On My Radar:

Night Thoughts
by Wallace Shawn
Haymarket Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Although he is guided and inspired by the people he respects, and despite the insufficiency of his knowledge and experience—an insufficiency shared by most (or all) other humans, Wallace Shawn can’t see any real alternative to trying to figure out his own answers to the most essential questions about the world he lives in.

Having recently passed the age of seventy, before which he found it difficult to piece together more than a few fragments of understanding, Shawn would like to pass on anything he's learned before death or dementia close down the brief window available to him, but he may not be ready yet.

Praise for Essays:

““Lovely, hilarious and seriously thought-provoking.”“
—Toni Morrison

“Wallace Shawn’s essays are both powerful and riveting. To have such a gentle and incisive soul willing to say what others may be afraid to is considerably refreshing.”
—Michael Moore

““From a low-earning playwright’s troubles to reflections on why the Palestinians are justified in their resentment of Israel. Wallace Shawn: Fearless!”“
—GQ, Best Books of 2009

““It’'s a treat to hear [Shaun] speak his curious mind.”“
—O, The Oprah Magazine

Wallace Shawn is an Obie Award–-winning playwright and a noted stage and screen actor (Star Trek, Gossip Girl, The Princess Bride, Toy Story). He co-wrote of the film My Dinner with Andre and is author of multiple plays. His book Essays was published by Haymarket Books (2009).

In My TBR Stack:

Things That Can and Cannot Be Said: Essays and Conversations
by Arundhati Roy and John Cusack
Haymarket Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

In late 2014, Arundhati Roy, John Cusack, and Daniel Ellsberg travelled to Moscow to meet with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The result was a series of essays and dialogues in which Roy and Cusack reflect on their conversations with Snowden.

In these provocative and penetrating discussions, Roy and Cusack discuss the nature of the state, empire, and surveillance in an era of perpetual war, the meaning of flags and patriotism, the role of foundations and NGOs in limiting dissent, and the ways in which capital but not people can freely cross borders.