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Book Review
The voice of ‘marcel the shell’ becomes a mom.
The comedian Jenny Slate reads the audiobook version of “Lifeform,” her new memoir about parenting.
By Rhoda Feng
5 Books to Help You Understand the Immigration Debate
Journalists and scholars explore the issue at every level, from the legacy of Cold War coups to the vulnerable lives caught up in a tangled system.
By Miguel Salazar
Jeff VanderMeer Returns to the Uncanny World of Area X
The author’s Southern Reach trilogy, which began with “Annihilation” in 2014, now has a fourth installment, a prequel.
By Alec Nevala-Lee
John le Carré, With a Son’s Help, Comes Back In From the Cold War
Nick Harkaway’s novel “Karla’s Choice” revisits the British spy George Smiley a few years after the construction of the Berlin Wall.
By Michael Wood
Bethany Joy Lenz Wanted Community. She Ended Up in a Cult.
The “One Tree Hill” actor has written a memoir of the decade she spent beholden to the Big House Family — and her escape.
By Fran Hoepfner
6 Books to Help You Understand the Reproductive Rights Debate
Journalists and scholars explore the issue at every level, from the movement that took down Roe to the human stories of women who had abortions, and those who were denied.
By Mattie Kahn
A More Freewheeling Book Lives Inside Al Pacino’s Memoir
From Shakespeare to Strindberg to “Scarface”: The actor remembers all of it and talks about some of it in “Sonny Boy.”
By Caryn James
Forgery, Fraud and Absinthe’s Enduring Mystique
Evan Rail’s “The Absinthe Forger” takes the reader on a picaresque tour through the world of vintage alcohol collectors in pursuit of a fraudster.
By J. D. Biersdorfer
7 New Books We Recommend This Week
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
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Books of the Times
What Do Animals Know About Death?
“Playing Possum,” a new book by the philosopher Susana Monsó, explores the mysteries of grief and mourning in the animal world.
By Jennifer Szalai
The Gadfly Journalist Who Punched Far Above His Weight
With a weekly newsletter and plenty of charm, the left-wing writer Claud Cockburn became a crucial polemical voice of the 20th century.
By Dwight Garner
Hollywood Can Be Hell for a Writer. 2 New Books Fan the Flames.
Dorothy Parker worked on the script for “A Star Is Born,” but the tragic ending was all hers, while Bruce Eric Kaplan manages to find the mordant laughs in today’s industry foibles.
By Alexandra Jacobs
Why Us vs. Them Is Not Such a Bad Way to See the World
Two new books by psychologists explore the roots of group identity, arguing that it is natural and potentially useful — even in polarized times.
Randy Newman Is Great. He Deserved a Better Biography Than This.
A biography of the singer behind “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” and “Short People” considers a complicated man with a satirical edge.
A Devastating Dutch Love Story, in the Shadow of Anne Frank
In Yael van der Wouden’s debut novel, “The Safekeep,” the writer spins an erotic thriller out of the Netherlands’ failure to face up to the horrors of the Holocaust.
By Nina Siegal
In Michigan, a Queer Retreat With Dancing in the Woods
The editor Ryan Fitzgibbon invited collaborators to toast “A Great Gay Book,” a new collection of pieces from his influential, now-defunct magazine, Hello Mr.
By Juan A. Ramírez
Yehuda Bauer, 98, Scholar Who Saw Jewish Resistance in Holocaust, Dies
A leading historian of antisemitism, he countered the prevailing narrative of Jewish victimhood and later pushed back against efforts to diminish the Holocaust’s significance.
By Clay Risen
New York’s Old Guard Meets a Sexy Newcomer
The literary establishment welcomes Feeld, a very sex-positive dating app, at a party on the Upper East Side.
By Alex Vadukul
Can You Find These 14 Hidden Book Titles in This Puzzle?
Look closely to uncover the recent memoirs lurking in this passage of text.
By J. D. Biersdorfer
How the Writer André Aciman Learned to Live in Exile
When he was a teenager, Aciman’s family was turned out of Egypt and landed in Italy. In a beguiling new memoir, “Roman Year,” he revisits a lost era.
By Leah Greenblatt
5 Books to Help You Understand the Economy Before Voting
The brightest minds explore the issue at every level, from the levers that control inflation to the best way to achieve work-life balance.
By Jason Furman
An Exile Revisits the Squalor and Grandeur of 1960s Italy
Recounting the time his family spent in a former Italian brothel, André Aciman’s new memoir, “Roman Year,” picks up where 1994’s “Out of Egypt” left off.
By Aminatta Forna
In His Memoir, Aleksei Navalny Speaks From the Grave
The Russian opposition leader, who died in an Arctic penal colony earlier this year, tells the story of his struggle to wrest his country back from President Vladimir Putin.
By David Kortava
How Aleksei Navalny’s Prison Diaries Got Published
In his posthumous memoir, compiled with help from his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny faced the fact that Vladimir Putin might succeed in silencing him. The book will keep “his legacy alive,” Navalnaya said.
