“Craft: An American History,” by Glenn Adamson, considers the often disparaged tradition of artisanal work from colonial days to today’s maker movement.
The youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history will read a work she finished after the riot at the Capitol. “I’m not going to in any way gloss over what we’ve seen,” she says.
“Craft in the Real World,” by Matthew Salesses, dismantles assumptions about the art of fiction and how it should be written.
“Last Orgy of the Divine Hermit,” “Marshlands” and “Saturation Project” are full of inventive twists and innovations.
“Trio” follows three characters who are connected to a disastrous film production and each has a personal crisis to deal with.
Emily Rapp Black ponders the unanswerable in her new memoir, “Sanctuary.”
William Feaver’s “The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame, 1968-2011” completes a two-volume biography of the pioneering realist painter.
The conservative publishing house said Senator Josh Hawley had been the victim of cancel culture.
A reader says publishers aren’t bound by free-speech protections. Also: Remote work; evictions in the pandemic; landlords in a bind.
When Joe Biden takes office, there will be several children's book authors and subjects in the White House.
A digital four-play retrospective, capped by a world premiere, illuminates this writer’s fascination with doubling, violence and Black identity.
Over nearly a decade, Jonathan Petropoulos met dozens of times with a man who helped the Nazis loot Jewish art collections, a complicated relationship he explores in “Göring’s Man in Paris.”
La ciudad portuaria colombiana, hogar de los sonidos y bailes característicos de la región, está tan llena de magia que ha inspirado libros de Gabriel García Márquez.
“The Comeback,” by E.L. Shen, and “Ana on the Edge,” by A.J. Sass, put identity on center ice.
Joe Klein talks about Comey’s “Saving Justice,” and Elisabeth Egan discusses Peter Ho Davies’s “A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself.”
How did a case meant to lower prices instead possibly lead to higher prices?
We’ve come a long, exhausted way from trying to make the best of it. Here are some new “Do It Yourself” books that more accurately reflect the moment.
Looking for a nerve-fraying whodunit? These three novels — including one from Jane Harper — will keep you up at night.
Four new books look at life after the virus and reach startlingly different conclusions.
In her memoir, Nadia Owusu contemplates what it means to find home.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
She created vivid new worlds to reveal truths about our own. Here’s where to start with her books.
She died above the bookstore, founded in 1840, where she had worked since the waning months of World War II. She locked it up for the last time in December.
The novelist Claire Messud speaks about Edith Wharton’s 1913 classic.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
After a well-documented childhood as the daughter of Margaret Mead, she earned her own renown with a book on women’s lives that became a touchstone to feminists.
An existential philosopher reflects on the mortality of motherhood.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel about America and aspiration is now in the public domain, so new editions, as well as a graphic novel and a zombie adaptation, have gotten the green light.
Two books provide financial advice for the immediate issues and for retirement. But for deep problems you are likely to need additional help.
Prolific and widely-produced, Lauren Gunderson didn’t have to look far to create “The Catastrophist,” a play about risk that’s both timely and personal.
“Being funny is not only hard but perhaps the most powerful thing of all.”
Some of us are struck by aspiration when we’re touring a staged property. For this best-selling author, the lightbulb moment was more productive.
Josh Hawley and Donald Trump Jr. are just the latest in a long line of people who have used the word as a cudgel for settling scores and scoring points.
Nadia Owusu’s beautiful and unsettling memoir is an attempt to understand what it means to be rooted and rootless.
The 1978 novel, which Amazon recently removed from its site, depicts a right-wing assault on the Capitol. Scholars say the parallels with last week’s insurrection are clear and chilling.
In “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain,” Saunders analyzes the “physics” of storytelling with the help of Chekhov, Tolstoy and other Russian masters.
As Americans react to the rampage on the Capitol last week, here are some books that offer context.
The novel, which follows four young people in Ireland, is part of a two-book deal for the best-selling author of “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends.”
