Children’s Books
Into the Woods
By MARIA RUSSO
Neil Gaiman and Lorenzo Mattotti reinvent “Hansel and Gretel.”
Books News & Reviews
Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times
Anna Todd, the author of the fan fiction novel “After.”
Fantasizing on the Famous
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
“After,” Anna Todd’s wildly popular web novel based on Harry Styles of the boy band One Direction, is being published as a book.
Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times
Anna Todd, the author of the fan fiction novel “After.”
Fantasizing on the Famous
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
“After,” Anna Todd’s wildly popular web novel based on Harry Styles of the boy band One Direction, is being published as a book.
Books of The Times
‘High Times’
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
At a time when marijuana laws are loosening in the United States, High Times magazine is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a hefty book.
The Eye of a Pilot Serves a Writer
By CHARLES McGRATH
Samuel Hynes’s new book, “The Unsubstantial Air: American Fliers in the First World War,” was inspired by his life of flying, most notably as an airman in World War II.
Ali Mazrui, Scholar of Africa Who Divided U.S. Audiences, Dies at 81
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Professor Mazrui, who had taught since 1989 at Binghamton University, set off national criticism with his 1986 television documentary, “The Africans: A Triple Heritage.”
Books of The Times
‘All Things Possible’
By ANDREW M. CUOMO
Reviewed by SAM ROBERTS
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has written a memoir that also touches on the general state of American politics today.
Books of The Times
Moonwalk a Mile in His Shoes
By JON CARAMANICA
“Michael Jackson’s Dangerous” looks at an album up close, while “The Michael Jacksons” examines Jackson impersonators.
Park Honan, a Biographer of Authors, Is Dead at 86
By PAUL VITELLO
Mr. Honan’s groundbreaking books included biographies of Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Jane Austen and Shakespeare.
Capturing the Life of a Striver Who Fell Short of the White House
By SAM ROBERTS
In 15 years of research on Nelson A. Rockefeller, Richard Norton Smith says he came to see him as an impetuous dreamer who also wanted circumstances very much under his control.
A Word With: Richard Preston
Updating a Chronicle of Suffering: Author of ‘The Hot Zone’ Tracks Ebola’s Evolution
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
“The Hot Zone,” the nonfiction thriller about Ebola that Richard Preston wrote 20 years ago, is back on best-seller lists.
Books of The Times
‘Being Mortal’
By ATUL GAWANDE
Reviewed by JANET MASLIN
In “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” Atul Gawande explores how to bring meaning and purpose to the last phase of life.
Books of The Times
‘Boy on Ice’
By JOHN BRANCH
Reviewed by STEPHEN BRUNT
In “Boy on Ice,” John Branch examines the death of the N.H.L. player Derek Boogaard and the role that hockey’s culture of violence may have played.
Exquisite Corpse
By T MAGAZINE
Taking their cue from the Surrealist parlor game, 15 renowned authors take turns contributing to an original short story.
Australian’s P.O.W. Novel Wins Man Booker Prize
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
Richard Flanagan, who was honored for “The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” is the third Australian to win the prize.
ArtsBeat
Shortlists for National Book Awards Announced
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
The National Book Foundation announced the finalists for the 2014 National Book Awards in poetry, young adult literature, nonfiction and fiction on Wednesday morning.
Books of The Times
‘The Heart Is Strange’
By JOHN BERRYMAN
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
Several new books include works of, and details about, the poet John Berryman, who would have been 100 this year.
Children's Books
Bookshelf: Tricks and Treats
By MARIA RUSSO
New Halloween picture books include “Not Very Scary” and “Bob’s Hungry Ghost.”
A Black Detective, an 1870 Trial and a What If
By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
Citing a fair 1870 trial, “The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case” by Michael A. Ross argues that the racial reforms of Reconstruction were not preordained to fail.
Books of The Times
‘Nora Webster’
By COLM TOIBIN
Reviewed by JANET MASLIN
In Colm Toibin’s new novel, “Nora Webster,” the flinty heroine is a just-widowed mother of four who returns to work and finds the experience slowly transformative.
