Amazon and Hachette Resolve Dispute
By DAVID STREITFELD
The accord allows the publisher to set prices on its e-books, a major issue in a battle that led Amazon to discourage sales of Hachette books.
Books News & Reviews
Sonny Figueroa/The New York Times
“Preparation for the Next Life,” Atticus Lish’s first novel, is a slow-building, unsentimental love story depicting blinkered lives at the American margins.
Sonny Figueroa/The New York Times
“Preparation for the Next Life,” Atticus Lish’s first novel, is a slow-building, unsentimental love story depicting blinkered lives at the American margins.
Nuruddin Farah: By the Book
The author of “Hiding in Plain Sight” wasn’t much of a reader as a child: “Books were hard to come by . . . where I grew up, but also because there were no books for children in those days.”
Destined to Be a Best Seller
By WILLIAM GRIMES
“Quotations of Chairman Mao” at the Grolier Club includes many versions of the “Little Red Book” that became a de rigueur accessory in Chinese pockets.
Books of The Times
‘41: A Portrait of My Father’
By GEORGE W. BUSH
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
In “41,” former President George W. Bush draws an affectionate portrait of his father, George H. W. Bush.
Children’s Books
Ways of Seeing
By MARIA RUSSO
Two new books show how photography can bring a picture book to life.
Survivor Who Hated the Spotlight
By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
Mary Berg wrote a diary about her life in the Warsaw Ghetto that was published in English long before Anne Frank’s diary. Then she disappeared.
In a Topsy-Turvy World, China Warms to Sci-Fi
By AMY QIN
Liu Cixin’s “The Three-Body Problem,” a science-fiction trilogy whose first book comes out Tuesday in the United States, has attracted a diverse Chinese audience.
Books of The Times
‘Landslide’
By JONATHAN DARMAN
Reviewed by JIM KELLY
In “Landslide,” Jonathan Darman recounts the midterm elections in 1966 as not only signaling the fall of Lyndon B. Johnson, but also the emergence of Ronald Reagan as a national political figure.
First Draft
A Well-Timed Book Tour for Rubio
By ALAN RAPPEPORT
Senator Marco Rubio is not sure if he will run for president, but he is planning a national book tour that just happens to coincide with the start of the presidential election cycle.
The Book That Birthed a Potty-Mouth Genre Now Has a Sequel
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
Four years later, Adam Mansbach is following up “Go the _ to Sleep” with “You Have to _ Eat.” In the interim, other writers have gotten in on on the act.
Books of The Times
‘A Voice Still Heard’
Edited by NINA HOWE
Reviewed by SAM TANENHAUS
“A Voice Still Heard,” a collection of essays by Irving Howe, seems to make the case that he was an insightful literary critic, but its content suggests that he was more of a sociologist.
PBS to Stream Live Coverage of Miami Book Fair
By ELIZABETH JENSEN
The public broadcaster plans to live-stream three days of events at the fair and make the video available later on demand.
Books
Transported to Paradise, but Needing More
By JONATHAN WEINER
Edward O. Wilson thinks we should set aside half the planet as wilderness, and he believes we can do it. In a new book, he tells the story of a nature preserve in Mozambique to make his case.
Books of The Times
‘A Curious Career’
By LYNN BARBER
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
Lynn Barber recounts her life as an interviewer of celebrities in her memoir “A Curious Career.”
Books of The Times
‘The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House’
By CHUCK TODD
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
In ‘The Stranger,” Chuck Todd, moderator of “Meet the Press,” dissects President Obama’s record.
Books of The Times
‘Yes Please’
By AMY POEHLER
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
Amy Poehler’s new book, “Yes Please,” includes backstage “Saturday Night Live” stories, lists, old photos and guest essays from both her parents.
Children’s Books
Digging to Freedom
By MARIA RUSSO
Twenty-five years after the Berlin Wall came down, a picture book finds hope in one family’s escape from the East.
Books of The Times
‘All the Truth Is Out’
By MATT BAI
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
“All the Truth Is Out,” by Matt Bai, makes the case that the Gary Hart scandal of 1987 left a lasting scar on America’s political life.