Pauline Harmange se está adaptando al éxito y la reacción de su primer libro, uno de los pocos títulos de Francia que sugieren un enfoque más franco del sexismo y la violencia de género.
With his debut novel, “Hades, Argentina,” Daniel Loedel pays homage to lost family.
A selection of recent titles of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
In “Pee Wees,” Rich Cohen chronicles a year in youth hockey — and gets real about its impact on his own psyche.
In “Drug-Use for Grown-Ups,” Carl L. Hart, a drug addiction expert, argues that we misunderstand the way most people use illegal substances.
Stephen and Paul Kendrick’s “Nine Days” recounts a brief episode of the civil rights movement that had a surprisingly lasting impact.
“Life Among the Terranauts,” by Caitlin Horrocks, offers vivid, often fantastical portraits of life.
In “Unsolaced,” Greta Ehrlich tells a story of personal discovery against the backdrop of the climate crisis.
“That Old Country Music” is a showcase of the Irish writer’s style, a nervy mix of high poetry and low comedy.
In “Beginners,” the author Tom Vanderbilt tries to acquire a number of skills, from chess playing to surfing, in order to explore how the mind learns.
In “The Crooked Path to Abolition,” James Oakes shows how Abraham Lincoln relied on America’s founding texts to chart a path to abolition.
Justine Cowan discovered that her mother, an exacting Bay Area grande dame, had grown up in a bleak institution for “foundlings.”
In “Social Chemistry” Marissa King examines the ways our reality is shaped by the networks we form and how we form them.
“The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata,” by Gina Apostol, takes the form of a found memoir that has been picked apart by scholars.
In Sarah Moss’s new novel, shut-in vacationers in Scotland observe each other and the state of the world with suspicion.
The Minnesota Democrat and former presidential candidate said her book would call for reform in how the United States treats monopolies and competition.
In “Troubled,” Kenneth R. Rosen investigates the kind of tough-love programs he was placed in as a teenager and exposes their unusual methods.
Comey’s “Saving Justice” is a revealing memoir that describes his feelings about Trump and his worries about the nation.
He explored his country — and introduced it to American readers — in The New Yorker and in many books, notably in his 12-volume memoir.
Pauline Harmange is adjusting to the success and backlash of her debut book, one of a handful of titles from France that suggest a more frank approach to sexism and gender violence.
Le livre de Pauline Harmange est un des rares en France à assumer une approche plus frontale du sexisme et de la violence de genre. Son succès a été spectaculaire, le contrecoup violent.
Andrew Arnold’s “What’s the Matter, Marlo?” and Matthew Cordell’s “Bear Island” separate the person from the emotions, and model empathy.
S. Kirk Walsh took a writing class with the novelist E.L. Doctorow and discovered a whole new world of sound.
“Gone to the Woods” is a memoir so rife with childhood trauma he wrote it in the third person.
Yu discusses his National Book Award-winning novel, and David S. Brown talks about “The Last American Aristocrat,” his biography of Henry Adams.
Marilyn Stasio surveys the latest crime novels and finds them very much to her liking.
You can still borrow books for free even when public libraries are closed, though each personal collection has its own character.
The author of “The Power Broker” and a multivolume biography of L.B.J. is giving awed archivists — and New York — access to more than 50 years of research.
Andrea Pitzer’s new book resurrects the story of William Barents’s 16th-century expeditions to the Arctic.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
It was a story he had chosen not to tell — until 2015, when he sat for a four-hour interview, promised that this account would not be published while he was alive.
It was a story he had chosen not to tell — until 2015, when he sat for a four-hour interview, promised that this account would not be published while he was alive.
The publisher faced calls to drop the Missouri Republican’s upcoming book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” following criticism of his efforts to overturn the presidential election.
His exhaustive coverage of the Vietnam War also led to the book “A Bright Shining Lie,” which won a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
A poet, scholar, historian, critic and novelist, he was credited with the revival of Urdu literature, especially from the 18th and 19th centuries. He died of Covid-19.
