Our Back Pages: Notes From the Book Review Archives
In which we consult the Book Review’s past to shed light on the books of the present. This week: Anne Tyler’s “The Accidental Tourist.”
New in Paperback: ‘An Odyssey,’ ‘Dunbar’
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
The Literati: Henry James’s Final Curtain Call
Edward Sorel illustrates the great turn-of-the-century author’s fumbling foray into the theater.
Children’s Books: Magic Ripples Just Below the Surface in These Novels
In fantasies by K. Sello Duiker and Jaleigh Johnson, children use magic to navigate the streets of a South African township and a hostile world called Tallhaven.
The Shortlist: Personal Stories From the Refugee Experience
Three books relate the individual accounts of people caught up in events larger than themselves.
How to Listen to the Book Review Podcast
Instructions to help you find and subscribe to the series.
Nonfiction: From Rags to Ill-Gotten Riches in 1930s China
Paul French’s “City of Devils” is a narrative fiction of the “tawdry city” Shanghai before World War II.
Nonfiction: Rome Wasn’t Sacked in a Day
Matthew Kneale’s “Rome: A History in Seven Sackings” narrates the city’s past through the marauders who have devastated it.
Nonfiction: The Woman Who Created a Monster
For the 200th anniversary of “Frankenstein,” the poet Fiona Sampson has written a new biography of its author: “In Search of Mary Shelley.”
Fiction: ‘Beowulf’ Gets a 21st-Century Update
In “The Mere Wife,” by Maria Dahvana Headley, the epic poem is reimagined as an imaginative tale of class conflict.
Crime: For Marilyn Stasio, Any Place Can Be the Scene of the Crime
This week’s mysteries move from a New Hampshire boarding school to a London rowhouse, with stops in New York City and a ramshackle shed in Oakland.
Fiction: Classical Myths Filtered Through a Modern Prism
In his new novel, “Metamorphica” — the title is a nod to Ovid’s epic poem — Zachary Mason reworks and respins ancient Greco-Roman myths.
Fiction: Rumpelstiltskin Redux
In her brilliant new novel, “Spinning Silver,” Naomi Novik riffs on a number of fairy tales, including the straw-into-gold classic.
Fiction: Going AWOL in Africa’s Largest City
Chibundu Onuzo’s novel “Welcome to Lagos” sets its runaway characters adrift in the swirl of metropolitan life, where it may be impossible to hide.
Editors’ Choice: 11 New Books We Recommend This Week
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
'The Strange Case Of Dr. Couney' Tells Of Fair Sideshows That Saved Babies' Lives
In a mosaic mystery told in vignettes, cliffhangers, curious asides, and some surreal plot twists, journalist Dawn Raffel investigates the secrets of the man who changed infant care in America.
(Image credit: NPR)
'The Incendiaries' Is A Poignant And Powerful Look At Campus Life
R.O. Kwon's new novel explores the attractions — and dangers — of faith, against the overheated, over-the-top backdrop of an upper-crust college somewhere in the Northeastern United State.
(Image credit: Samantha Clark/NPR)
Nonfiction: Learning From Henry Kissinger
“Kissinger the Negotiator,” by James K. Sebenius, R. Nicholas Burns and Robert H. Mnookin, presents diplomacy as the art of influencing friends and adversaries.
By the Book: Sophie Hannah: By the Book
Sophie Hannah, whose Hercule Poirot novel “The Mystery of Three Quarters” will be published this month, is addicted to self-help: “Write a book and call it something like ‘The Five Secrets of Badass Kickassery’ and I will buy it immediately.”
Nonfiction: Who Desegregated America’s Schools? Women
“A Girl Stands at the Door,” by the Rutgers historian Rachel Devlin, shows how the work of desegregation was done disproportionately by young black women.
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