Visiting an Elusive Writer, and Revisiting His Masterpiece
Our critic talks to Edward P. Jones about how he imagined “The Known World,” recently voted the best work of fiction by an American writer in the 21st century.
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Book Review
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CreditHilton Als 3 Critics + 100 Books = Something to Argue About
The good news: Our “Best Books of the 21st Century” list showed surprising affection for works in translation. But where are Sally Rooney, Ayad Akhtar and others “explaining how we live now”?
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‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Gets a Blockbuster Sequel
Our critic traces J.D. Vance’s shift from bootstrap memoirist to vice-presidential candidate.
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CreditStefan Jeremiah/Associated Press 50 Years Ago, ‘Jaws’ Hit Bookstores, Capturing the Angst of a Generation
The novel became the beach read of the summer, with the shark at its center embodying the unease of an era of political and social upheaval.
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CreditElizabeth Renstrom for The New York Times
That’s a Dizzying List! Help Me Choose a Book.
There’s no getting around the fact that the list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century is… daunting. Want to start reading a new book right away? We can help.
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CreditThe New York Times The Most Memorable Literary Moments of the Last 25 Years
Todgers, vampires and celebrity book clubs: It’s been quite a ride.
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CreditThe New York Times The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
As voted on by 503 book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.
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CreditJulia Gartland for The New York Times The Book Review’s Best Books Since 2000
Looking for your next great read? We’ve got 3,228. Explore the best fiction and nonfiction from 2000 - 2023 chosen by our editors.
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CreditThe New York Times; Photo by naphtalina/Getty Images Best-Seller Lists: July 21, 2024
All the lists: print, e-books, fiction, nonfiction, children’s books and more.
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Books of The Times
More in Books of The Times ›The Art Critic Who Changed Many Tastes, Including His Own
Peter Schjeldahl’s final book collects the essays and reviews he wrote in the years after a cancer diagnosis.
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CreditAda Calhoun On the Lam in the Wild West, With Bounty Hunters Trailing
Kevin Barry’s new novel follows a fugitive couple from Butte, Mont., in the late 19th century.
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CreditEvelyn J. Cameron/Montana Historical Society Back When Women Were Told to ‘Write Like a Man’
For the midcentury New York intellectuals, Ronnie Grinberg writes in a new book, a particular kind of machismo was de rigueur — even for women.
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Creditvia Riverside Films The Angel of Death Has Some Reservations About His Job
Joy Williams distills much learning — from philosophy, religion and history — into 99 stories about the guy who takes your soul.
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CreditJay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times, via Contour RA Jailhouse Correspondence Gives Bernie Madoff the ‘Final Word’
The journalist Richard Behar communicated extensively with the disgraced financier. His rigorous if irreverent book acknowledges his subject’s humanity.
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CreditRuby Washington/The New York Times
The Global ProfileThe Poet Who Commands a Rebel Army
“Revolution is the job of poets and artists,” says Ko Maung Saungkha, leader of a rebel militia fighting the Myanmar dictatorship. He is not the only poet commander in a country with a strong tradition of political verse.
By Hannah Beech and Daniel Berehulak
FictionKing Arthur Is Dead. Long Live King Arthur!
In Lev Grossman’s new book, “The Bright Sword,” an eager adventurer stumbles into a Camelot that has fallen into hopelessness and disarray after the death of the king.
By Kiersten White
NonfictionA Brutal Gang, a Dead Baby and a Struggling Immigrant L.A.
Jesse Katz’s true-crime narrative, “The Rent Collectors,” delivers a nuanced portrait of a community racked by poverty and violence and deprived of opportunities to get ahead.
By Ben Ehrenreich
NonfictionWhen Gangland Was Jewish
Two exuberant new books chronicle the heyday of New York City’s criminal underworld on the Lower East Side.
By Debby Applegate
FictionAnd Now, the Millennial Midlife-Crisis Novel
In Halle Butler’s new book, “Banal Nightmare,” a 30-something woman returns to her hometown to get out of a rut and reassess her life after a bad breakup.
By Amil Niazi
Fiction‘Bright Objects’ Brings Together a Cult, a Comet and a Widow Out for Justice
Set among the fevered residents of a remote Australian town, Ruby Todd’s debut novel considers how grief can draw people to extreme beliefs.
By Ivy Pochoda
ThrillersIn These Thrillers, Everyone Has Secrets. Big Ones.
Our columnist on three riveting new reads.
By Sarah Lyall
Do You Know These Movies Based on Shakespeare’s Plays?
Try this short quiz on modern films that drew their inspiration from classic works written for the stage hundreds of years ago.
By J. D. Biersdorfer
nonfictionA Phenomenally Weird Tale of a Man and His Rodent Metropolis
In “Rat City,” Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden explore the life, times and influence of the scientific Pied Piper, John Bumpass Calhoun.
By Ian Volner
Of Demigods and Minotaurs: Greeking Out in Athens and Crete
On a family tour of Greece, the writer followed the small footsteps of some of ancient mythology’s biggest fans.
By Reif Larsen
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