A journalist of the old school, he covered presidential races and political affairs for several newspapers and in many books, as well as in a long-running column, “Politics Today.”
Try this short quiz on popular novels that take you places, even if you’re staying home this summer.
Turning to books for workout inspiration is probably a terrible idea.
Our columnist on three notable new novels.
Mark Doten’s new book examines a contemporary American culture that routinely defies satire.
The food writer Olia Hercules proves to be a great cook and a powerful family historian in “Strong Roots.”
“Dominion,” by Addie E. Citchens, recounts the many sins of a prominent household in a Mississippi town.
In a new memoir, the British poet Raymond Antrobus describes the ways deafness has profoundly shaped his world.
Elliot Ackerman, a Marine veteran and prolific author, switched gears with “Sheepdogs,” a caper story featuring down-on-their-luck ex-military buddies.
Isabelle Boemeke, una modelo brasileña que ha posado para marcas como Cult Gaia, comenzó a publicar en las redes sociales como Isodope, un personaje que creó para su labor de defensa de la energía nuclear.
“Black Moses,” by Caleb Gayle, recounts the story of Edward McCabe, who dreamed of establishing a haven for Black settlers on the Western frontier.
A memoir by the late Uri Shulevitz that reads like an adventure novel and a novel by Daniel Nayeri that feels utterly real.
Calling himself America’s best trial lawyer, he won justice for Karen Silkwood and successfully defended Imelda Marcos. He also wrote best sellers.
Reading recommendations from critics and editors at The New York Times.
Pediatricians call for keeping migrant families intact. Also: Nuclear pessimism; a view from Canada; “cleaning up” D.C.; food stamps; books, read and unread.
In “Rope,” Tim Queeney makes a case for the humble material as the tie that binds human history.
Being in nature is great for your brain. Experts are trying to figure out why.
Along with his side gig, Jens Lekman has put out five albums. Now he’s collaborated with David Levithan on the novel “Songs for Other People’s Weddings.”
He was 40 years old, “so I decided to rewrite it and make it for adults.” He’s now the title character of “The Magician of Tiger Castle.”
The author of the Red Rising series recommends books cloaked in myth that use fantastic adventures to explore what it means to be human.
His summer conferences gave budding playwrights a chance to try out new works, many of which went on to success in New York.
A visit to the turbulent coastline of County Donegal reveals a place where the Welsh poet found creative enrichment in the summer of 1935.
One man’s quest to cure his loneliness and get his friends back.
Josephine Rowe’s slim, atmospheric novel “Little World” connects disparate characters through the traveling corpse of a young girl.
Our columnist on four notable new crime novels.
A new book collects paintings and photos of some of the most familiar names in English literary history.
Cleyvis Natera’s novel “The Grand Paloma Resort” combines fast-paced suspense, class distinctions and colonial history in a breathless seven-day trip to the Dominican Republic.
What bots are really doing in the classroom.
Isabelle Boemeke is a Brazilian model with a cause that’s raising eyebrows.
“The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter,” by Peter Orner, revives an unsolved mystery involving Chicagoland royalty.
Jonathan Mahler’s new book portrays the city’s rebirth as a glitzy capital of global finance — and a petri dish of ego, ambition and class division.
A new book by the veteran correspondent Jon Lee Anderson captures a long war’s noble goals and crippling missteps.
Try this short quiz on the memoirs and other nonfiction titles that have inspired popular streaming and network shows.
“Ruth,” by Kate Riley, is an absorbing novel about a woman torn between curiosity and purity.
In these books, soldiers and experts weigh in on the disorder they’ve found in some of the most consequential war rooms in the world.
If you’re reeling after the final episode of Season 3 or looking for more sumptuous drama, these books will get you through to the next season.
In Oak Bluffs, film premieres, book fairs and star-studded soirees attracted fans who came for the art and stayed for the community.
Readers respond to a guest essay about illiteracy. Also: The autocrat’s playbook.