Books of The Times
‘Pay Any Price’
By JAMES RISEN
Reviewed by THOMAS E. RICKS
James Risen’s book “Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War” describes the seamy sides of America’s war on terror during the past 13 years.
So What’s the Big Idée?
By WILLIAM GRIMES
A sumptuous new bookstore, Albertine, and an accompanying festival of ideas literary, economic and mathematical arrive at the French Embassy’s Cultural Services office on Fifth Avenue.
Cosmos as Masterpiece
By MICHAEL BENSON
Over thousands of years, humans have tried to represent the universe in graphic form, whether in manuscripts, paintings, prints, books or supercomputer simulations.
Eternal Regard for a Self-Obsessed Id
By NICOLAS RAPOLD
Though not an adaptation of a Roth novel per se, “Listen Up Philip” underscores the novelist’s hold on filmmakers.
Sunday Book Review
‘The Invisible History of the Human Race’
By CHRISTINE KENNEALLY
Reviewed by DAVID DOBBS
Eric Nyquist
Christine Kenneally explores what DNA can tell us about our ancestors and the rest of human history.
‘The Invisible History of the Human Race’
By CHRISTINE KENNEALLY
Reviewed by DAVID DOBBS
Eric Nyquist
Christine Kenneally explores what DNA can tell us about our ancestors and the rest of human history.
Neil Patrick Harris: By the Book
The author of “Choose Your Own Autobiography” loved “Gone Girl”: “I devoured the acknowledgments, the book cover flaps, the ISBN, you name it. If it had been like a DVD, I could have read the ‘making of’ the writing of the book. I was that into it.”
‘Spoiled Brats’
By SIMON RICH
Reviewed by PATTON OSWALT
Simon Rich’s humorous stories take on the millennial generation.
‘Just Mercy’
By BRYAN STEVENSON
Reviewed by TED CONOVER
A lawyer personalizes the struggle against injustice with the story of a man wrongfully convicted of murder.
‘Mr. Bones: Twenty Stories’
By PAUL THEROUX
Reviewed by FRANCINE PROSE
Men follow their compulsions, and sometimes receive their comeuppance, in Paul Theroux’s stories.
‘The Betrayers’
By DAVID BEZMOZGIS
Reviewed by BORIS FISHMAN
Two Soviet Jews — an Israeli politician and a disgraced K.G.B. informer — are reunited decades after a devastating betrayal.
‘A Path Appears’
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF and SHERYL WuDUNN
Reviewed by PAUL COLLIER
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn show how to make a difference in the lives of the disadvantaged.
‘The Wallcreeper’
By NELL ZINK
Reviewed by ROBIN ROMM
The wallcreeper of this novel’s title and its protagonist both crave freedom.
‘The Sense of Style’
By STEVEN PINKER
Reviewed by CHARLES McGRATH
In his writing guide, the Harvard polymath Steven Pinker favors looser, more easygoing grammatical usage.
‘Corruption in America’
By ZEPHYR TEACHOUT
Reviewed by THOMAS FRANK
In Zephyr Teachout’s history of American political corruption, the main target is the current money-in-politics doctrine.
‘Landslide: LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America’
By JONATHAN DARMAN
Reviewed by SEAN WILENTZ
Jonathan Darman’s history of the 1960s weaves together accounts of the activities of Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan.
Crime
Gone to the Dogs
By MARILYN STASIO
In John Sandford’s “Deadline,” dogs are being stolen and auctioned off for resale as laboratory animals.
Children's Books
Smiley face: An unexpected friendship blooms in "The Farmer and the Clown."
From a distant farm to the African veldt, these picture books celebrate the limitless nature of creativity and imagination.
Children's Books
‘Kinda Like Brothers’ and ‘Half a World Away’
By RITA WILLIAMS-GARCIA
Two novels featuring adoption and foster care show how bonds are formed despite less than ideal circumstances.
Children's Books
Bookshelf: The Dark
By MARIA RUSSO
New picture books include Lizi Boyd’s “Flashlight” and Madeline Valentine’s “George in the Dark.”
Children's Books
‘Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle’ and ‘Heap House’
By PSEUDONYMOUS BOSCH
Characters in two dark urban fairy tales for middle-grade readers uncover events hidden in the past.
