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Table for Two

Amor Towles's short story collection Table for Two reads as something of a dream compilation for those of us who have dearly wished we could spend just a bit more time in the company of his ...

Beyond the Book

Olivia de Havilland and the Studio System

In the novella "Eve in Hollywood," in Amor Towles's Table for Two, Eve Ross becomes close friends with the actress Olivia de Havilland. It is 1938, and De Havilland's popular new ...

Bitter Crop

In 1958, Billie Holiday began work on an ambitious album called Lady in Satin . Accompanied by a full orchestra for the first time in her career and nervous, she was often late to rehearsal, drunk, or ...

The Tangled History of "Strange Fruit"

In February 1959, Billie Holiday sang the anti-lynching song she popularized, 'Strange Fruit,' on the London television show Chelsea at Nine. She was battling liver disease because of a prodigious ...

Under This Red Rock

Since she was a child, Neely has suffered from auditory hallucinations, hearing voices that demand water or praise or criticize her depending on the day. The only real respite she has is in the local ...

Auditory Hallucinations

Neely, the main character in Mindy McGinnis's Under This Red Rock, experiences auditory hallucinations (AHs). Since an early age, Neely has heard people clapping for her, children laughing and playing...

John Ferguson is a principled man. But when, in 1843, those principles drive him to break from the established Church of Scotland, the evangelical minister soon finds himself a poor man, too. Stripped...

The Highland Clearances

In Clear, the third novel from Carys Davies, an impoverished presbyterian minister reluctantly takes part in the Highland Clearances, a series of mass evictions that took place in the north of ...

Édouard Louis's 2014 debut novel, The End of Eddy —an instant literary success, published when Louis was just twenty-one—follows the life of a gay youth in a small, poor factory town ...

The Sociological Work of Pierre Bourdieu

In addition to being a novelist, Édouard Louis, author of Change, is a scholar of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Louis's scholarly work has explicitly informed his novels, which are ...

Big Time , the latest offering from prolific novelist and screenwriter Ben H. Winters, is as philosophical as it is electrifying to read. Set in the near future, the novel follows the interwoven ...

What Is a Portacath?

A portacath is a medical device used to assist with the treatment of ongoing conditions, most commonly cancer. It is composed of two key parts: the portal, which is a small chamber usually made of ...

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The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson

From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.

The House on Biscayne Bay by Chanel Cleeton

As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.

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Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner A heartrending story about a young mother’s fight to keep her daughter, and the terrible injustice that tears them apart.

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Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.

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Here are the Books We Love: 380+ great 2023 reads recommended by NPR

November 20, 2023 • Books We Love returns with 380+ new titles handpicked by NPR staff and trusted critics. Find 11 years of recommendations all in one place – that's more than 3,600 great reads.

11 books to look forward to in 2024

December 30, 2023 • The first few months of the year are stacked with exciting and interesting reads. Get ready for big swings from old pros and exciting new debuts.

Barbara Walters forged a path for women in journalism, but not without paying a price

April 24, 2024 • Walters was the first woman to co-anchor a national news show on prime time television. "The path she cut is one that many of us have followed," says biographer Susan Page, author of The Rulebreaker.

Keary Hines, Prairie View, Texas. Ivan McClellan hide caption

Photography

A photographer documented black cowboys across the u.s. for a new book.

April 24, 2024 • NPR's A Martinez speaks with photojournalist Ivan McClellan about his new book documenting Black cowboys, Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture .

A sample of pages from chapter 9 of the book, which profiles poet and essayist Louise Glück. Penguin Press hide caption

In a collection of 40+ interviews, author Adam Moss tries to find the key to creation

April 24, 2024 • Author Adam Moss interviewed more than 40 creative minds to find out how they went from a blank page to finished work of art.

After decades creating and publishing recipes, cookbook author Joan Nathan has released what she said is likely her final book, a cookbook and memoir called "My Life in Recipes." Michael Zamora/NPR hide caption

After years of documenting Jewish food traditions, Joan Nathan focuses on her family's

April 23, 2024 • Joan Nathan has spent her life exploring in the kitchen, but for the Passover Seder, she sticks with a menu that follows her own family's traditions.

Playwright Ayad Akhtar on stage at the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards in his role as then-president of the organization. Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America hide caption

Book News & Features

Pen america cancels awards ceremony after writers protest.

April 23, 2024 • PEN America has cancelled its annual Literary Awards ceremony after nearly half of the authors nominated withdrew in protest over the organization's response to the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.

