Do you ever feel a kinship with a total stranger in an old photograph? A glint of light, a hand gesture or the drape of a coat can create an emotional connection. I have come across three recently published books that have prompted feelings of nostalgia. Not the saccharine Hallmark kind, but the yearning to feel and smell something from a previous time in life. Dona Ann McAdams: Black Box, A Photographic Memoir (Saint Lucy Books) mines the artist’s photographic archive and pairs her pictures with written reminiscences from her childhood and adult life. Nancy Richards Farese probes family albums to better understand her own upbringing in I Still Speak Southern in my Head (Workshop Arts). Grace (L’Artiere) by Scott Often is a paean to the deep bonds between partners in life and love. These three deeply affecting books strike a wistful chord in their photographic and narrative arcs.