KNOW THYSELF

Further adventures in personal narrative: illustrative quotes from six new books by a hoops star, a filmmaker, an artist, and more

KAL PENN

You Can't Be Serious

"Dude. We both know you have a tendency to get hangry, so let's talk about the culinary situation at the White House. You're not in Hollywood anymore." Essays and stories, from Gallery Books

EMILY RATAJKOWSKI

My Body

"In a way, overexposing myself has always felt like the safest option. Strip yourself naked so it seems like no one else can strip you down; hide nothing, so that no one can use your secrets to hurt you."

Essays, from Metropolitan Books

SPIKE LEE

Spike

"When we were making She's Gotta Have It, we were all saving empty soda cans and bottles to turn in for nickels. That's how we got money to buy film." Monograph, with photographs by David Lee, from Chronicle Chroma

TOM FORD

Tom Ford 002

"I think that I played a large part in the rediscovery of a kind of late mid-twentieth-century hedonistic glamour, and I melded that with contemporary taste." Monograph, from Rizzoli

Al WEIWEI

lOOO Years of Joys and Sorrows

"Parsons was like an expensive kindergarten, primly cajoling a bunch of wayward kids into behaving properly. But the time I spent there was important."

Memoir, from Crown

DWYANE WADE

Dwyane

"If we're not trying to empower the next generation then whatever we set out to do is pointless." Memoir, with photographs by Bob Metelus, from William Morrow