Books by former Dallas police chief David O. Brown and the law professor Paul Butler, and a collection edited by Angela J. Davis, call for transformation of the system.
Max Brooks’s new novel has an unusual feature: It can also be played within a video game.
Jill Dawson’s novel “The Crime Writer” uses the life of Patricia Highsmith to explore the territory between reality and fantasy.
The artist at the center of Percival Everett’s new novel provides three narrative threads, including one of his affair in Paris.
Svetlana Alexievich’s “The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II” unearths a mostly buried aspect of Russian history.
Eric Asimov, The Times wine critic, explores the intersection of French mystery novels and wine in the spirit of local tradition.
In “The Retreat of Western Liberalism,” Edward Luce argues that the tradition of liberty is under mortal threat.
An admirer of Emily Dickinson and Anne Carson asks for poetry recommendations. Susan Howe, Charles Wright, Monica Youn, Maggie Nelson and more ensue.
Martin Walker shares the wines and food of the Périgord region, which inspired the fictional world of Bruno Courrèges, his small-town French police chief.
Pushing 70, the three women at the center of Lynn Freed’s novel “The Last Laugh” discover that passion and conflict remain powerful forces.
Ayobami Adebayo’s “Stay With Me,” like great works by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, explores the pull between tradition and modernity in Nigeria.
The crime writer Martin Walker shares the Périgord that inspired his popular French detective series.
The series, Frick Diptychs, is to feature the novelist Hilary Mantel, the filmmaker James Ivory and the artist and author Edmund de Waal.
Communism’s promise of a workers’ paradise chimed with the utopian imagination of science fiction. To strange effect.
To mark a major birthday (and avoid an ex-lover’s wedding), the hero of Andrew Sean Greer’s novel “Less” embarks on a long journey.
In the memoir “Lights On, Rats Out,” Cree LeFavour recalls the damaged young woman she once was.
Everywhere Denis Johnson went, he portrayed himself as an openhearted American bumbler not unlike his hapless characters.
In his new book, James Suzman writes about the Bushmen hunter-gatherers and what they have taught him about how the modern world lives.
Life is grand these days for Rodriguez, a star catcher who in his memoir disputes a steroids accusation against him.
Tips to make the most of your weekend.
Jailed at 5, blacklisted in Hollywood, the author of “Going Away” fell in with R.D. Laing and Doris Lessing.
Joshua Green talks about “Devil’s Bargain”; Laura Dassow Walls discusses her new biography of Thoreau; and Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich on “The Fact of a Body.”...
In addition to a plethora of land, Canada has many libraries with extensive literary collections. As summer nears its midway point, some librarians offer their suggestions for good books by Canadian authors.
Gary Panter — known for his punk graphics, the sets of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and Jimbo — returns to graphic novels with a phantasmagoric take on “Paradise Regained.”...
“Down a Dark Road” is the ninth book in Linda Castillo’s series. “I love the juxtaposition of such a bucolic setting and the introduction of evil,” she says.
From contemporary Los Angeles to medieval Venice, bad guys romp in new mysteries from Richard Lange, Ace Atkins, S.D. Sykes and Michael Connelly.
Three explorations of American foodways delve into the cookbooks and culinary preoccupations of the past, with a special emphasis on Southern cuisine.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
In “The Fact of a Body,” Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich recounts how her memories resurfaced when her law firm took on the case of a pedophile.
“Quiet Until the Thaw” follows two reservation boys whose lives become fatefully intertwined.
Three books trace the highs and the (very) lows of love and marriage, says our memoir columnist, Meghan Daum.
A reader responds to a misstated metaphor, an author defends his work and more.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
To build a lasting fan base in the relentless world of espionage thrillers, Brad Thor has cranked out 17 books in 16 years, selling nearly 15 million copies.
A film about a prize for excellence in journalism and the arts shares some winners’ insights, but not enough.
From Hillary Clinton to a White House stenographer, readers will hear almost everyone’s point of view in coming books.
A new digital book about Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl sends readers across the city to solve its riddles.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book series, by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, will wrap things up with “The Tempest” in June.