In her second essay collection, “Sloppy,” the writer and social media personality Rax King embraces the mess of living imperfectly.
In “Friends Until the End,” James Grant explores the political passions and inspiring oratory of the British parliamentarians Edmund Burke and Charles Fox.
In C. Mallon’s novel, a teenager’s night out with friends dissolves into a collision of catastrophes.
The federally appointed government in the contested region has declared 25 books off limits, part of what many see as a pattern of repression.
Buscar agradar a los demás en exceso puede atraparte en un ciclo de inseguridad. He aquí cómo romper el hábito.
In Emily Adrian’s “Seduction Theory,” two married creative writing professors have parallel affairs, with very different outcomes.
Annie Jacobsen discusses her 2024 book “Nuclear War: A Scenario.”
“Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time” chronicles the champagne decadence and wicked wit of the New York society doyenne Mamie Fish.
Uninterested in beachy blue and white, the designers behind Roman and Williams filled a traditional Hamptons house with rich wood and saturated color.
Tochi Eze’s novel, “This Kind of Trouble,” circles between 2000s Atlanta and 1900s Nigeria in a sweeping story of colonialism and its aftershocks.
The novel “We Live Here Now” tracks the uncanny experiences of people connected to a mysterious installation artist.
A new book by the journalist Shoshana Walter brings needed scrutiny to bear on America’s drug treatment system.
Edward Lear, author of “The Owl and the Pussy-cat” and “A Book of Nonsense,” felt such a kinship with parrots that he wished he could become one.
A founding editor of Rolling Stone and a seasoned music journalist, he spent time with the Beatles and toured with the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones.
Reading recommendations from critics and editors at The New York Times.
A novelist and memoirist, she famously clashed with her brother, leading to the fall of a Kentucky publishing dynasty that her paternal grandfather established in 1918.
“It’s very liberating to take off that psychological corset,” the actress said of portraying the rambunctious Hollywood star Ava Gardner onstage.
Whichever books you choose, and however you choose them, may your summer reading be satisfying, and your curating ruthless.
The authors of two savvy new books offer hope that there’s more to being terminally online than sore thumbs and brain rot.
“The Feeling of Iron,” by Giaime Alonge, follows two Holocaust survivors on a quest for revenge.
With “Tonight in Jungleland,” Peter Ames Carlin looks deep inside the album that made Springsteen a rock star.
This “huge” fan of the writer (and of Nicolas Cage) says he “pretty much hated” “The Passenger” and “Stella Maris.” His own new novel is “People Like Us.”
Excessive people pleasing can trap you in a cycle of insecurity. Here’s how to break the habit.
The former labor secretary Robert B. Reich sees “the central struggle of civilization as fighting bullies,” he says in a new memoir.
In the scrumptious “Tart,” the anonymous London haute-cuisine veteran Slutty Cheff tells all. Deliciously.
Shobha Rao’s new novel, “Indian Country,” is a crime story as well as a multilayered saga of white empire in India and America.
How sexy rope play helped one overthinker be in the moment.
In 2018, the cast of a web series joked about an imaginary (and very saucy) book. Now, it’s a real best seller. Just embrace the tusks.
An Yu portrays a community trying to maintain daily routines amid dire, irreversible circumstances.
Esther Freud returns to the autofictional world of her breakout novel, “Hideous Kinky,” published more than 30 years ago.
Over five decades, he produced some 150 books, many of them illustrated by his wife, Janet Ahlberg, including classics like “Each Peach Pear Plum.”
Readers respond to a column by Maureen Dowd about men and books. Also: President Trump’s tariff games; relationships outside romance.
In “People Like Us,” Jason Mott tells a darkly comic tale of two Black writers haunted by gun violence.
A new, career-spanning essay collection shows how she has never lost touch with the mischievous creativity of her 7-year-old self.
Jon Raymond’s new book considers lofty questions as an affair and a climate disaster unfold.
Elliot Ackerman keeps a light tone in his new novel, “Sheepdogs,” though a more somber back story sometimes peeks through.
