TO A PERSON

A crop of immersive novels—set in churches, deserts, and outer space—delves into the weirdness of being human

THE MORNING STAR A Melancholia-esque star appears, ominously, in this dark novel fit for fans and the Karl Ove Knausgaardcurious alike. (Translated by Martin Aitken; Penguin Press)

GO HOME, RICKY! Debut novelist Gene Kwak's wrestling-centric satire unspools issues of race and masculinity (toxic and otherwise). (Overlook Press)

CLOUD CUCKOO LAND Anthony Doerr's first novel since All the Light We Cannot See is packed with lush details and a gripping narrative, spanning from 15th-century Constantinople to a new home-planet-seeking spaceship, tied together by a lost Diogenes text. (Scribner)

CROSSROADS Come for the Twitter fire starter that is Jonathan Franzen, stay for the funny, sad, unputdownable tapestry of a pastor and his family in the midst of myriad crises—of conscience, religion, and otherwise. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

THE BOOK OF FORM AND EMPTINESS Zen studies, environmental catastrophe, and mental health are intertwined in Ruth Ozeki's story of a teen boy who hears voices, his hoarder mother, and a mysterious young performer. (Viking)

I LOVE YOU BUT I'VE CHOSEN DARKNESS

Claire Vaye Watkins, whose father was a member of the Manson Family, has written a beguiling, biting exploration of motherhood (and personhood) that weaves in rich biographical details and is set in the desert heat of her California and Nevada hometowns. (Riverhead)

BEWILDERMENT

Richard Powers turns his gaze to the stars in this devastating follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Overstory, as an astrobiologist mourns his wife's recent death while raising his brilliant, troubled son. (W.W. Norton)

Keziah Weir