Nonfiction: Looking Again at the Chernobyl Disaster
Adam Higginbotham’s “Midnight in Chernobyl” explores the causes of the Chernobyl explosion, and Kate Brown’s “Manual for Survival” considers the consequences.
Nonfiction: The Cracking of a Cold, Cold Case
In his true-crime epic, “The Last Stone,” Mark Bowden follows detectives as they try to solve the 1975 disappearance of two Maryland sisters.
Nonfiction: Why Are We Feeling So Bad When Life Is So Good? Two Books Want Us to Accentuate the Positive
“The Right Side of History,” by Ben Shapiro, and “Clear and Present Safety,” by Michael A. Cohen and Micah Zenko, declare current pessimism is totally overblown.
Poetry: A Poetic Body of Work Grapples With the Physical Body at Risk
In “The Tradition,” Jericho Brown witnesses and celebrates vulnerability and resilience in a country that too often scorns or condemns them.
Fiction: A Peerless Chronicler of the 1970s and ’80s Turns Her Gaze on Generation Y
Ann Beattie’s new novel, “A Wonderful Stroke of Luck,” follows its protagonist from prep school in 2001 into his 30s today.
Nonfiction: Skin and Bones, Hold the Skin: An Author Considers Our Inner Scaffolding
Brian Switek’s “Skeleton Keys” takes a close look at our 206 bones and how they allow us to “stomp, fly, swim, slither, dig, run.”
'Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss' Is Smart, Comforting Sentiment
Rajeev Balasubramanyam's fourth novel follows a cantankerous yet sympathetic economics professor whose life is upended after he fails yet again to win a Nobel Prize (among other, lesser catastrophes).
(Image credit: The Dial Press)
'The Matriarch' Presents Barbara Bush As Indispensable To Two Bush Presidencies
Beyond the juicy bits, journalist Susan Page paints a larger portrait of one of the more underappreciated, least understood figures of the last century — one with both insecurities and influence.
(Image credit: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)
The Shortlist: Three Books Examine Our Changing Earth
From melting ice to diminishing populations, these books look at the effects of climate change and humans’ shifting relationship with our planet.
Nonfiction: Barry Lopez Travels to the Ends of the Earth, Seeking Glimmers of Hope
In “Horizon,” the eminent environmentalist reconstructs decades’ worth of his observations of the natural world, from the Arctic to Australia.
Nonfiction: A Journey — if You Dare — Into the Minds of Silicon Valley Programmers
Clive Thompson’s “Coders” demystifies the work done to create the algorithms and programs that have come to dominate our world.
'Other Americans' Take Center Stage In A Timely New Novel
The short chapters in Laila Lalami's novel are narrated by a rotating cast of characters. They conjure a murder mystery, a cross-cultural romance, an immigrant saga, war stories and family dramas.
(Image credit: NPR)
'Greek To Me' Highlights The Way Ardent Interests Can Enrich A Life
Comma Queen Mary Norris is an uncommonly engaging, witty enthusiast with a nose for delicious details and funny asides that makes you willing to follow her anywhere.
(Image credit: W.W. Norton & Co. )
Theoretical Physics And Down-To-Earth Loneliness In 'Lost And Wanted'
Nell Freudenberger's new novel is a bittersweet love story — about a lost friend, a missed romance, and an all-consuming career — that uses dense scientific concepts to illuminate everyday emotions.
(Image credit: Petra Mayer/NPR)
Fiction: The Mysteries of Friendship, Illuminated by Spooky Quantum Physics
Nell Freudenberger’s eloquent new novel, “Lost and Wanted,” invokes cutting-edge science and the supernatural to plumb the ineffable in human relationships.
'Sky Without Stars': Vive La Revolution ... In Space!
Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell's new novel recasts Les Miserables on a distant — yet French-inflected — planet where a powerful Regime keeps the populace split and oppressed.
(Image credit: Beth Novey/NPR)
The Week in Books
Salman Rushdie on a “dazzling” debut novel, Bret Easton Ellis, the birth of American Modernism and more.
The Stories In 'Guestbook' Linger Like Ghosts
Leanne Shapton's new short story collection feels like walking through an art gallery, each piece linked in ways that are ineffable but clear. And many sections use artwork, including Shapton's own.
(Image credit: Riverhead Books)
We Are All 'The Other Americans'
Laila Lalami's new novel combines riveting police procedural with a sensitive examination of life in California's Mojave Desert region, told through a well-rendered choir of different voices.
(Image credit: Beth Novey/NPR)
The Book Review Podcast: Preet Bharara on the Rule of Law
Bharara discusses “Doing Justice,” and Senator Doug Jones talks about “Bending Toward Justice.”
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