In Xenobe Purvis’s novel, “The Hounding,” the atmosphere of paranoia and bloodthirsty groupthink in 18th-century England might feel uncomfortably familiar.
Bidding for the Tolkien classic, which was discovered in a home in Bristol, England, has already exceeded $25,000.
Lines from popular storybooks can stay with you long after you’ve read them. See how many you recognize in this short quiz.
Northern Sky Theater in Door County programs original musicals steeped in local history, archetypes and customs.
“The Afghans,” by the Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad, tells the country’s turbulent recent history through the lives of three people.
These back-to-school reads will help children tackle first-day nerves, new teachers, letters, numbers and more.
Her hits included “The Exorcist” and “The Thorn Birds,” as well as autobiographies of Betty Ford and Warren Buffett.
She became suspicious when she discovered large deposits in the bank account of Aldrich Ames, whose betrayal cost the lives of at least eight double agents.
In “Summer of Our Discontent,” the journalist Thomas Chatterton Williams argues that Floyd’s murder in 2020 upended American racial politics — with lasting, often adverse effects.
Emily Hunt Kivel’s novel, “Dwelling,” is a magical realist take on America’s housing crisis.
Alexis Soloski’s new thriller follows the evolution, and erosion, of a young performer ensnared in a cultlike theater troupe.
En las tiendas de libros de todo Estados Unidos, algunos de los vendedores más populares tienen cuatro patas, orejas inquietas y bigotes.
Alex Marshall, a European culture reporter for The New York Times, has turned a music obsession into an arts journalism career.
Nobody likes a dumb guy.
In water, you have achieved the impossible. You’re young and old simultaneously.
Readers respond to a guest essay by Jennifer Frey about the University of Tulsa’s Honors College.
A historian sees the dangerous parallels between artificial intelligence and the Enlightenment.
Through the perspective of an unflappable social-media content moderator, Elaine Castillo’s new novel exposes the often invisible dirty work of the digital era.
In Lauren Grodstein’s latest novel, “A Dog in Georgia,” a New Yorker takes her identity crisis — along with her love for animals — abroad.
Jon Lee and Scott Anderson avoid being in the same conflict zone. But with new books publishing this month, they made a rare joint appearance in New Jersey.
It was within the orange tree in our front yard that the first spider appeared, sparking my poet’s imagination.
Our critics Dwight Garner, Alexandra Jacobs and Jennifer Szalai discuss some of their favorite books that take place on the road (and that aren’t “On the Road”).
Ebs Burnough’s movie covers the novel as well as its influence on generations of readers, including many artists.
In a new book, the journalist Scott Anderson argues that America’s failure to predict and understand the 1979 revolution has hamstrung foreign policy ever since.
His fairy tales are part of our cultural fabric, but “The Little Match Girl” still haunts me.
Reading recommendations from critics and editors at The New York Times.
Dwight Garner, Alexandra Jacobs and Jennifer Szalai, book critics at The New York Times, recommend three road trip books.
The former vice president has written a book about her run for the White House. It will come out next month.
Nine artists on how American censorship changed their work and their lives.
Our columnist on 4 noteworthy new novels.
The fantasy author Ayana Gray recommends gripping novels where the monsters are heroes, villains and everything in between.
The musician and actor has written a new foreword to “The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones,” the cult western novel made into a movie by Sam Peckinpah.
Come along for the ride as our three critics back-seat drive their way through America. (Rest stops provided.)
A playwright and screenwriter, she adapted a book about domestic abuse for NBC, bringing a taboo subject into the national conversation.
In “Stan and Gus,” Henry Wiencek explores the creative highs and private peccadilloes of the architect Stanford White and the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
The Pennsylvania senator will recount political battles and physical and mental health challenges in “Unfettered.”
Novels by R.F. Kuang and Louis Sachar, a spicy culinary memoir, a new Octavia E. Butler biography and more.
Our columnist reviews “The Library at Hellebore,” a new novel from the horror mainstay Cassandra Khaw, and two other notably gory releases.
