Bookshelf: Set in New York, Fit for the Hammock
“The Gargoyle Hunters” by John Freeman Gill is one of several new books featuring New York City as a backdrop.
Newsbook: 3 Books Take a Deeper Look at the Opioid Epidemic
Two books help explain the opiate abuse crisis and how we may resolve it, while a novel shows the havoc addiction can wreak.
Essay: In Jane Austen’s Pages, Death Has No Dominion
What was death to the writer who never killed off a major character? In Austen’s six novels, mortality is a more subtle matter.
By the Book: Allegra Goodman: By the Book
The author of “The Chalk Artist” admires Mary Garth in “Middlemarch”: “She is not only brave and witty, but totally sane. That’s hard to write. Madness is easy. A character with good sense is a tour de force.”
Children’s Books: Whimsical New Picture Books with a Spotlight on Wordplay
In these frisky new picture books, complex play with language sparks curiosity.
Nonfiction: A British Expat in Norway Gets Beyond the Scandinavian Stereotypes.
Robert Ferguson’s “Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North” offers an engaging, layered look into a complex culture.
Children’s Books: Summer Y.A. Escapes from Sarah Dessen, Andrew McCarthy and More
The heroes of these Y.A. novels bust out and learn to love, in settings from New Jersey to Taiwan to Mars.
Nonfiction: Jane Austen’s Stuff, and What We Learn From It
In “Jane Austen at Home,” the BBC presenter Lucy Worsley traces the writer’s life through the places and possessions that mattered most to her.
Nonfiction: On Thoreau’s 200th Birthday, a New Biography Pictures Him as a Man of Principle
Asked once why he was so eternally curious, Thoreau said, “What else is there in life?” In “Henry David Thoreau: A Life,” Laura Dassow Walls explores his vision.
Nonfiction: The Austen Legacy: Why and How We Love Her, What She Loved
From the role-playing of modern Janeites to the theatrical performances that inspired Austen’s own work, three books explore her roots and her legacy.
What to Read Before Your North Dakota Fossil Dig
Two paleontologists illuminate the real-life adventures of fossil hunting, while one book takes little ones on an adventure to an island where dinosaurs roam.
Nonfiction: Bob Marley Comes Alive in This Collection of Interviews With the People Who Knew Him Best
In Roger Steffens’s rich new oral biography, “So Much Things to Say,” the life of Jamaica’s most famous son is revealed through a chorus of crucial voices.
Critic’s Take: Understanding Poetry Is More Straightforward Than You Think
In school, the poet Matthew Zapruder writes, we are taught that poetry is inherently “difficult.” Focusing on one interesting word can change that.
Nonfiction: A Jane Austen Fit for the Age of Brexit
Helena Kelly’s “Jane Austen: The Secret Radical” argues that Austen opposed 19th-century England’s assumptions about the social and political order.
Inside the List: On Diversity in Publishing, a Young Star Warns: Get It Right
Angie Thomas, whose debut novel, “The Hate U Give,” is No. 1 on the young adult list, has advice for authors writing about marginalized figures.
Bookends: Do Grants, Professorships and Other Forms of Institutional Support Help Writers but Hurt Writing?
Siddhartha Deb and Benjamin Moser discuss the intersection of writing, academia and funding.
Open Book: Alcoholism in America
“The fight against addiction is one of America’s great liberation movements,” Christopher M. Finan writes in his introduction to “Drunks: An American History.”
The Book Review Podcast: The History of the London Zoo
Isobel Charman talks about “The Zoo,” and R. L. Stine discusses scary stories for children.
Paperback Row
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Fiction: A Debut Novel Asks, What if His First Wife Was the One?
In “Standard Deviation” by Katherine Heiny, a stuffy banker reconsiders his bubbly second wife.
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