Montreal is a city as appealing for its beauty as for its shadows. Here, the novelist Mona Awad recommends books that are “both dreamy and uncompromising.”

Hari Kunzru examines the ties between art and wealth in a new novel, “Blue Ruin.”

In Alexis Landau’s ambitious new novel, “The Mother of All Things,” the frustrations of modern parenting echo through the ages.

Michael Deagler’s first novel follows a young man who is piecing his life back together and trying very hard not to drink.

The sociologist Sarah Thornton visits strip clubs, milk banks and cosmetic surgeons with the goal of shoring up appreciation for women’s breasts.

His anthology “Technicians of the Sacred” included a range of non-Western work and was beloved by, among others, rock stars like Jim Morrison and Nick Cave.