Recent Reviews
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Claudia Emerson, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, dies at 57
Ms. Emerson was honored for a collection of verses illuminating the complex legacy of divorce and death.
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Emperor of Europe
In “Napoleon,” Andrew Roberts chronicles the life of the man who conquered Europe.
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When looking is interfering
Two new books tell us a great deal about scientific phenomena we can’t understand.
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Thinking beyond national identities
Toumani embarks on a journey to grapple with and find the meaning of the Armenian genocide.
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America’s foreign-policy shortcomings
David Rothkopf outlines the dangers America faces from its repeated failings in foreign-policy foresight.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_145x100/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/style-blog/201412/Images/BestBooks-300x300.jpg)
Why shouldn’t Ayelet Waldman complain?
More -- and more candid -- discussion of best books lists would enrich our literary culture.
A holiday story collection from popular YA authors
“My True Love Gave to Me” includes stories by Kelly Link, Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan.
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Book review: ‘Hope’ by Richard Zoglin
The biographer takes an unflinching look at Bob Hope’s long career.
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‘Twilight of the Eastern Gods,’ by Ismail Kadare
For the first time in English, the author’s reminiscence of the Gorky Institute for World Literature in 1958
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Emily Dickinson birthday marathon
The Library of Congress and the Folger Library will celebrate the Belle of Amherst all day long on Dec. 8.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/12/03/BookWorld/Images/Modiano.jpg)
Michael Dirda reviews ‘Suspended Sentences’
Three novellas by the Nobel Prize winner are quiet, mysterious tales reminiscent of Paul Auster’s works.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/11/24/BookWorld/Images/9780525427247_large_First_Impressions.jpg)
Book review of ‘First Impressions,’ by Charlie Lovett
A Jane Austen mystery threatens to turn the literary world upside down.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/11/24/BookWorld/Images/AS_121.jpg)
‘How to Be Both,’ by Ali Smith
Two women, separated by 500 years, reflect on art, grief and — impossibly — each other.
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Best new romance novels for December
Sarah Maclean chooses three powerful heroes who struggle with the burden of their duty.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/12/02/Obituaries/Images/KSP13_Haru_9780307959881ap2.jpg)
Kent Haruf, novelist of small-town intrigue, dies at 71
Mr. Haruf drew acclaim for novels set in Colorado including “The Tie That Binds” and “Plainsong.”
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Looking for a good book? Ask a penguin.
Inspired by the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, Penguin Random House unveils the Penguin Hotline.
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A new biography offers a fresh look at Eugene O’Neill
How the playwright’s life did — and did not — influence his work.
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Mark Strand, acclaimed bard of absence and loss, dies a
Mr. Strand, 80, won a Pulitzer Prize and served as U.S. poet laureate from 1990-1991.
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Gifts for book lovers — from a penny to Christian Grey’s bathroom
New York magazine’s big book of gifts includes modest and immodest ideas for the holidays.
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President Obama — and everyone else — was buying books this weekend
Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See” and Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal” were hot titles in Washington over the Thanksgiving holiday.
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Crime fiction: ‘The Big Finish,’ by James W. Hall
When his son gets involved with a radical environmental group, Thorn sets out to bring him home.
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Novelist Kent Haruf
In his celebrated novels “Plainsong,” “Eventide” and “Benediction,” he explored the struggles of ordinary people in eastern Colorado.
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Friendship of titans
Thomas Maier details the shenanigans behind the power of Joe Kennedy and Winston Churchill.
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The right man to remake the Church?
Austen Ivereigh traces the life of Pope Francis to illuminate the origins of his radical papal message.
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Q&A with Steven Pinker
The author of ‘The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century’
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‘De Niro: A Life,’ by Shawn Levy
With a marked ability to become whatever character he’s playing, who exactly is Robert De Niro?
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P.D. James, renowned British crime novelist, dies at 94
In her many books, Ms. James showed a gritty mastery of the crime genre and of human nature.
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‘Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love,’ by James Booth
A valuable critical biography of the great poet that focuses on Larkin’s life as refracted in his writing.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/11/13/BookWorld/Images/The%20Book%20of%20Strange%20New%20Things.jpg)
‘The Book of Strange New Things,’ by Michel Faber
A Christian minister is sent to a distant planet to bring Jesus to the aliens.
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‘The Frozen Dead’: Gruesome killings in a Pyrenees town
Stock characters and predictability undo a debut novel with a thoughtful take on the homicidal mind.
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‘The Lodger,’ by Louisa Treger
A carefully researched novel about a neglected pioneer of 20th-century literature: Dorothy Richardson.
Three sci-fi novels imagine frightening alternate realities
See the world another way in ‘The Three-Body Problem,’ ‘Elysium’ and ‘Genesis Code’
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‘Betrayed,’ by Lisa Scottoline, stars a modern Nancy Drew
Like “The Good Wife’s” Alicia Florrick, the heroine here fights for justice with pluck and high drama.
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Book World: ‘The Girl Next Door’ by Ruth Rendell
Lives are pulled apart by the discovery of an old pair of severed hands.
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Why abortion is a moral decision
Katha Pollitt seeks to cast abortion as a social good — a decision made by women who celebrate motherhood.
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Marcus Samuelsson: Cooking the world, at home
Q&A: The chef and author on the global influences in an American kitchen.
Washington Post Bestsellers Dec. 7, 2014
The books Washington has been reading.
![Ron Charles](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/ron-charles_80x72.jpg)
Why shouldn’t Ayelet Waldman complain?
More -- and more candid -- discussion of best books lists would enrich our literary culture.
![Ron Charles](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/ron-charles_80x72.jpg)
Emily Dickinson birthday marathon
The Library of Congress and the Folger Library will celebrate the Belle of Amherst all day long on Dec. 8.
![Ron Charles](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/ron-charles_80x72.jpg)
‘How to Be Both,’ by Ali Smith
Two women, separated by 500 years, reflect on art, grief and — impossibly — each other.
![Michael Dirda](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/04/04/Web-Resampled/2011-04-04/michael-dirda_80x72--78x70.jpg)
Michael Dirda reviews ‘Suspended Sentences’
Three novellas by the Nobel Prize winner are quiet, mysterious tales reminiscent of Paul Auster’s works.
![Michael Dirda](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/04/04/Web-Resampled/2011-04-04/michael-dirda_80x72--78x70.jpg)
‘Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love,’ by James Booth
A valuable critical biography of the great poet that focuses on Larkin’s life as refracted in his writing.
![Michael Dirda](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141206125059im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/04/04/Web-Resampled/2011-04-04/michael-dirda_80x72--78x70.jpg)
Michael Dirda reviews ‘Jason and the Argonauts’
An amalgam of the mythic and the modern with a dash of Baron Münchausen or Marvel comics.
Literary Calendar
Going Out Guide: Upcoming events
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Get the latest on readings, signings and author appearances in the D.C. area.