“My late father considered the Bible the inerrant Word of God ghostwritten by a single privileged eyewitness from creation to revelation. I explained, no, it was actually a lost and found scrapbook riddled with time gaps, savage violence and contradictory accounts. And yet...”
A former New York State Poet, she won the National Book Award and was a Pulitzer finalist for poems in which small details could accrue great power.
The two-pound coin from the Royal Mint features imagery from Wells’s books. But fans observed that the writer’s Martian tripods have three legs instead of four.
Eley Williams’s first novel, “The Liar’s Dictionary,” is a hilarious and clever homage to the power of words, both real and imagined.
Gabriel Byrne, known for his contemplative performances in “The Usual Suspects” and “In Treatment,” contends with his unlikely path to acting in his memoir, “Walking With Ghosts.”
With “Ready Player Two,” the novelist goes back to the future he created in “Ready Player One.”
A poem that allows us to become preoccupied with our own quiet thoughts. And our grief.
A critic for The Times of India and a teacher of youthful energy, he explored a country rich in dance traditions, interviewing hundreds of gurus.
Ms. Michaels found material for her books and public access talk show in the region she loved. She died of Covid-19.
Bette Howland’s 1974 memoir, recently reissued, recounts her time in a psychiatric ward and the people she met there.
His fiction often featured strong Black women, and Black women were among his most enthusiastic readers.
Robert Jones Jr.’s debut novel tells the story of two enslaved boys in love.
Robert Jones Jr.’s debut novel tells the story of two enslaved boys in love.
An excerpt from “I Came as a Shadow: An Autobiography,” by John Thompson with Jesse Washington
A lawyer writes that the vice president has a “purely ministerial” role at the vote certification. Also: Presidential medals; Joe Biden and the Bork hearings; term limits; the gift of reading.
With his writing partner, Richard Levinson, Mr. Link helped shape the crime-drama genre on television for decades.
“Himalaya: A Human History,” by Ed Douglas, a journalist and climber, unfolds the story of the world’s highest mountain range and its equally outsize impact on mankind.
Peter Ho Davies’s novel, “A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself,” tells the story of one family’s beginnings to show what to expect when you’re raising a real human being.
Daniel Lieberman’s “Exercised” looks at evolutionary biology to explain what might be the most appropriate workout regimen for our bodies.
A selection of recent titles of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
A history of early medicine, a medieval astronomer’s adventures and an exploration of wood’s importance in human history all look back to eras long before the internet.
The Colombian port city, home to the trademark sounds and dances of the region, is so full of magic that it has inspired entire books by Gabriel García Márquez.
“The Hearing Trumpet,” first published in 1974, follows a 92-year-old protagonist far past reality’s dull edge.
The novelist Michael Farris Smith imagines the beginnings of an iconic character in American literature.
From the domestic sphere to the gallery scene, lies make the world go around in Danielle McLaughlin’s first novel, “The Art of Falling.”
Eley Williams’s first novel follows characters living in London more than a century apart who toil to compile the same ill-fated dictionary.
Ashley Audrain’s dark family drama, “The Push,” explores trauma across generations.
A contentious publishing experience left Laymon unsatisfied with his 2013 collection, “How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America.” Now he’s back with Take 2.
In “Kill Switch,” Adam Jentleson explains how the Senate has become a place where ambitious legislation goes to die.
In his autobiography, “I Came as a Shadow,” Thompson recalls his childhood in segregated Washington, D.C., and his decades as both an athletic and a cultural force.
The release of “Consent” put France’s literary establishment under a harsh spotlight. The publishing industry is grappling with a nation that it resembles less and less.
Depuis la publication du “Consentement”, le milieu littéraire est sur la sellette, aux prises avec un pays auquel il ressemble de moins en moins.
Katie the Catsitter wrangles 217 “genius-level smart,” slightly “evil” felines in Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue’s new graphic novel series.
Chris Grabenstein’s new series, “The Smartest Kid in the Universe,” follows the suddenly brilliant adventures of a kid and a candy jar.