A voter leaves a voting booth in Concord, N.H., the during primary election on Jan. 23, 2024. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

How the Founding Fathers' concept of 'Minority Rule' is alive and well today

April 22, 2024 • Journalist Ari Berman says the founding fathers created a system that concentrated power in the hands of an elite minority — and that their decisions continue to impact American democracy today.

Looking for new ways to appreciate nature? 2 new birding books may help

April 22, 2024 • Novelist Amy Tan's The Backyard Bird Chronicles centers on an array of birds that visit her yard, as Trish O'Kane's Birding to Change the World recalls lessons from birds that galvanized her teaching.

Amy Tan, author of The Backyard Bird Chronicles . Kim Newmoney/Penguin Randomhouse hide caption

Interview highlights

Amy tan's bird obsession led to a new book — and keeping mealworms in her fridge.

April 22, 2024 • In The Backyard Bird Chronicles , author Amy Tan charts her foray into birdwatching and the natural wonders of the world.

Picture This

George takei 'lost freedom' some 80 years ago – now he's written that story for kids.

April 20, 2024 • When actor George Takei was 4 years old, he was labeled an "enemy" by the U.S. government and sent to a string of incarceration camps. His new children's book about that time is My Lost Freedom.

'When I Think of You' could be a ripped-from-the-headlines Hollywood romance

April 18, 2024 • Myah Ariel's debut is like a fizzy, angsty mash-up of Bolu Babalola and Kennedy Ryan as the challenges of doing meaningful work in Hollywood threaten two young lovers' romantic reunion.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Salman Rushdie (April 8, 2024). Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

Consider This from NPR

What happened when the threat of danger became salman rushdie's reality.

April 17, 2024 • Salman Rushdie is probably most closely associated with his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, a book inspired by the life of the prophet Muhummad. The book was notorious not just for its contents but because of the intense backlash, and the threat it posed to his safety and wellbeing.

In Alua Arthur's 2023 TED Talk , she said her ideal death would happen at sunset. Yeofi Andoh/HarperCollins hide caption

Death doula says life is more meaningful if you 'get real' about the end

April 17, 2024 • Alua Arthur helps people plan for death. A big part of her work is helping them reconcile the lives they lived with the lives they might have wanted. Her memoir is called Briefly Perfectly Human.

5 new mysteries and thrillers for your nightstand this spring

April 17, 2024 • These new books will take you from murder in present-day Texas to cryptography in Cold War Berlin to an online community that might hold the solution to a missing-person case.

Watch: Salman Rushdie on the moment he was attacked on stage, and why he felt lonely

April 17, 2024 • Salman Rushdie is a storyteller. So when you ask him to describe the day, in 2022, when he was attacked and nearly killed by a young man with a knife, Rushdie paints a vivid picture.

Lindsey Anderson sits down to read Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina to her children Orion, 6, Arthur, 4, and Thora Hoke, 1, inside the exhibit inspired by the book inside The Rabbit hOle, an immersive museum dedicated to children's literature, in North Kansas City, Mo. Katie Currid for NPR hide caption

The Picture Show

An immersive museum in kansas city allows kids to explore their favorite books.

April 17, 2024 • A new museum in Kansas City is designed for kids to be immersed in their favorite books, including classics like Goodnight Moon.

Cumulative book bans in the United States, July 1, 2021 - December 31, 2023. See the full PEN America report here. PEN America hide caption

Report: Last year ended with a surge in book bans

April 16, 2024 • According to PEN America, 4,349 books were banned from schools between July and December 2023, more than the entire previous school year. More than 3,000 of those bans were in Florida.

Paralympic medalist Scout Bassett's book describes her journey in finding success on and off the track. Elsa/Getty Images hide caption

'Lucky Girl' is the global journey of a Paralympic medalist

April 16, 2024 • In the book, Lucky Girl , Paralympic medalist Scout Bassett says she felt lost until she found running.

It's a wild ride to get to the bottom of what everyone's hiding in 'A Better World'

April 16, 2024 • A very sinister thriller with a dash of science-fiction and full of inscrutabilities, Sarah Langan's novel is as entreating and creepy as it is timely and humane.

Salman Rushdie says writing Knife allowed him to change his relationship to the attack. "Instead of just being the person who got stabbed, I now see myself as the person who wrote a book about getting stabbed," he says. Rachel Eliza Griffiths/Penguin Random House hide caption

Two nights before the attack, Salman Rushdie dreamed he was stabbed onstage

April 16, 2024 • Rushdie was onstage at a literary event in 2022 when he was attacked by a man in the audience: "Dying in the company of strangers — that was what was going through my mind." His new book is Knife .

