What to read this week: Michael Ondaatje's latest, a Paul Simon biography, more

WARLIGHT, by Michael Ondaatje. How well do we ever really know our parents? That mystery is deepened for the narrator of this novel, the latest from the author of "The English Patient." Nathaniel's mother was engaged in shadowy espionage work during World War II, leaving him and his sister in the care of an odd assortment of petty London criminals. (Alfred A. Knopf, $26.95)

PAUL SIMON: The Life, by Robert Hilburn. The singer-songwriter from Kew Gardens, Queens — now embarking on his farewell concert tour — sat for hundreds of hours of interviews for this authorized biography. It's all here: the smash success with Art Garfunkel, the bitter breakup, the marriage to Carrie Fisher, the comeback with "Graceland," and much more. (S&S, $30)

THE LANGUAGE OF KINDNESS: A Nurse's Story, by Christie Watson. Before she won the Costa First Novel Award, writer Christie Watson was a registered nurse in England for 20 years. In this memoir she shares "the tragedies and joys of a remarkable career," from the Special-Care Baby Unit to Accident and Emergency. (Tim Duggan Books, $27)