By the Book: Anthony Bourdain: By the Book
The author of “Kitchen Confidential” says one of the benchmarks of great food writing is to be very knowledgeable, but never a snob.
Nonfiction: A Daughter’s Tribute to Her Father and His Taste for Bordeaux
In “The Wine Lover’s Daughter,” Anne Fadiman weaves her own memoir with a biography of her father, Clifton Fadiman, and the compendium of wine knowledge he instilled in her.
'Creatures Of Will And Temper' Is A Slow-Burn Slide Into Deviltry
Molly Tanzer gives us a seductive, alternate version of Victorian England in her new novel — by turns smoky and smutty, wondrous and louche. And then, embedded carefully in that world, demons.
(Image credit: John Joseph Adams/Mariner Books)
From 'Inky's Great Escape' To Singing Seahorses: Animal Books For The Holidays
From real-life, seaweed-carrying dolphins to fictional singing seahorses, animals in these new books can excite the mind, says anthropologist Barbara J. King.
(Image credit: Maica/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Nonfiction: Women Write of Home, and a Woman’s Place in It
Female authors take on the subject of the home from a variety of perspectives in “This Is the Place,” a collection of essays edited by Margot Kahn and Kelly McMasters.
Fiction: Garth Risk Hallberg’s Mix-and-Match Story of Suburban Ennui
In his novella “A Field Guide to the North American Family,” Hallberg takes an experimental approach to a traditional subject.
The Book Review Podcast: O Pioneers!
Caroline Fraser talks about “Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder,” and Tiya Miles discusses “The Dawn of Detroit.”
Editors’ Choice: 7 New Books We Recommend This Week
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
Nonfiction: Detroit’s Untold Stories of Slavery
In “The Dawn of Detroit,” Tiya Miles reconstructs the history and experience of the city’s African-American and Native American slaves.
A Classics Professor Explains 'Why Bob Dylan Matters'
Harvard professor Richard F. Thomas teaches a popular class on the importance of Bob Dylan, and now he's turned it into a book, full of stories, personal history and the occasional comparison to Ovid.
(Image credit: Claire Harbage/NPR)
New & Noteworthy
A selection of books published this week; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
Nonfiction: The Contradictions of Joseph Conrad
Maya Jasanoff’s book, “The Dawn Watch,” uses Conrad’s work to tell a story of globalization, imperialism and resistance.
Match Book: Dear Match Book: Books to Fuel, Not Fix, My Sadness
Harrowing tragedy abounds in these selections of fierce, female-centered fiction.
Fiction: A Timely Novel of Anti-Progress by Louise Erdrich
In “Future Home of the Living God,” Erdrich’s futuristic novel, evolution runs backward, reproduction is threatened and the climate has changed, irrevocably.
'Dawn Watch' Explores The Life And Legacy Of Joseph Conrad
Maya Jasanoff weaves together biography, history, literature and her own travels in a new book about the globe-trotting author. Reviewer John Powers says Jasanoff's portrait of Conrad is terrific.
Nonfiction: ‘Little House on the Prairie’ and the Truth About the American West
A new biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder “refreshes and revitalizes” our understanding of westward expansion, pioneer life and the literature that mythologized it.
Fiction: Whatever Happened to Isabel Archer? ‘Mrs. Osmond’ Picks Up Where Henry James Left Off
John Banville’s sequel to James’s “Portrait of a Lady” follows the heroine back to Rome and to the possible end of her marriage.
In 'Body Music,' Love Is Sweet, Sexy And A Touch Sentimental
French graphic novelist Julie Maroh — author of Blue is the Warmest Color — is back with an earnestly sweet collection of vignettes about love, kept from being saccharine by her skill with faces.
(Image credit: Arsenal Pulp Press )
'Bunk' Is Encyclopedic, Fascinating — And Frustrating
Kevin Young's new book puts forth an instantly convincing pairing of race and hoaxing — both a "fake thing pretending to be real." But he loses readers' trust with knotty, overly aphoristic writing.
(Image credit: Christina Ascani/NPR)
Nonfiction: Queen of the Glossies
“The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983-1992” is Tina Brown’s own record of running that influential magazine, and all the glittering prizes that came with it.
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