10 books to read in February: A tribute to Toni Morrison, Gavin Newsom's new memoir and other new releases

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Reading ListIf you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.Newly released books reflect current concerns, and so it is no surprise that February’s choices include titles about intersectionality, protest and politics as our country faces tough questions about civil rights.It’s also not surprising that authors, whether novelists or journalists or activists, have discovered creative ways to approach topics that range from fine dining to one of our finest writers, Toni Morrison.

Happy reading!Fiction:Bad Asians: A Novel By Lillian LiHenry Holt: 336 pp., $29(Feb.17)When a high-school frenemy convinces four post-college besties in suburban Maryland to let her make a documentary about them, it goes viral, and all millennial hell breaks loose.

Grace Li crafts a film pitting Diana, Justin, Vivian and Errol against each other and against their Chinese families’ expectations.But the real action takes place later, after each friend has had to contend with their own actions in the aftermath of shock, embarrassment and betrayal.Brawler: Stories By Lauren GroffRiverhead: 288 pp., $29(Feb.

24)Groff’s 2018 Story Prize-winning collection, “Florida,” focused on perspectives of young women, many of them mothers, in that particular state.In “Brawler,” the brilliant author’s protagonists and locations are more various, and often coping with harrowing transitions, like Joanie in “To Sunland,” who chooses to move into a group home, or Chip in “What’s the Time, Mr.

Wolf?,” a product of his upbringing with no role in a new era.So Old, So Young: A Novel By Grant GinderGallery/Scout Press: 384 pp., $30(Feb.17)Like a younger version of the recent “Four Seasons” adaptation, Ginder’s University of Pennsylvania 2006 friends meet up across the years — first in 2008 New York City, then 201...