When Chris Kraus set out to write a biography on Kathy Acker, she had no idea the surprising artistic connection she would discover they shared.
The humorist, memoirist and journalist likes the way H.L. Mencken expressed himself, for instance in his definition of Puritanism: “The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”...
The books will appear on Oct. 20 as part of a 20th anniversary celebration and exhibition at the British Library. But they aren’t new novels or even plays.
When a mundane setting turns lethal, a mother and her 4-year-old son find themselves becoming prey in Gin Phillips’s new thriller.
In Elaine M. Hayes’s “Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan,” a classic jazz singer turns husbands into managers and listeners into fans.
The orphan narrator of Alain Mabanckou’s “Black Moses” is among the novelist’s most heartbreaking and darkly humorous creations.
Two new books argue that inequality destroys openness to new ideas and opportunities as well as the conviction that all citizens are morally equal.
A writer and artist whose richly detailed work recreated the battles, camaraderie and down times of war in the Pacific.
The 92nd Street Y’s 2017-18 season includes appearances by novelists, musicians, chefs and two American presidents (sort of).
“Shark Drunk” is about two friends in search of a Greenland shark, which can grow up to 24 feet long and weigh up to 2,500 pounds.
These first months have been trying for Washington’s storytelling swamp creatures, with novelists and historians straining to follow the narrative arc.
Treating the writer like a celebrity friend trivializes her work. Her novels should make uncomfortable reading.
Looking after her ailing husband, and the perils of climate change, are inspirations for her new play, “Singing Beach.”...
A woman ends an all-male streak, and somehow that is a loss for men.
Alia Malek’s “The Home That Was Our Country” and Wendy Pearlman’s “We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled” channel voices from Syria’s war zone.
In a disturbing new memoir, an unidentified writer tells the story of being raped by her father, starting when she was 3.
Pick reading that will engage but not deplete you, something that requires a bit of mental energy, not another item on your to-do list.
Whatever the prose in “Slight Exaggeration” settles on — art, family, war, ideology — Adam Zagajewski is always writing about displacement.
In “The Islamic Enlightenment,” Christopher de Ballaigue reveals the Middle Eastern political and intellectual figures who grappled with modernity after Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798.
Gabe Habash’s debut, “Stephen Florida,” tracks the title character’s drive to succeed as a college wrestler.
Calexit, Resist! and other new series react to the current political climate, as artists continue to reckon with the Trump presidency.
Mr. Diaz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has written a work for children, inspired by his heritage, about a young Dominican girl in Manhattan.
Joshua Green’s “Devil’s Bargain” tells the story of the alt-right impresario who invigorated Trump’s campaign and influences his presidency.
The Spanish Civil War casts its shadow over an elderly 21st-century American and her granddaughter in Mary Gordon’s novel “There Your Heart Lies.”...
Sujatha Gidla, who was born an untouchable in India but moved to the United States at 26, recounts how ancient prejudices persist today.
“The Changeling,” by Victor LaValle, is a dark fairy tale of a father’s frantic quest through New York City.
A century ago, Jeremy McCarter’s “young radicals” embraced reform from labor struggles to women’s suffrage to the antiwar effort.
In “The Great Nadar,” Adam Begley recounts the life story of a French photographer who had an antic personality and a gift for self-promotion.
"Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose” will reflect on the challenges of governing while mourning.
In his new book, Mario Livio delves into the fields of psychology and neuroscience, and speaks with people who have extreme curiosity.
Our Upshot editor is excited to do a data-driven piece for our special issue timed to the 200th anniversary of the author’s death. But where to start?...
She was proud of her books. So why do we keep insisting otherwise?...
At its simplest, the memoir “Hunger” is about being overweight in a fat-phobic world. But it’s much more besides.
The Times’s book critics and editors at The New York Times Book Review recommend some great audiobooks for summertime.
If I don’t report my workout, did it happen?...
Sonny Liew’s “The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye,” with art that pays tribute to Astro Boy, Pogo and Spider-Man, retells the nation’s creation story.
Julie Klam’s new book is a mostly lighthearted and far-ranging look at our obsession with celebrities.