Why Patricia Highsmith's most famous creature, Tom Ripley, continues to fascinate

April 15, 2024 • Sinister and visually stunning, the new Netflix series Ripley reminds us why Patricia Highsmith's book The Talented Mr. Ripley continues to influence popular culture.

5 takeaways from Salman Rushdie's new memoir 'Knife'

April 15, 2024 • Nearly two years after the renowned author was stabbed on stage in Chautauqua, N.Y., Rushdie's new memoir unpacks everything he's been feeling since the attack.

Doris Kearns Goodwin and Dick Goodwin were married in 1975. Marc Peloquin, courtesy of the author. hide caption

A historian's view of 'an extraordinary time capsule of the '60s'

April 15, 2024 • In her new book, Doris Kearns Goodwin revisits the '60s through her late husband Richard Goodwin's perspective—and her own.

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• Seen & Heard Photo Memoir by Shirley MacLaine Coming This Fall

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What Book Should You Read Next?

Finding a book you’ll love can be daunting. Let us help.

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By The New York Times Books Staff

• Published April 16, 2023 Updated Feb. 20, 2024

Fiction | Nonfiction

For more recommendations, subscribe to our Read Like the Wind newsletter, check out our romance columnist’s favorite books of the year so far or visit our What to Read page.

At The New York Times Book Review, we write about thousands of books every year. Many of them are good. Some are even great. But we get that sometimes you just want to know, “What should I read that is good or great for me ? Well, here you go — a running list of some of the year’s best, most interesting, most talked-about books. Check back next month to see what we’ve added.

We chose the 10 best books of 2023. See the full list .

I want a great American book full of humanity

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store , by James McBride

McBride’s latest opens with a human skeleton found in a well in the 1970s, and then flashes back to the past, to the ’20s and ’30s, to explore the remains’ connection to one town’s Black, Jewish and immigrant history. But rather than a straightforward whodunit, McBride weaves an intimate tale of community.

Local bookstores | Barnes and Noble | Amazon

I’d like an intricate, immersive fantasy

The book of love , by kelly link.

Link, a Pulitzer finalist and master of short stories, pushes our understanding of what a fantasy novel can be. Here, she follows three teenagers who return from the dead and compete for the chance to remain alive in a series of magical challenges, spinning a rich tale full of secrets and the supernatural.

Local booksellers | Barnes and Noble | Amazon

I want to read a book everyone is (still) talking about

Demon copperhead , by barbara kingsolver.

Kingsolver’s powerful novel, published in 2022, is a close retelling of Charles Dickens’s “David Copperfield” set in contemporary Appalachia. The story gallops through issues including childhood poverty, opioid addiction and rural dispossession even as its larger focus remains squarely on the question of how an artist’s consciousness is formed. Like Dickens, Kingsolver is unblushingly political and works on a sprawling scale, animating her pages with an abundance of charm and the presence of seemingly every creeping thing that has ever crept upon the earth.

Introduce me to a family I’ll love (even if they break my heart)

The bee sting , by paul murray.

This tragicomic novel follows a once wealthy, now ailing Irish family, the Barneses, as they struggle with both the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash and their own inner demons.

How about a thrilling, wrenching story that puts heroic women at the center?

The women , by kristin hannah.

The best-selling author of “The Nightingale” follows a San Diego debutante who works as an Army nurse during the Vietnam War. “Hannah’s real superpower is her ability to hook you along from catastrophe to catastrophe, sometimes peering between your fingers, because you simply cannot give up on her characters,” our reviewer wrote.

I’d like a cozy story that appreciates the little things

Tom lake , by ann patchett.

Set on a cherry orchard during the recent pandemic, this novel has echoes of both Anton Chekhov and Thornton Wilder. It follows three sisters in their 20s quarantining with their mother and drawing out stories from her past as an actress.

I’d like to be wowed by a historical masterpiece

The fraud , by zadie smith.

Based on a celebrated 19th-century criminal trial in which the defendant was accused of impersonating a nobleman, Smith’s novel offers a vast, acute panoply of London and the English countryside, and successfully locates the social controversies of an era in a handful of characters.

I’d like a smart romantic comedy that avoids cliché

Good material , by dolly alderton.

Alderton’s novel, about a 35-year-old man struggling to make sense of a breakup, delivers the most delightful aspects of romantic comedy — snappy dialogue, realistic relationship dynamics, funny meet-cutes and misunderstandings — and leaves behind clichéd gender roles and the traditional marriage plot.