Children's Books
‘Through the Woods’ and ‘Monstrous Affections’
By ADAM GIDWITZ
A collection of illustrated tales with a sinister bent, and an anthology of stories featuring otherworldly creatures.
- Fiction
- Nonfiction
PRINT & E-BOOKS
- Fiction
- Nonfiction
HARDCOVER
- Trade Fiction
- Mass-Market Fiction
- Nonfiction
PAPERBACK
Books Update
Like to be first? Get The New York Times Book Review before it appears online every Friday. Sign up for the email newsletter here.
Sunday Book Review
‘Worthy Fights’
By LEON PANETTA with JIM NEWTON
Reviewed by LESLIE H. GELB
Leslie H. Gelb reviews Leon Panetta’s memoir, which recounts a career in public service, including stints as White House chief of staff, director of the C.I.A. and defense secretary.
Bookends
What’s the Most Terrifying Book You’ve Ever Read?
Francine Prose and Ayana Mathis discuss their scariest reading experiences.
Open Book
A Bevy of the Best
By JOHN WILLIAMS
Each October brings a shelf full of Best American anthologies.
The Shortlist
Dogs
By BRONWEN DICKEY
New books by Nick Jans, Rebecca Frankel and Benoit Denizet-Lewis.
Paper Gallery
Hail! Hail! O Classic Superhero
By DANA JENNINGS
Superheroes are here to stay (just turn on your TV), and five new superbooks celebrate heroes of comics, and the men (and occasional woman) who brought them to life.
Inside The New York Times Book Review Podcast
This week, Christine Kenneally discusses “The Invisible History of the Human Race”; Alexandra Alter has news from the literary world; Zephyr Teachout talks about “Corruption in America”; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Pamela Paul is the host.
Book Review Features
Inside the List
By GREGORY COWLES
Marilynne Robinson, whose novel “Lila” is No. 4 on the hardcover fiction list, has found success agreeable. “A Pulitzer Prize is very reassuring, and that’s a fact.”
Sunday Book Review
‘Pay Any Price’
By JAMES RISEN
Reviewed by LOUISE RICHARDSON
James Risen argues that America’s open society has been a casualty of the war on terror.
Toni Morrison Papers Will Go To Princeton
October 19, 2014
Book Review Podcast: The Story of Us
October 17, 2014
Elmore Leonard’s Papers (and Hawaiian Shirts) Go to University
October 16, 2014
Bookshelf
Show Biz Pride and Shame; Hotel’s Hyphen
By SAM ROBERTS
New books delve into the life of a New York actor, a promoter who created a human zoo in Brooklyn and one of the most expensive hotels.
Browsing Books
Help
SEARCH BOOK REVIEWS SINCE 1981:
Times Topics: Featured Authors
Our Reporters and Editors on Twitter
MOST POPULAR - BOOKS
- Books of The Times: 4 Decades of Inhaling Deeply: A History of ‘High Times’
- The Eye of a Pilot Serves a Writer
- A New Superhero Arrives to Protect the Powerless
- Books of The Times: A Prescription for Life’s Final Stretch
- Christine Kenneally’s ‘Invisible History of the Human Race’
- Steven Pinker’s ‘The Sense of Style’
- ‘A Path Appears,’ by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
- Park Honan, a Biographer of Authors, Is Dead at 86
- Books of The Times: A Yalie’s Promising Future Competed With a Darker Side
- Leon Panetta’s ‘Worthy Fights’
- Books of The Times: 4 Decades of Inhaling Deeply: A History of ‘High Times’
- A New Superhero Arrives to Protect the Powerless
- Bookends: What’s the Most Terrifying Book You’ve Ever Read?
- The Eye of a Pilot Serves a Writer
- Books of The Times: Moonwalk a Mile in His Shoes
- Christine Kenneally’s ‘Invisible History of the Human Race’
- Books of The Times: A Prescription for Life’s Final Stretch
- A Word With: Richard Preston: Updating a Chronicle of Suffering: Author of ‘The Hot Zone’ Tracks Ebola’s Evolution
- Neil Patrick Harris: By the Book
- Steven Pinker’s ‘The Sense of Style’
