Last bus to Wisdom

CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT?, by Roz Chast. (Bloomsbury, $19.) Chast, who has contributed cartoons to The New Yorker for nearly 40 years, illustrates the experience of caring for her dying parents in this poignant and devastating graphic memoir, one of the Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2014. As our reviewer, Alex Witchel put it: "No one has perfect parents, and no one can write a perfect book about her relationship to them. But Chast has come close." THE STATE WE'RE IN: Maine Stories, by Ann Beattie. (Scribner, $15.) In these linked tales, Beattie's first collection of new stories in 10 years, psychological states matter just as much as geography. The collection traffics in ennui, with recurring characters. One is Jocelyn, a teenager living with her aunt and uncle for the summer while her mother recuperates from a mysterious illness; she is a bright spot in the world presented by the book. SOUTH TOWARD HOME: Travels in Southern Literature, by Margaret Eby. (Norton, $15.95.) Equal parts travelogue and critical inquiry, this book considers the region's literary heritage. Eby, an Alabamian by birth and upbringing, goes on pilgrimage to the haunts of 10 favorite authors, including William Faulkner, Richard Wright, Flannery O'Connor and Harper Lee. LAST BUS TO WISDOM, by Ivan Doig. (Riverhead, $16.) Known for chronicling life in Big Sky Country, Doig, who died last year, turned to Montana once more in this, his final novel. Eleven-year-old Donal Cameron, under his grandmother's care, takes a Greyhound bus from her ranch to Wisconsin, where he lives briefly with an unkind relative. Soon enough, though, he's back out West again, joined by a one-eyed sailor he meets along the way. MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots, by John Markoff. (Ecco/HarperCollins, $15.99.) In the world of artificial intelligence, there are two prevailing approaches: an aim to augment human capacities, or the goal of creating machines to do the work currently performed by people. This thoughtful analysis by Markoff, a reporter for The New York Times, wades into the ethical and philosophical questions that such technological advances inevitably raise. FINALE: A Novel of the Reagan Years, by Thomas Mallon. (Vintage, $16.95.) It's 1986 during this novel, and Reagan, partway through his second term, has yet to become canonized as the Republican Party's patron saint. Mallon - whom our reviewer, Robert Draper, called "a poised storyteller who traffics in history's ironic creases" - draws on a mix of fictional and real-life characters, including Mikhail Gorbachev and Nancy Reagan's astrologer. SISTERS IN LAW: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World, by Linda Hirshman. (Harper Perennial, $16.99.) The justices can be seen "as representatives of the different ways that smart, ambitious women navigated life in mid-20th-century America," Linda Greenhouse wrote here.

The final novel from beloved Western writer Doig, who died in 2015, is a lighthearted, picaresque tale following 11-year-old orphan Donal Cameron, who flees his tightly wound aunt and hops a Greyhound back to the freedom of his grandmother's Montana ranch. His henpecked uncle, Herman the German, takes off with him, and the two sweep across the country in this classic American story. Set in the big-sky landscape, it's part road book, part buddy book, and part bildungsroman. Narrator David Aaron Baker's rough and wry narration brings wit and humor to the lovable characters and rollicking yarn. This book is a worthy ultimate offering from an author who pleased so many during his four decades in print. VERDICT This is essential listening for devotees of Doig's work; no Western fan will be disappointed. ["Doig's superb storytelling does not disappoint. The dialog is snappy, funny, and true to the charming characters": LJ 7/15 starred review of the Riverhead hc.]-Mark John Swails, Johnson Cty. Community Coll., Overland Park, KS © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.