What's new: Memoirs by Thomas, Hodgman and Deen

WHAT COMES NEXT AND HOW TO LIKE IT, by Abigail Thomas. Thomas' unforgettable 2006 memoir, "A Three Dog Life," chronicled her life in the wake of an accident that left her husband brain-damaged and in an institution. Her new book offers readers the chance to catch up with her -- her family, her dogs, and her long friendship with Chuck, a former colleague she has known through ups and downs since 1979. (Scribner, $24)

BETTYVILLE, by George Hodgman. Hodgman, a successful book and magazine editor, left behind his New York life and career to care for his 91-year-old mother in his hometown of Paris, Missouri. Betty -- once fiercely independent and razor sharp, now suffers from dementia, but Hodgman transforms the caregiving experience into a story that is both funny and affecting. Fans of Roz Chast's "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?" should take a look. (Viking, $27.95)

ALL WHO GO DO NOT RETURN, by Shulem Deen. "I wasn't the first to be expelled from our village, though I'd never known any of the others," begins this account by a man who grew up in a strict and insular community of Skverer Hasidic Jews in Rockland County -- newspapers, radio, TV and the Internet were all forbidden. As a boy, Deen questioned the received wisdom of the elders -- a questioning that led to a full-fledged crisis of faith as an adult. (Graywolf, $16 paper)