► New Books in November

Decoded by Jay-Z

What is there to say about this book? The cover has a Rorschach inkblot on it, and the synopsis is vague and nondescript — unsurprising for a man who's made a career of keeping his private life out of the media. Decoded is billed as both a memoir and detailed dissection of some of Jay-Z's most famous lyrics, but according to the author, it isn't really either of those things. "Decoded is a book about some of my favorite songs, songs that I unpack and explain and surround with narratives about what inspired them but behind the rhymes is the truest story of my life."

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Stephen King may be most recognized for his bigger tomes like Carrie, The Shining, The Green Mile and The Dark Tower series, but some of his best work lies in his short story collections —  "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," "The Mist," "Children of the Corn" and "The Langoliers," to name a few. His latest release, Full Dark, No Stars, sounds just as promising with stories about murder and making deals with the devil, and an overarching theme about the amorality that lurks within all people.

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Cancer is a disease with an expansive history, and new writer Siddhartha Mukherjee tries his best to cover its origins from the perspective of the disease itself. As the publisher describes, The Emperor of All Maladies"reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist." From his work as a Columbia professor of medicine and a cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Center, Mukherjee has studied the disease thoroughly and his debut work details the millennia-old fascination and frustration that all researchers, doctors and patients feel when trying to crack the mystery of this enigmatic and resilient disease.