“Serpentine” — which features, once again, the unquenchably curious Lyra — juxtaposes light and dark, innocence and experience.
In Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright’s graphic novel “Twins,” sisters navigate a sometimes cruel and changing world.
“Becoming Muhammad Ali,” by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander, is a poetic retelling of the legendary boxer’s youth.
In “Lupe Wong Won’t Dance,” a seventh-grade girl who dreams of becoming a major-league pitcher is horrified by a new unit in gym class: square dancing.
These new works from Tomi Ungerer, Sophie Blackall and Christian Robinson are realistic and — without being soppy — filled with hope.
The I.R.S. is on few people’s most-loved lists, yet the agency needs more money to enforce the tax code, an economist says.
Heat source or zombie blocker, imagining how books might serve us well in the apocalypse
Peter Guralnick talks about “Looking to Get Lost,” and Alex Ross discusses “Wagnerism.”
In “The Beforeland,” Corinna Vallianatos gives space and dignity to those plagued by their failures to launch.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
He was a Twitter pioneer in writing at length, 140 characters at a time, about losing his job at The New Yorker. He wrote an admired book on New Orleans.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
The push in book publishing for more authors and workers of color hasn’t abated, and companies are increasingly making lasting changes to the way they do business.
Barack Obama’s memoir is landing. So is a biography of Adrienne Rich and buzzy fiction from Jo Nesbo, Nicole Krauss and Susie Yang.
“Bookstores could easily have only two sections, ‘Riveting’ and ‘Kinda Boring.’”
‘The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue’ took 10 years to write. The fantasy author describes the process as a ‘very, very long labor of love.’
How this president invaded our brains and destroyed American culture.
A lifelong Republican and a former top official at the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Taylor took a leave of absence from his job at Google this summer to campaign for Joseph R. Biden Jr.
El exfuncionario, cuyas críticas al presidente Trump en un artículo de opinión en The New York Times, y en un libro posterior, sacudieron a Washington y enfurecieron a Trump, renunció al gobierno el año pasado y apoya a Joe Biden desde este verano.
She traveled in the circles of Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti, a rare female voice in a male world, and went on to a long, prolific career in poetry.
In “American Contagions,” John Fabian Witt writes about how jurisprudence has influenced public health, from promoting the social good to compounding existing inequalities.
“Red Comet,” a mammoth new biography by Heather Clark, aims to rescue the poet from the clichés that have dominated her afterlife and secure her status as a major American writer.
After 26 years at The New Yorker, he became chief editor at Random House, overseeing works by a raft of luminaries. He wrote a half-dozen well-received books of his own.
A new Graphic Content column reviews three books that cover a gamut of world-building, from the lives of Syrian refugees to the friends of Pepe the Frog.
In “Culture Warlords,” Talia Lavin immerses herself among white supremacists and neo-Nazis, then tells us what she found.
A selection of recent books of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
In “The Kidnapping Club,” Jonathan Daniel Wells describes the circle of slave catchers and police officers who terrorized New York’s Black population in the three decades before the Civil War.
In “Group,” Christie Tate walks readers through an unusual therapeutic journey.
In her memoir, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” Elizabeth Berg tells the story of her parents’ decline.
A Japanese-American man abandons his Black boyfriend with his visiting mother in Houston. Conflicts and unexpected kinships ensue.
In “The Cold Millions,” the author delves into the labor conflicts and street riots of the early 20th century.
In her new novel, “Self Care,” the author Leigh Stein nods to both the narcissism and the paradox of #selfcare.
“It’s awkward because the track record for the ownership here is not great,” one customer said. “But it’s also an institution. My parents shopped here.”
In “Life With the Afterlife,” Amy Bruni reveals the lessons she’s learned helping ghosts and the people they visit.
“Inside Story,” a novel in a genre Amis calls “life-writing,” revisits the author’s relationships with Saul Bellow, Christopher Hitchens and others.
A Christian evangelical who was shunned for her lesbianism, she became an influential scholar of the Bible, finding in it acceptance of L.G.B.T.Q. people.
“Looking to Get Lost” features writing by the acclaimed biographer about Ray Charles, Merle Haggard and others, as well as about his own life and career.
A review in comics format helps inquisitive young citizens learn how we choose who runs our country.
Readers react to a column by Nicholas Kristof urging the use of mockery. Also: When writers feel constrained; immigration reform.
Whether you want to be scared, shocked or stumped, we will help you pick your poison. Strychnine-laced cocoa, anyone?
Por el bien común, sigamos privilegiando la docencia presencial, la lectura de libros físicos, la existencia de librerías, cines y otros contextos analógicos.
With “The Sentinel,” the action-packed new Reacher novel, Lee Child collaborates with his younger brother, Andrew Child, who will take over the series from here.
(Or vice versa.) It’s Halloween week and treats abound, from oysters to ballet to a Sam Smith concert.
The dangerous animosities of the past never went away, and have now re-emerged with new force.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
In Marilyn Stasio’s new crime-fiction column, the bodies accumulate at a rather alarming rate.
