of her life as a shepherd. In A Marriage at Sea, Sophie Elmhirst tells the true story of a couple adrift on a rubber raft.

Mottley's latest novel follows three young women as they navigate pregnancy and motherhood in a small town in Florida. She sees the novel as an extension of her work as a doula.

Plus: a new novel from Gary Shteyngart, a true story of a shipwreck, and a memoir from a wrongly incarcerated inmate who was exonerated after 28 years behind bars.