Deborah Yaffe talks about “Among the Janeites,” and Robert Ferguson discusses “Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North.”...
The veteran romance writer Julie Garwood turns to computer crime in her latest novel, “Wired,” new on the hardcover fiction list at No. 7.
You may not want to read a weighty tome on finance right now. But how about a novel, with financial lessons embedded in it? Here are three choices.
Five new books for babies and newly independent readers illustrate the philosophical and the existential.
The notes by the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, written before he died under police guard in China, are to accompany photographs by his wife, Liu Xia, who has been under house arrest.
Readers respond to Don Winslow’s By the Book, Miranda Seymour’s review of Mary Thorp’s diary and more.
A.F. Harrold’s “The Song From Somewhere Else” and James Nicol’s “The Apprentice Witch” play with world-building for middle-grade readers.
Three new novels dealing with history and heroines.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
In five companion novels that she called her “Austen entertainments,” Aiken gave second chapters to some of Austen’s most intriguing characters.
A study in how repetition can be a kind of statement in itself.
N.K. Jemisin reviews new sci-fi and fantasy adventures by K.J Parker, Nicky Drayden, Brenda Cooper, and Steven R. Boyett and Ken Mitchroney.
A writer and artist valued their creative independence too much to stay together. But they couldn’t stay away.
Ms. Ratushinskaya composed some 250 poems in prison, many drafted with burned matchsticks on bars of soap.
In this early short-story collection by Jayne Anne Phillips, various women in their 20s have fled West Virginia, only to return because of bad luck or obligations.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
For all the influence of the Objectivist principles set forth in “The Fountainhead” and other works, some prominent followers have run into trouble.
“The Gargoyle Hunters” by John Freeman Gill is one of several new books featuring New York City as a backdrop.
Matthew Klam’s debut novel, “Who Is Rich?,” tells the tale of a conflicted adulterer.
What was death to the writer who never killed off a major character? In Austen’s six novels, mortality is a more subtle matter.
Two books help explain the opiate abuse crisis and how we may resolve it, while a novel shows the havoc addiction can wreak.
The author of “The Chalk Artist” admires Mary Garth in “Middlemarch”: “She is not only brave and witty, but totally sane. That’s hard to write. Madness is easy. A character with good sense is a tour de force.”...
In these frisky new picture books, complex play with language sparks curiosity.
In a sport known for its post-truth propagation of transfer rumors, a journalist created a fake phenom to see how much traction his story could get. A lot, it turned out.
Monica Hesse’s new book, about a string of fires in Virginia, has all the elements of a lively crime procedural.
As Janeites around the world pay tribute to Jane Austen on the 200th anniversary of her death, test your knowledge of Austen’s life (and afterlife) with this quiz.
As Janeites around the world prepare to pay tribute to Jane Austen on the 200th anniversary of her death on July 18, test your knowledge of Austen’s life (and afterlife) with this quiz.
In “Jane Austen at Home,” the BBC presenter Lucy Worsley traces the writer’s life through the places and possessions that mattered most to her.
Two publishing industry veterans, Jamie Raab and Deb Futter, will start a new division at Macmillan.
I hadn’t come to the Cyclades for the famous islands, and Sifnos was definitely not one. I was there for me.
Robert Ferguson’s “Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North” offers an engaging, layered look into a complex culture.
The heroes of these Y.A. novels bust out and learn to love, in settings from New Jersey to Taiwan to Mars.
Asked once why he was so eternally curious, Thoreau said, “What else is there in life?” In “Henry David Thoreau: A Life,” Laura Dassow Walls explores his vision.
On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Henry David Thoreau, visit Walden Pond, where he once lived, in 360 video. Listen to excerpts from his book “Walden.”...
The journalist and author Madeleine Blais writes of having to sell a family home on Martha’s Vineyard and swallowing hard.
The sale of nearly half of Pearson’s stake in Penguin Random House for about $1 billion does not compensate for the woes in its core education business.
From the role-playing of modern Janeites to the theatrical performances that inspired Austen’s own work, three books explore her roots and her legacy.
In Roger Steffens’s rich new oral biography, “So Much Things to Say,” the life of Jamaica’s most famous son is revealed through a chorus of crucial voices.