He fostered the careers of more than a dozen Nobel laureates, including Gabriel García Márquez, Nadine Gordimer and Doris Lessing.
When all you’ve got is a blanket and a lot of snacks, you can become “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” and other desperate moves.
Ian McGuire talks about his new novel, and Elisabeth Egan discusses Romy Hausmann’s “Dear Child.”
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
Douglas Stuart, a fashion designer, started writing fiction on the side. Now his first book is up for the Booker Prize and the National Book Award.
In “Billion Dollar Loser,” Reeves Wiedeman places the once exalted Silicon Valley founder in the context of contemporary capitalism.
In “Billion Dollar Loser,” Reeves Wiedeman places the once exalted Silicon Valley founder in the context of contemporary capitalism.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
The former national security adviser H.R. McMaster’s new book, “Battlegrounds,” examines recent foreign policy and charts a path forward.
If you’re on the hunt for a frightening read, these books will tingle the spines of thrill-seekers and scaredy cats alike.
Looking for a book that will scare the pants off you? We’ve got some suggestions.
“In plainer terms, we read literature to have a good time.”
Molly Stern, the former publisher of Crown, is starting Zando, an independent publishing company with an unusual marketing strategy.
In “Trust,” the wunderkind politician underscores the importance of what he calls “overlapping circles of belonging.”
In “A World Beneath the Sands,” Toby Wilkinson details the hundred years when many of the great discoveries of ancient Egypt were made, by Europeans.
The self-response rate was higher than predicted, equaling the 2010 count despite what the mayor called “so many more challenges in the way.”
Before you pick up one of these hair-raising, shiver-inducing novels, you’re going to want to close the curtains and check the locks (twice).
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, a National Book Award finalist for “The Undocumented Americans,” talks immigration, her unconventional approach to nonfiction and why impostor syndrome doesn’t faze her.
Reeves Wiedeman writes about the WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann and what the company represents about the last decade.
A selection of recent visual books of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
Amis’s new book is a “novelized autobiography” in which he writes warmly and familiarly about Philip Larkin, Saul Bellow and Christopher Hitchens.
“The Silence” invites readers to consider whether the connected life has left us more disconnected than ever.
In “Max Jacob: A Life in Art and Letters,” Rosanna Warren retraces the colorful history of a now largely forgotten figure of French modernism who was surrounded by famous friends.
In “A Place for Everything,” Judith Flanders, a British social historian, traces the revolutionary history of alphabetical order.
Brilliant new essay collections from Namwali Serpell, Brian Dillon and Daniel Mendelsohn.
“Dark Archives,” by Megan Rosenbloom, a librarian at U.C.L.A., traces the history of the controversial practice and considers what we should do with such books today.
Our compromised liberalism has left a generation of writers weighing their words in fear.
An employee of the Hay Festival in Abu Dhabi said she was accosted by the tolerance minister of the U.A.E. earlier this year.
Thirty years in the making, “The Dead Are Arising,” by Les Payne and Tamara Payne, sharpens our understanding of the Black activist and thinker whose influence continues to reverberate.
Philip Gefter’s new biography, “What Becomes a Legend Most,” argues for Avedon’s place as one of the 20th century’s most consequential artists.
The new International Library for Fashion Research in Oslo, the brainchild of a fashion odd couple, has very big ambitions.
With Mary Todd Lincoln, Mark Twain and even Oscar Wilde, a mystery remains: How did Lafayette Cornwell get all these people to autograph his book?
His literary interests include Houston, Osaka, food and the transitory periods in personal relationships. In his debut novel, “Memorial,” he documents all four.
Listen to the audio play ‘Shipwreck,’ bake some madeleines with Sur La Table and make dinosaur-shadow puppets.
Go with the flow on this Miriam Estrin construction.
Objects saved and accumulated can be a balm for uncertain times.
The world’s worst parents come back to haunt us, in Lois Lowry’s “The Willoughbys Return.”
In Kory Merritt’s “No Place for Monsters,” an invisible force is snatching kids in the night, erasing them not only from their beds but from everyone else’s memory.
“Century of Struggle,” her 1959 history of the women’s rights movement, uncovered previously ignored narratives, like the contributions of African-American women.
Her “Still Alive” was an unforgiving view of anti-Semitism in Vienna and a feminist window on the war and the world beyond.
Two new books, David H. Rundell’s “Vision or Mirage” and Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck’s “Blood and Oil,” offer insights into an enigmatic country.
Alan Mikhail talks about “God’s Shadow,” and Benjamin Lorr discusses “The Secret Life of Groceries.”
Early in her career, Zora Neale Hurston made a connection with the best-selling novelist Fannie Hurst — an alliance that would shape her own writing life.
Philip Gefter’s biography, “What Becomes a Legend Most,” follows the career of one of the 20th century’s most successful photographers.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
“I bought it because everyone else did, I guess.”
Amy S.F. Lutz asks difficult questions in “We Walk.”
In a world ripped from one of her novels, the young adult author draws strength from activist fans.
In her adult debut, Emily M. Danforth revisits Mary MacLane’s controversial 1902 confessional diary, with a contemporary Hollywood twist.