Books of The Times
‘Let Me Be Frank With You’
By RICHARD FORD
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
In Richard Ford’s fourth Frank Bascombe book, “Let Me Be Frank With You,” his Everyman hero is 68, retired and living in Default Mode.
An Author Mines His Niche, One Usually Filled With Song
By NATE CHINEN
The writer David Ritz reflects on his career of helping celebrities, often recording artists, put their lives on the page.
Legions of Faiths, Girded for Battle
By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
The latest Norton anthology takes on major world religions, in 4,000-plus pages.
The Saturday Profile
A Writer Whose Pen Never Rests, Even Facing Death
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Clive James, 75, who has leukemia, continues to publish poetry and work on other projects in a career that has defied definition.
E-Book Mingles Love and Product Placement
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
Product placement in a novel might strike some as unseemly, but “Find Me I’m Yours” — an e-book that also makes room for sponsored content from companies — is not like most novels.
Sunday Book Review
‘The Laughing Monsters’
By DENIS JOHNSON
Reviewed by JOY WILLIAMS
Tomer Hanuka
In Denis Johnson’s new novel, set in Africa, a spy and his ne’er-do-well friend plan to become rich by exploiting post-9/11 politics.
‘The Laughing Monsters’
By DENIS JOHNSON
Reviewed by JOY WILLIAMS
Tomer Hanuka
In Denis Johnson’s new novel, set in Africa, a spy and his ne’er-do-well friend plan to become rich by exploiting post-9/11 politics.
‘A Map of Betrayal’
By HA JIN
Reviewed by BEN MACINTYRE
In Ha Jin’s new novel, a man drifts into the world of espionage and becomes a long-term Chinese Communist mole within the C.I.A.
Bob Odenkirk: By the Book
The actor and author of “A Load of Hooey” keeps a volume of “hippie philosophizing” on his shelves as a counterbalance to his “angry, skeptical, scowling mind.”
‘The Glass Cage: Automation and Us’
By NICHOLAS CARR
Reviewed by DANIEL MENAKER
Nicholas Carr argues that becoming dependent on our technologies turns us into their slaves.
‘This Changes Everything’
By NAOMI KLEIN
Reviewed by ROB NIXON
The status quo is no longer an option, Naomi Klein warns in this analysis of the climate crisis.
‘Gabriel: A Poem’
By EDWARD HIRSCH
Reviewed by EMILY RAPP
Edward Hirsch’s book-length elegy on the death of his 22-year-old son.
‘Being Mortal’
By ATUL GAWANDE
Reviewed by SHERI FINK
Atul Gawande believes that the medical profession’s job is to “enable well-being,” not just strive for survival.
‘Empire of Sin’
By GARY KRIST
Reviewed by WALTER ISAACSON
In the early 1900s, an 18-block area of New Orleans was a battleground between moral reformers and purveyors of vice.
‘Some Luck’
By JANE SMILEY
Reviewed by PAUL ELIE
Jane Smiley’s novel, the first in a planned trilogy, follows an Iowa family over three transformative decades in America.
‘Losing Our Way’
By BOB HERBERT
Reviewed by ADRIAN NICOLE LeBLANC
Bob Herbert documents the struggles of ordinary Americans and issues a political call to action.
Brian Floca
Children's Books
B. J. Novak’s ‘Book With No Pictures’ and More
By MARK LEVINE
Five picture books directly address young readers with unconventional storytelling.
Children's Books
‘Rain Reign’
By ANN M. MARTIN
Reviewed by RON SUSKIND
Ann M. Martin tells the story of a lonely fifth-grade girl with autism who finds a soul mate in a stray dog.
Children's Books
‘100 Sideways Miles’
By ANDREW SMITH
Reviewed by MICHELLE HUNEVEN
A boy injured in a bizarre accident yearns to break free of his overprotective novelist father in this young adult novel.
Children's Books
Jim Aylesworth’s ‘My Grandfather’s Coat,’ and More
By PAUL O. ZELINSKY
The older generation guides the youngest and inspires creativity in these picture books.