Mr. Johnson, the author of “Jesus’ Son” and “Tree of Smoke,” will be awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.
Professor Silverman, a specialist in Colonial American literature, also wrote biographies of Edgar Allan Poe, Harry Houdini, Samuel B. Morse and John Cage.
“The Late Show” is a breathlessly-paced novel that introduces Renée Ballard, a tireless detective who has been banished to the night shift.
The philosopher’s profound experience had as much to do with the human landscape as it did with the natural one.
In school, the poet Matthew Zapruder writes, we are taught that poetry is inherently “difficult.” Focusing on one interesting word can change that.
Helena Kelly’s “Jane Austen: The Secret Radical” argues that Austen opposed 19th-century England’s assumptions about the social and political order.
Rebecca Stott discusses her new work of memoir and history, about life in a closed Christian world in England.
The “Girls” star is offering everything from Golden Globes gowns to T-shirts for sale online, with proceeds going to Planned Parenthood.
Mr. Johnson wrote pithy best-sellers, including one about the benefits of embracing change and another defining effective management.
Angie Thomas, whose debut novel, “The Hate U Give,” is No. 1 on the young adult list, has advice for authors writing about marginalized figures.
Siddhartha Deb and Benjamin Moser discuss the intersection of writing, academia and funding.
“The fight against addiction is one of America’s great liberation movements,” Christopher M. Finan writes in his introduction to “Drunks: An American History.”...
Isobel Charman talks about “The Zoo,” and R. L. Stine discusses scary stories for children.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Steve Jobs said the bound book was probably headed for history’s attic. Not so fast.
Four books grapple with the politics and culture of gentrification.
Michael Wallis’s “The Best Land Under Heaven” tells the story of the mythic Donner Party.
In “Standard Deviation” by Katherine Heiny, a stuffy banker reconsiders his bubbly second wife.
Readers respond to the history of the iPhone, David Oshinsky’s review of “The Color of Law” and more.
“The Doorposts of Your House and on Your Gates” by Jacob Bacharach is a tragicomic Isaac-Abraham reboot.
Marilyn Stasio’s mystery column investigates honor killings and prostitution in Britain, then takes readers on crime sprees in Paris and New York.
To honor Thoreau on his 200th birthday, pay homage to all the outdoor temples his “in wildness” declaration helped protect.
Recasting the daytime moon as empowered and impish, rather than confused and out of place.
Mark Mazzetti, Washington investigations editor for The Times, interviews Raymond Davis about his book, “The Contractor,” a recounting of the diplomatic crisis that ensued after Mr. Davis was imprisoned in Pakistan while working as a C.I.A. co...
What begins as a taste for this author’s twisty plots, briny wit and bracingly bleak view of marriage can become an addiction.
There’s a way to measure the acute emotional intelligence that has never gone out of style.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
The novelist began as a painter, wrote as an art critic and produced fiction animated by art-world personalities. His life is explored at the Morgan Library & Museum.
What does a country owe to outsiders? One book attempts to answer this question — and others further explore the complexity of the immigration debate.
In “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst,” Robert M. Sapolsky serves up his neurobiology with a big dose of hipster humor.
The biographer and consulting producer of Amazon’s “The Last Tycoon” might have been a doctor — “if only that didn’t require courses in biology, physics and organic chemistry. Oh…and med school.”...
In Sarah Healy’s cunning thriller, a charming, deceitful 18-year-old woman takes her 4-year-old sister under her wing after the death of their mother.
Outraged at conformity and drawn to theatricality, Mr. Williams aimed to effect change with language.
Mr. Johnson-Davies translated more than 30 Arabic novels, short-story collections and anthologies. He was best known for his work with Naguib Mahfouz.
For the wealthy foreigners on a Greek island in Lawrence Osborne’s “Beautiful Animals,” a deeply compromised act of charity has dreadful consequences.
Jesse Eisinger’s “The Chickenshit Club” outlines the cultural and political shifts that explain why virtually no one was prosecuted for the 2008 financial crisis.
Mr. Cohen tracked down many of the women Carroll had corresponded with when they were young.