In a memoir, she also recounted her upbringing as the daughter of Rose Chernin, a Communist organizer convicted of trying to overthrow the government.
This week, learn about the history of vaccines, explore Mammoth Hot Springs or learn to code.
He and his crew sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland in a 36-foot boat like the one a sixth-century monk is believed to have used to cross the Atlantic.
Zakaria discusses “Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World,” and Margaret MacMillan talks about “War: How Conflict Shaped Us.”
Matthew Specktor and Samantha Culp first met at a book-signing benefit in 2013. They reconnected nearly six years later on a dating website.
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
At a 1931 banquet at the Metropolitan Club, two literary giants clashed over plagiarism and bruised egos.
The “billionaire millennial” Lin Qi was working with Netflix and the “Game of Thrones” creators to bring a Chinese best seller to the screen. The police have a suspect, and fans have questions.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
The story of the biggest earthquake ever recorded in North America and the voice that gave Anchorage’s account in the aftermath.
“In the Land of the Cyclops,” the Norwegian author’s first essay collection to be published in English, circles the mysteries of artistic creation, including his own writing process.
“It confirmed in me how powerful those words printed on paper, and the images in between, could be.”
The prolific author describes her double life as “messy” and “imperfect.” Nevertheless, she publishes a lot of books.
From “American Dirt” to “Apropos of Nothing” to “A Promised Land,” here is what happened in the literary and publishing world’s unforgettable 2020.
Our critic considers why F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic inspires and withstands so much interpretation.
The latest fiction from Nic Stone, Elizabeth Wein, David Yoon and Arvin Ahmadi.
Children of all abilities glide from page to stage with the likes of American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet pros.
The writer’s debut novel, “The Prophets,” is the Black queer love story he longed to read.
His subjects included Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Cheever, though he acknowledged that writing a definitive biography was an unattainable goal.
Just like line breaks and spacing decisions, typographical marks can shape how a reader hears the language.
In his new book, Tom Vanderbilt says that our culture is so caught up in work and ambition that “we’re afraid of being just OK at things.”
A selection of recent titles of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
With people stuck at home and so many other activities shut down, a lot of reading — or at least a lot of book buying — happened this year.
Reid Mitenbuler’s “Wild Minds” details wild times, when cartoonists pictured sex and death as well as cute animals.
“In the Land of the Cyclops” collects earnest essays about artists and photographers, “Madame Bovary,” Ingmar Bergman, Michel Houellebecq and more.
The new Netflix series “Bridgerton” joins a tiny but growing handful of prestige shows adapted from mass-market romance books. What took so long?
She is the breakout star of the newsletter platform Substack, doing the opposite of most media as she calmly situates the news of the day in the long sweep of American history.
She wrote a celebrated college textbook, but, extending her reach beyond academia, she preferred exploring the unfolding art of the present.
Mr. Lopez spent five years in the Arctic, and his books, essays and short stories explored the kinship of nature and human culture.
We respond to questions about criticism, reading habits, favorite stories and more.
Long before I worked at The New York Times, my friends and I leaned on the Books section for holiday cheer. We still do.
Nabokov left a butterfly, Roxane Gay drew an elephant and Isabel Allende offered a caricature of herself — a few gems hidden in the guest book of the 92nd Street Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
The Butcher’s Boy may no longer be a professional hit man, but he hasn’t forgotten how to kill, as we learn in Thomas Perry’s new novel, “Eddie’s Boy.”
"Lately, I’ve been able to find a few minutes to read in bed each night after my family has gone to sleep and it’s been absolutely heavenly.”
Edmund Fawcett’s “Conservatism” is a sweeping history that reaches deep into the past but with startling relevance for the present.
A hard year produces great writing.
Doomscrolling, mask-hole, Zoom fatigue and more from the pandemic lexicon.
As a new administration looms, publishers have snapped up another crop of forthcoming Trump books by prominent journalists and pundits.