Independent booksellers are desperate for customers to return, and not just for an online reading.
The days and nights and years could be long — if you’re lucky. Here are some tips to make them meaningful, too.
A haunting poem that grows intimate through one reaching-out voice.
In “Blockchain Chicken Farm,” Xiaowei Wang documents how technology is transforming the lives of China’s rural poor.
In “Counting,” Deborah Stone argues that we shouldn’t put too much stock in numbers as a way to understand our lives.
To research and write “Culture Warlords,” Talia Lavin created fake identities and interacted with far-right communities online.
Here’s a look at what our colleagues from the Book Review and the Books desk are reading.
In his memoir, “Greenlights,” the star of “Dazed and Confused” and “Dallas Buyers Club” shares lessons from a life in which he turned out all right, all right, all right.
Recent releases include “The Midnight Bargain,” “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” and “Piranesi.”
The lawsuit was the third in recent months where the government has taken on a perceived foes of the White House.
A selection of recent audiobooks of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
The fall After criticism over gender parity, Pearl Cleage, Larissa FastHorse, Adrienne Kennedy and Sarah Ruhl will be featured in the spring.
In “A Lover’s Discourse,” by Xiaolu Guo, and “Just Like You,” by Nick Hornby, characters couple up as Britain makes a break.
Ms. Roberts started her blog, TransGriot, in 2006, at a time when coverage of transgender issues by the mainstream media was limited.
In “The Wind Traveler,” by Alonso Cueto, a man haunted by a terrible act he committed as a soldier faces the fallout years later.
An excerpt from “Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write,” by Claire Messud
An excerpt from “The Upswing,” by Robert D. Putnam with Shaylyn Romney Garrett
An excerpt from “The Adventures of China Iron,” by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
An excerpt from “150 Glimpses of the Beatles,” by Craig Brown
After 27 years and more than 2,500 reviews, The Times’s co-chief theater critic reviews his own tenure and talks about why he’s (quietly) making an exit.
In “Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write,” the longtime novelist explores her development as a writer.
David Leavitt’s novel “Shelter in Place” dissects the complaints of pampered New Yorkers wringing their hands at a country they no longer recognize.
In “Brave New Home,” Diana Lind identifies the single-family home as the source of many social and economic problems.
The new book by Adrian Daub, a Stanford professor of comparative literature, brings a skeptical eye to Silicon Valley mythology.
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s novel “The Adventures of China Iron” spotlights a female character relegated to a bare mention in an Argentine classic.
Martin J. Sherwin’s “Gambling With Armageddon” reveals how the United States and the Soviet Union nearly fought a nuclear war in 1962.
Martin Puchner’s “The Language of Thieves” recounts the history of Rotwelsch — a secret code used by vagabonds across Europe for centuries — and the efforts to stamp it out.
Craig Brown follows up the best-selling “Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret” with a book about John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Robert Putnam’s “The Upswing” looks at how America has shifted from common purpose to individualism, to the greater detriment.
In her new book about child mortality, Perri Klass explores the science.
Two new books, Richard Toye’s “Winston Churchill: A Life in the News” and “The Churchill Myths,” by Steven Fielding, Bill Schwarz and Toye, examine Churchill’s career and legacy.
In “A Time for Mercy,” the small-town Mississippi lawyer defends a teenager who killed his mother’s abusive boyfriend.
In “The Silence,” two wealthy couples watch the Super Bowl together as power grids mysteriously go down all over the world.
New releases take you inside a Tang Dynasty palace, behind the scenes at a reality-TV set and into the fields of a 1970s British farm.
“Trying to understand can be somewhat self-enlightening, maybe in a self-deceptive way, but that’s helpful.”
“Hiroshima,” one of the first accounts of the devastation in Japan, was read nearly everywhere in the world except Russia. Nearly 75 years later, that is changing.
“The Talk” and “This Is Your Brain on Stereotypes” offer two very different approaches to helping children understand and confront bias.
Two new books about the press urge young people to leave their social media feeds and read reliable news and information from many different sources.
These shows are perfect for Halloween creeps and scares. Listen, if you dare.
Whether undead, unloved or unjustly incarcerated, these star-crossed young-adult protagonists face their demons.
Imagining what authors, from Kerouac to Baldwin, might do if they couldn’t leave their homes.
“The Man Who Ate Too Much,” by John Birdsall, a food critic and former cook, offers a thoroughly researched, sensitive portrait of the man known as the “dean of American cookery.”
In her crime fiction column, Marilyn Stasio weighs in on four new books, including the 16th Inspector Armand Gamache mystery.
David Nasaw talks about “The Last Million,” and Carlos Lozada discusses “What Were We Thinking.”
Three new books explore the past, present and future of romantic partnership.
If you’re interested in talking to your kids about the explorer and his complicated legacy, these books offer a way into the conversation.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Three new books take very different angles in exploring a topic that is never far from today’s headlines.
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
“Win at All Costs” is the latest effort, following books like “Swoosh,” “Bowerman and the Men of Oregon” and “No Logo,” to better understand the company.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
“It seemed to be extremely unlikely that I would ever have this particular event to deal with in my life.”