Children's Books
‘The Doubt Factory’ and ‘Love Is the Drug’
By ROBIN WASSERMAN
Two young adult thrillers exploit the conventions of genre to offer head-on critiques of today’s political landscape.
Children's Books
‘The Madman of Piney Woods’
By CHRISTOPHER PAUL CURTIS
Reviewed by JERVEY TERVALON
In a small Canadian town in 1901, boys from very different backgrounds meet, bond and solve a mystery together.
Children's Books
Mike Curato’s ‘Little Elliot, Big City,’ and More
By MARK ROTELLA
Amid the hustle and bustle of the big city, or the vast stillness of the desert, life is better when there’s someone to share it with.
Children's Books
‘Ambassador’ and ‘Lowriders in Space’
By HÉctor TOBAR
Latino characters take readers on a journey into the cosmos in these middle-grade books.
Children's Books
‘I’ll Give You the Sun’
By JANDY NELSON
Reviewed by LAUREN OLIVER
A family tragedy has left this novel’s twin narrators unrecognizable to themselves and each other.
Children's Books
‘In Real Life’
By CORY DOCTOROW. Illustrated by JEN WANG.
Reviewed by CHRIS TAYLOR
A teenager joins an all-female online group and is given a troubling assignment with real-world repercussions.
Children's Books
‘Afterworlds’
By SCOTT WESTERFELD
Reviewed by STEPHANIE ZACHAREK
This young adult novel’s 18-year-old protagonist is the author of her own young adult novel about life after death.
Children’s Books
Into the Woods
By MARIA RUSSO
Neil Gaiman and Lorenzo Mattotti reinvent “Hansel and Gretel.”
Children's Books
Andrea Davis Pinkney’s ‘Red Pencil,’ and More
By MONICA EDINGER
Children (and a cat) struggle for survival in the midst of conflict in Sudan, Kenya and the West Bank.
Children's Books
‘Pennyroyal Academy’ and ‘The Princess in Black’
By JULIE KLAM
These feisty heroines are measured by their ability to fight threatening witches and monsters.
Children's Books
‘Arcady’s Goal’
Written and illustrated by EUGENE YELCHIN
Reviewed by RICH COHEN
For Eugene Yelchin’s young hero, athletic prowess becomes a means of surviving Stalinist oppression.
Children's Books
‘The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus,’ and More
By LEONARD S. MARCUS
The subjects of four picture-book biographies make their marks: a linguist, an engineer, an astrophysicist . . . and a movie dog.
Children's Books
‘As an Oak Tree Grows,’ and More
By JACQUELINE BRIGGS MARTIN
Three picture books appeal to children’s fascination with trees, providing information and flights of imagination.
Children's Books
Ali Berman’s ‘Misdirected,’ and More
By MARK OPPENHEIMER
These teenagers risk alienation, and worse, when they diverge from the religious beliefs of those around them.
Children's Books
‘Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina’
By MICHAELA DEPRINCE
Reviewed by ELIZABETH GLEICK
In this memoir, a girl adopted from war-torn Sierra Leone achieves her dream of becoming a ballerina.
Children's Books
‘Wildlife’ and ‘Even in Paradise’
By MEGAN McANDREW
These coming-of-age novels find the heady days of high school filled with friendships, secrets, romance and treachery.
Children's Books
‘The Young Elites’
By MARIE LU
Reviewed by MAUREEN JOHNSON
A girl develops special powers after she survives a plague in this young adult novel.
‘How Google Works’
By ERIC SCHMIDT and JONATHAN ROSENBERG with ALAN EAGLE
Reviewed by BRAD STONE
Two technology executives explain the business methods behind Google’s groundbreaking success.
‘At Home in Exile’ and ‘The Pious Ones’
By PETER BEINART
Alan Wolfe explores the challenges facing secular American Jews, while Joseph Berger studies the Hasidim.
‘All Days Are Night’
By PETER STAMM. Translated by MICHAEL HOFMANN.
Reviewed by LAUREN ELKIN
Horribly disfigured, Peter Stamm’s heroine reassesses her life.
