Dan DeLuca's picks: Courtney Barnett, Gary Shteyngart, Benjamin Booker, and Taylor Swift

Courtney Barnett. Left-handed guitarist and gifted songwriter Courtney Barnett and her garage-rock band - charmingly called the Courtney Barnetts - return to the venue where they played what was then their biggest-ever show, in February, again in support of 2013's superb A Sea of Split Peas: The Double EP. Monday at Union Transfer.

Gary Shteyngart, 'Little Failure: A Memoir.' Russian American author of Absurdistan and The Russian Debutante's Handbook aims his formidable comic talents at his own immigrant experience, telling the tale of a frightened, asthmatic 7-year-old whose family moved from the Soviet Union to Queens in 1979. Out in paperback and as an e-book.

Benjamin Booker. Young-gun guitarist Benjamin Booker impressed mightily when he blew through town this spring and now the punkish electric boogie specialist is back, with a tour with Jack White under his belt and a rough-cut self-titled debut album. Tuesday at World Café Live.

Stephin Merritt and Roz Chast, '101 Two Letter Words.' Droll 69 Love Songs Magnetic Fields songsmith Merritt knocks out 101 pithy poems about two-letter words, with witty illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist and National Book Award finalist Chast.

Taylor Swift, 'Out of the Woods.' Is it a metaphor for leaving the rural sounds of country radio behind once and for all? Yet another song about her former relationship with One Direction singer Harry Styles? "Out of the Woods," synth-saturated, is a more effective pure pop song than "Shake It Off," the previous single from Swift's fifth album, 1989, due Oct. 27.