Lighthearted in tone, and free of violence and gore, these gentle, witty books are the perfect antidote for tough times.
Son malas noticias para nuestras democracias.
As a longtime Washington Post reporter and an author of 10 books, he held corporate America accountable for safe pharmaceuticals and cars.
The 13 titles nominated for the prestigious British literary award also include books by David Szalay, Maria Reva and Claire Adam.
The music historian Peter Guralnick’s new book, which draws on documents Tom Parker left behind, paints a different picture of an infamous industry figure.
Ed Park brings his wit and wisdom to 16 genre-bending tales.
What can a fifth-century text by St. Augustine tell us about the priorities of the two most powerful American Catholics?
Devotion is the overwhelming concern of this book about two friends making their way in the art scene in 1990s New York City.
A verbal gymnast on and off the page (as well as a musician and photographer), he was a founder of the Dark Room Collective, a community of writers, and fostered a boom in Black poetry.
An English national treasure collects a career’s worth of poems in a new book.
Try this short quiz to test your knowledge of once-futuristic literary creations have become everyday reality now in 2025.
Like Snoopy and Miffy, these adorable creatures have been rediscovered by members of a younger generation.
That’s bad news for our democracies.
Dan Pelzer comenzó a anotar los libros que leía en 1962. Tras su muerte a los 92 años, su familia hizo pública su lista de libros leídos, con la esperanza de motivar a los lectores de todo el mundo.
Readers respond to a guest essay by Meghan O’Rourke about artificial intelligence. Also: Port and privacy; the G.O.P. vs. NPR.
Some of the same titles and authors the C.I.A. sent east during the Cold War, including “1984,” are now deemed objectionable across the United States.
“Misery of Love,” by the French virtuoso cartoonist Yvan Alagbé, is a subtle masterpiece of family psychodrama.
An unhappy housewife; an underground radical.
After Dan Pelzer died this month at 92, his children uploaded the handwritten reading list to what-dan-read.com, hoping to inspire readers everywhere.
Daniel Kraus’s “Angel Down” follows a World War I private who encounters a celestial being on the battlefield.
He identified as a “citizen diplomat” and preached mutual respect because, he explained, “everybody is a somebody.”
The poet’s debut novel features estranged sisters and a missing mother who seemingly reappears decades later.
How F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel took over pop culture.
In August, the Book Review Book Club will read and discuss “Wild Dark Shore,” Charlotte McConaghy’s novel about one isolated family, a mysterious stranger and the secrets they all hold.
The author of the Myth of Monsters series recommends works that tell, or retell, these strange and wonderful stories for virtually every age group.
How do you live a driven life, seeking to achieve great things, without becoming a jerk?
The former president has said he’s been ‘working like hell’ on the book, which will focus on his term in office.
Reading recommendations from critics and editors at The New York Times.
Pamela Anderson, Amber Heard and Tennessee Williams on ice are part of Jeremy O. Harris’s big tent at the famous summer festival.
People used to eat up salacious stories of rock ’n’ roll excess. Now they’re the last thing filmmakers want to touch.
An adaptation of her 19th-century-set novel “Washington Black” is streaming on Hulu. But she’s not totally comfortable with the historical fiction label.
Jane Kenyon’s “The Pond at Dusk” is a quiet, mischievous reckoning with nature and mortality. Our critic A.O. Scott plumbs its depths.
We asked therapists and researchers for the best books on learning to let go.
We are constituting ourselves by whom and what we hate. But do we have to?
At shops across the country, some of the most popular sales associates have four legs, twitchy ears and whiskers.
Stendhal’s “The Charterhouse of Parma” lays out thousands of rules and stratagems for elites trying to stay in the good graces of a powerful and capricious ruler.
The Norwegian author Linn Ullmann’s new novel pieces together fragments of a trip she took to Paris at the request of a much older photographer.
For kids who hide indoors with a pile of books until the autumnal chill arrives.