By Alexandra Alter
7 Queer Ghost Stories to Read This Fall
The Best Fiction and Mysteries of 2024, According to Barnes & Noble
Why Every Appalachian Writer Is an Environmentalist
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Must-Read New Horror, From Light Scares to Nightmare Fuel
I've got 10 must-read new horror novels, ranging from light scares to nightmare fuel, waiting for you on the list below.
What Next?: Recent Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
The world ended. What happens now? Find out in these recent post-apocalyptic fiction books, from dystopian sci-fi to comedy.
The Cutest Comic for ADHD Awareness Month
For this ADHD Awareness Month, I interviewed Tori Sharp about her book and the power of positive representation.
8 Historical Fiction Novels Set in Scotland
From fantasy to romance, these historical fiction novels set in Scotland show you the glory, brutality, and magic of the country's history.
Ghosts in queer books can be sympathetic, horrific, comic relief, or even the main character, as these queer ghost stories prove.
The Best New Book Releases Out October 22, 2024
Here are six of the best new books out this week, what they are about, and why you should add them to your TBR!
Feminist Magical Realism: 8 Recent Novels to Charm Your Bookshelves
In these feminist magical realism books, women grapple with sexism, racism, and capitalism — with the help of a little bit of magic.
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE: A Personal Journey into Mexican History
Ahead of the series premiere of the LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE adaptation, read about our Managing Editor's personal connection to the story.
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Gather 'round — we have some fall reading recommendations for you. Above, children listen to a story in Central Park on Oct. 23, 2017. Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Here are the new books we're looking forward to this fall
September 4, 2024 • Bad news: Summer's over. Good news: Fall books are here! We've got a list of 16 titles — fiction and nonfiction — you'll want to look out for.
Journalist Rebecca Nagle poses next to her new book, By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land Photo credit: Brittany Bendabout hide caption
Code Switch
Spitting on andrew jackson's grave with rebecca nagle.
October 23, 2024 • That's how Nagle begins her new book and how she frames the version of history she's telling. The book digs into the past and future of Native sovereignty through the lens of one of the most significant Supreme Court rulings for Native Americans in over 100 years.
The Navalny Family during rehab courtesy of Navalny Family Archive hide caption
Consider This from NPR
Even in death, alexei navalny hasn't given up the fight against corruption in russia.
October 22, 2024 • In his posthumous memoir, Patriot , Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny wrote - "If they do finally whack me, the book will be my memorial."
What if a 'Blood Test' predicted you'd commit murder?
October 22, 2024 • In Charles Baxter's new novel, a small-town insurance salesman buys a blood test that can predict romantic entanglements, promotions — and more. It's a screwball satire of all-American zaniness.
A housemaid is suspected of killing a child in 'Clean,' a novel about class and power
October 17, 2024 • Chilean author Alia Trabucco Zerán has written an intense novel about the kind of deep down rot that lingers, despite the most vigorous scrubbing.
Michel Houellebecq says Annihilation will be his last novel. Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A polarizing, provocative French novelist says he’s written his last book
October 16, 2024 • Michel Houellebecq is a controversial literary superstar. His new book, Annihilation, centers on a middle-aged Paris bureaucrat in a sexless marriage. It's slow to start, but still holds surprises.
Horror author Stephen King has been scaring audiences for generations. Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Pop Culture Happy Hour
The scary movies and books that still haunt us.
October 16, 2024 • A lot of us are about to have the experience of opening our front doors to find witches, goblins, ghosts, and Moo Deng standing on our porches. Why? Because it's almost Halloween. In this encore episode, we talk about what kinds of entertainment scared us when we were kids, and whether they still scare us now.
Bob Woodward at the 2021 Audi Innovation Series at The Ritz Carlton on November 10, 2021 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Audi Canada hide caption
Bob Woodward's newest book is making headlines
October 15, 2024 • Legendary journalist Bob Woodward's new book Wa r, like so many of his books about the American presidency over the last half century, is generating headlines.
Mosab Abu Toha and his wife and children are currently living in Syracuse, N.Y., where he is a fellow at the University of Syracuse. Penguin Random House hide caption
Middle East
'my losses started the day i was born': a poet on what it’s like to call gaza home.
October 15, 2024 • Mosab Abu Toha was able to escape Gaza, along with his wife and three young children. The award-winning poet talks about parenting in war and the devastation of leaving his family and friends behind.
Mosab Abu Toha
Elvis Presley poses with wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie, in a room at Baptist hospital in Memphis, Tenn., on Feb. 5, 1968. AP/AP hide caption
Elvis’ granddaughter says it was her ‘duty’ to finish Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir
October 14, 2024 • Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley, was working on a memoir when she died in 2023. Now, her daughter Riley Keough, has finished and published From Here to the Great Unknown.
Riley Keough helps mom Lisa Marie Presley emerge from Elvis' shadow in a new memoir
Shred Sisters Grove Atlantic hide caption
Modest moments become revelatory in the wry and incisive 'Shred Sisters'
October 14, 2024 • Betsy Lerner's debut novel weaves together the ordinary and the erratic to tell the story of a middle-class Jewish family whose suburban life is turned upside down by mental illness.