How about a heartwarming novel to suit any mood?

Remarkably bright creatures , by shelby van pelt.

This debut novel, a runaway best seller, follows a widow named Tova who starts working overnight shifts at a nearby aquarium, where she forms a bond with an octopus named Marcellus. As they grow closer, it turns out that Marcellus holds the key to one of her most painful episodes: the disappearance, decades ago, of her son.

I plan on watching the Oscars

Killers of the flower moon , by david grann.

Now that you’ve sat through the nearly four-hour film adaptation, why not read the source material? This true-crime story follows the story of the Osage Nation, driven onto land in Oklahoma and made rich by the immense oil deposits later discovered underneath. Then, members of the tribe started to turn up dead. “The crime story it tells is appalling, and stocked with authentic heroes and villains,” our critic Dwight Garner wrote of the book, back in 2017. “It will make you cringe at man’s inhumanity to man.”

I’d like a nuanced look at the border crisis

Everyone who is gone is here , by jonathan blitzer.

This timely and instructive history, from a New Yorker staff writer, situates the immigration crisis as the outcome of a long and vexed entanglement between the United States and its southern neighbors.

Teach me about a forgotten chapter of American history

Madness , by antonia hylton.

Hylton investigates the hidden history of Crownsville Hospital, a segregated asylum on 1,500 acres in Anne Arundel County, Md., that operated for over 90 years. The story has resonance today — particularly regarding America’s continuing failure to care for Black minds.

I can’t learn enough about WWII

Judgment at tokyo , by gary j. bass.

Written by a veteran journalist and Princeton professor, this immersive look at the prosecution of Japanese war crimes offers an elegant account of a moment that shaped the politics of the region and of the Cold War to come.

I want a revelatory biography of someone I thought I knew everything about

King: a life , by jonathan eig.

The first comprehensive biography of Martin Luther King Jr. in decades, Eig’s book draws on a landslide of recently released government documents as well as letters and interviews. This is a book worthy of its subject: both an intimate study of a complex and flawed human being and a journalistic account of a civil rights titan.

I want a dramatic history that reads like a novel

Master slave husband wife: an epic journey from slavery to freedom , by ilyon woo.

Woo’s book recounts a daring feat: the successful flight north from Georgia in 1848 by an enslaved couple disguised as a sickly young white planter and his male slave. But her meticulous retelling is equally a feat — of research, storytelling, sympathy and insight.

I want to hear Britney’s side of the story

The woman in me , by britney spears.

Spears is stronger than ever in her long-awaited memoir. She reveals plenty about her life in the spotlight, but tempers well-earned bitterness with an enduring, insistent optimism.

I’d like a moving memoir about friendship and mental illness

The best minds: a story of friendship, madness, and the tragedy of good intentions , by jonathan rosen.

In his engrossing new memoir, Rosen pieces together how he and his brilliant childhood friend, Michael Laudor, ended up taking sharply divergent paths. (Laudor came to prominence as a Yale Law School graduate working to destigmatize schizophrenia, but later killed his pregnant girlfriend.) Rosen brings plenty of compassion to this gripping reconstruction of Laudor’s life and their friendship.

Honestly, I really like reading about animals

What an owl knows: the new science of the world’s most enigmatic birds , by jennifer ackerman.

There are some 260 species of owls spread across every continent except Antarctica, and in this fascinating book, Ackerman explains why the birds are both naturally wondrous and culturally significant.

Take down a dazzling, erudite rabbit hole

Doppelganger: a trip into the mirror world , by naomi klein.

After she was repeatedly confused online with the feminist scholar turned anti-vaxxer Naomi Wolf, Klein, the author of “The Shock Doctrine” and other progressive books, turned the experience into this sober, stylish account of the lure of disdain and paranoia.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

Salman Rushdie’s new memoir, “Knife,” addresses the attack that maimed him  in 2022, and pays tribute to his wife who saw him through .

Recent books by Allen Bratton, Daniel Lefferts and Garrard Conley depict gay Christian characters not usually seen in queer literature.

What can fiction tell us about the apocalypse? The writer Ayana Mathis finds unexpected hope in novels of crisis by Ling Ma, Jenny Offill and Jesmyn Ward .

At 28, the poet Tayi Tibble has been hailed as the funny, fresh and immensely skilled voice of a generation in Māori writing .

Amid a surge in book bans, the most challenged books in the United States in 2023 continued to focus on the experiences of L.G.B.T.Q. people or explore themes of race.

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

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