A book inspiring me to clean up my act: Marie Kondo’s “the life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing” (Ten Speed Press, $16.99 hardcover). Kondo’s basic principle: Keep only what “sparks joy.” (“There goes my husband,” a friend confessed.) Tackle in this order: clothes, books, papers, miscellany and sentimental objects. Bits of wisdom: Abandon the custom of storing seasonal clothes. Early morning is the best time to start. Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved. Tidy a little a day and you’ll be tidying forever. Go for it.

A heartbreaker by the author of “The Giant’s House”: Elizabeth McCracken’s 2008 memoir, “An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination” (Little, Brown, $19.99 hardcover). A poignant tale, set in France, of the stillborn birth of her first son, Pudding. Read this, and you’ll never again hesitate to reach out to someone whose heart is breaking. “What amazed me about all the notes I got,” she writes, “mostly through email — because who knew how to find me? — was how people did know what to say, how words didn’t fail.”

My book club’s November selection: David Finkel’s “Thank You for Your Service” (Sarah Crichton Books, $26 hardcover). Finkel (“The Good Soldiers”) does for returning soldiers who fought in Iraq what Philip Roth did for Vietnam soldiers in his novel, “The Human Stain.” Both put you inside the soldier’s skin. You live their nightmares, the anger, frustration and guilt that prompts them to punch holes in walls and doors. You’re also with their confused, frustrated, hurt, angry wives. An essential book.

Dannye Romine Powell, The Charlotte Observer