'FEEL FREE: Essays,' by Zadie Smith. The British novelist ("White Teeth," "Swing Time") is also a sharp essayist and cultural observer. Included here are considerations of Justin Bieber, dancers (Janet Jackson / Madonna / Beyonce), film ("Get Out"), books ("The Buddha of Suburbia") and more.
(Penguin Press, $28)
'THE WHICH WAY TREE,' by Elizabeth Crook. Set in post-Civil War Texas, this exuberant novel is narrated by 17-year-old Benjamin Shreve, whose younger half-sister Samantha is obsessed with the wild panther that killed her mother, a former slave. Benjamin's voice has echoes of "Huckleberry Finn," while the girl's pursuit of the deadly cat recalls "True Grit."
(Little, Brown; $26)