Tim O’Brien—whose best-selling works include The Things They Carried and If I Die in a Combat Zone, both of which are highly readable and offer revealing glimpses into the world of war—was already old when his sons were born. No stranger to loss, his new work shares a series of letters he wrote for his sons to read after he's gone. Thankfully, the man isn’t dead yet, and Dad’s Maybe Book—which touches on everything from soccer to magic tricks to, of course, war—is at heart a love letter from a father to his sons, something he wished his own father had left for him. This sounds direr than it is, but as always, O’Brien’s work is filled with as much joy and humor as pain. by Katie Herzog