Books

Generous, encouraging, and nothing if not thorough, “Pity the Reader” is a kind of fiction writer’s chapbook, using the great satirist’s comments as a jumping-off point to address the budding writer’s most basic concerns.

“Selected Shorts,” the radio and stage show from Symphony Space, is coming to the Avram Theater at Stony Brook Southampton on Saturday to honor one of the college’s own, the late comic essayist David Rakoff.

Louis Begley wraps up his Jack Dana crime novel series in the most gruesome way imaginable.

In “Guestbook” Leanne Shapton tells stories composed solely of visual art or photographic images or prose, or an interplay of all three, inviting the reader to participate in rendering the unseen.

James Zirin prosecutes the case against Trump by picking apart a pattern of behavior — contentious real estate dealings, legendary unpaid debts, the unsuccessful casino gamble in Atlantic City, the Trump University fraud, and boorish misogyny.

“Chicken Soup for the Soul” meets “The Twilight Zone” is the vibe in John McCaffrey’s new short volume of 11 brief stories.

When they became the new owners of Canio’s Books in 1999, Kathryn Szoka and Maryann Calendrille didn’t just buy a business; they bought into a community.

Gary McAvoy’s ironically titled new book accuses Truman Capote of guilt by omission in the writing of “In Cold Blood,” and says the recently discovered notebooks of Harold Nye of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation contain smoking-gun evidence.

Richard Panchyk has put together a kind of visual reference guide using Army Air Service photos from the 1920s to 1940, and Long Island, from Queens to Montauk, never looked better.

A master of audiobooks voice work will do what he does best — speak — about his craft and career at the library in Amagansett. Colson Whitehead, meanwhile, makes it onto another long-list for a top award.

Alafair Burke, a talented author of domestic noir, is back with “The Better Sister,” exploring sibling rivalry and the dark underbelly of family life.

Paul McCartney, Amagansett resident and grandparent (and wasn’t he with some band once?), has just come out with his first picture book, “Hey Grandude,” while the McMullans return with a tale of two French bulldogs and Susan Verde brings a heart-restorative “I Am Love” for worried kids.