‘Wolf in White Van’
By JOHN DARNIELLE
Reviewed by ETHAN GILSDORF
A fantasy role-playing game ends in death.
‘A World Elsewhere’
By SIGRID MACRAE
Reviewed by NICK FRASER
The author’s mother remained in Germany through World War II.
‘Man v. Nature: Stories’
By DIANE COOK
Reviewed by ROBIN ROMM
In Diane Cook’s apocalypse-tinged tales, human connection is a perishable and often scarce commodity.
‘Censors at Work’
By ROBERT DARNTON
Reviewed by ALBERTO MANGUEL
Robert Darnton probes the history of censorship and finds it isn’t always what we think it is.
‘Quartet for the End of Time’
By JOHANNA SKIBSRUD
Reviewed by ANDREA THOMPSON
From Washington to Paris, four interwoven characters grapple with guilt and injustice.
Author's Note
A Manual for Life
By EDWARD O. WILSON
The author credits the official guide of the Boy Scouts of America for his secondary education.
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PRINT & E-BOOKS
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HARDCOVER
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PAPERBACK
Books Update
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Should the United States Declare Books an ‘Essential Good’?
By DANIEL MENDELSOHN and MOHSIN HAMID
Daniel Mendelsohn and Mohsin Hamid debate whether the United States should follow the French government’s lead.
Prominent Editor’s Exit Is Setback for Amazon Publishing Unit
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
Ed Park, a novelist who shaped Amazon’s sole literary fiction imprint with his taste and connections, is leaving, raising questions about the program’s future.
Best Illustrated Books
The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2014, with sample artwork from each.
Open Book
The Big Easy
By JOHN WILLIAMS
Walker Percy once said, “New Orleans may be too seductive for a writer.”
The Shortlist
Memoirs
By NATALIE KUSZ
New books by Caitlin Doughty, Diogo Mainardi, Anne Sinclair and Marcos Giralt Torrente.
As a Writer, What Influences You Other Than Books?
By THOMAS MALLON and JAMES PARKER
Thomas Mallon and James Parker discuss what influences their work — aside from other books.
Children's Books
Bookshelf: Lives of the Artists
By MARIA RUSSO
New picture books include “Matisse’s Garden,” “Mr. Cornell’s Dream Boxes” and “Edward Hopper Paints His World.”
Bookshelf: Sea Creatures
By MARIA RUSSO
New picture books include Chris Raschka’s “Clammy Clam” and Carron Brown’s “Secrets of the Seashore.”
Bookshelf: Misbehavior
By MARIA RUSSO
New picture books include Lisa Charrier’s “Oh My, Oh No!” and Steve Antony’s “Betty Goes Bananas.”
Inside The New York Times Book Review Podcast
This week, Gary Krist discusses “Empire of Sin”; Alexandra Alter has news from the literary world; Maria Russo talks about this week’s Children’s Books section; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Pamela Paul is the host.
Book Review Features
Inside the List
By GREGORY COWLES
Jill Lepore, whose “Secret History of Wonder Woman” is No. 12 on the hardcover nonfiction list, says “Wonder Woman’s origin story borrows from all the conventions of feminist utopian fiction.”
First Editions, Second Thoughts
Next month, Christie’s will auction off 75 first editions to benefit PEN American Center. Each has been annotated by its respective author or artist.
T Magazine
Old Books, New Thoughts
By PHILIP ROTH, LYDIA DAVIS, ROBERT A. CARO, GEORGE SAUNDERS, MARILYNNE ROBINSON, JENNIFER EGAN, JUNOT DÍAZ
On the occasion of an auction of annotated first editions to benefit PEN American Center, seven authors look back on their early books and younger selves.
Gillian Flynn’s Comic-Book Story
November 11, 2014
The Amazing Adventures of Ronson & Chabon
November 10, 2014
Museum Sues Sendak Estate Over Rare Books
November 10, 2014
Science Bookshelf
Best-Selling Science Books
Titles, fundamentally based on the sciences, as selected by the science editors from all adult nonfiction books reported to The New York Times for the month.
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