The cover of Song of Myself: A Novel by Arnie Kantrowitz Tatiana Fernandez/Sentinel Voices hide caption
Walt Whitman, gay love and a posthumous novel
October 13, 2024 • Gay rights pioneer Arnie Kantrowitz shelved dreams of publishing his novel. Three years after his death, his partner fulfils his wish.
Picture This
A little mouse sets sail on a big adventure in 'the ship in the window'.
October 13, 2024 • Author Travis Jonker and illustrator Matthew Cordell talk about the real model ship that inspired their picture book about a man, his son, a mouse, and the voyage that brings them together.
PICTURE THIS: The Ship In The Window
South Korean author Han Kang in Seoul, South Korea, in 2016. Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Lee Jin-man/AP hide caption
Book News & Features
Han kang becomes the first south korean writer to win the nobel prize in literature.
October 10, 2024 • The citation commended Han Kang's "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." She won the International Booker Prize for The Vegetarian in 2016.
Some people with anxiety find horror movies helpful. The films can focus their minds in a controlled environment that they can overcome. Crazytang/Getty Images hide caption
Why some people love scary movies
October 9, 2024 • In human history, fear kept us safe when running from predators and anxiety kept us from going back to that lion-infested area. But what happens when these feelings get out of hand in humans today? And why do some of us crave that feeling from scary movies or haunted houses? For answers, we turn to Arash Javanbakht, a psychiatrist from Wayne State University. He likes studying fear so much, he wrote a whole book called Afraid . This episode, he gets into the difference between fear and anxiety, many of the reasons people feel afraid and why things like scary movies could even be therapeutic.
Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
Barry sonnenfeld.
October 8, 2024 • What do the films Men in Black , The Addams Family and Raising Arizona all have in common? They were all shot by cinematographer and director Barry Sonnenfeld. He's responsible for filming and directing some of the biggest movies from the 20th century. He joins us to talk about his new memoir and reflect on his many years in show business.
Listen to this Episode
Margaret Atwood says she doesn't feel envy toward others but has experienced people being envious of her. Mike Coppola/Getty Images hide caption
Margaret Atwood was advised to just find a good man. Her response: 'You're an idiot'
October 6, 2024 • Margaret Atwood knows that she scares people. She opens up about that perception and also reflects on the bad advice she's received in her career and how she takes vengeance.
Margeret Atwood isn't surprised people find her scary
Elvis tribute artists on stage in Porthcawl in Wales. Robbie Griffiths/NPR hide caption
A small town in Wales claims the world's biggest Elvis festival. NPR visited
October 3, 2024 • You might expect the world’s biggest Elvis Presley festival to be in Las Vegas, or Memphis, Tenn. One small UK seaside town holds an annual -- and possibly the world's biggest -- Elvis Presley festival.
Visiting the world's biggest Elvis festival in — unexpectedly — a small town in Wales
"Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?" Melania Trump asks in her new memoir, according to an early excerpt published by The Guardian . The former first lady is seen here at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption
In excerpt from new memoir, Melania Trump says women have the ‘right to choose’ abortion
October 3, 2024 • In a video released Thursday, she says women are born with "individual freedom." Her memoir is coming out a year after former President Donald Trump said he was "able to kill Roe v. Wade."
Kate McKinnon's new middle-grade mystery is for all her fellow misfits
October 2, 2024 • The SNL star says her new book is part of what she calls her “private mission to give a wink and a nod” to young people who might feel “different” — like she did — growing up.
Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of MAd Science by Kate McKinnon
Ta-Nehisi Coates teaches at Howard University, where he's the Sterling Brown endowed chair in the English department. Carol Lee Rose/Getty Images hide caption
Ta-Nehisi Coates explores how oppression can breed oppression in 'The Message'
October 1, 2024 • In his first nonfiction book in a decade, Coates reflects on what he learned while visiting three different places: Senegal, South Carolina and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Ta-Nehisi Coates explores how oppression can breed oppression in ‘The Message’
Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab pose for a portrait. Kaepernick Media hide caption
Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab wrote ‘We Are Free, You and Me’ with daughter in mind
October 1, 2024 • Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab wrote a new children’s book inspired by affirmations they share with their daughter and scores of young people they meet through their activism.
EX-NFL QB Colin Kaepernick and broadcast personality Nessa Diab author kid's book
"I love cooking for people I love," Ina Garten says. "And the cooking is just the medium; the thing that I care about is the connection." Austin Hargrave/Penguin Random House hide caption
Ina Garten shares her secret for a great dinner party: 6 people and a round table
September 30, 2024 • "I like when everybody's knees are almost touching and it feels very intimate," the Barefoot Contessa host says. Garten's new memoir is Be Ready When the Luck Happens.
Author Robert Caro with a copy of "The Power Broker" his book about urban planner Robert Moses at Authors Night 2024 with the East Hampton Library. Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for East Hampton Li hide caption
Author Robert Caro on the history of power
September 29, 2024 • Historian Robert Caro's book "The Power Broker" details how urban planner Robert Moses reshaped New York through the roads and bridges he built, and the lives of the communities he destroyed.
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