Half Empty

As Rakoff begins reading his charmingly curmudgeonly essay collection, he seems like an odd fit—his voice, slightly breathy and fragile, seems like it’s about to give out. But he relaxes, and it quickly becomes apparent that he’s the perfect narrator—with his muttered asides, his sighs of self-deprecation—for these sharp, smart pieces. His conversations ramify magnificently, and this champion of contrarianism has smart things to say about money, media, certainty, growing up short, Jewish, and Canadian. Think Sedaris, but smarter, darker, and funnier. He may be, as he says in one essay, “prone to making bad calls,” but he seems to know exactly what listeners need. A Doubleday hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 9). (Oct.)