Sue Monk Kidd: By the Book
The author of “The Secret Life of Bees” and, most recently, “The Invention of Wings” tries to read a poem every morning along with her coffee: “It’s the most important meal of the day.”
Sunday Book Review
‘Andrew’s Brain’
By E. L. DOCTOROW
Reviewed by TERRENCE RAFFERTY
Jonathon Rosen
In E. L. Doctorow’s new novel, a scientist tells the story of his puzzling life.
Author's Note
I Read You Loud and Clear
By KEVIN BAKER
An author drops in on a book club discussing his novel.
‘Starting Over: Stories’
By ELIZABETH SPENCER
Reviewed by MALCOLM JONES
At 92, the novelist and short-story writer Elizabeth Spencer remains a distinguished regional voice.
‘Orfeo’
By RICHARD POWERS
Reviewed by JIM HOLT
In Richard Powers’s novel, a composer’s experiment with sound and microbiology attracts the attention of Homeland Security.
‘Flyover Lives: A Memoir’
By DIANE JOHNSON
Reviewed by CHRISTOPHER BENFEY
Diane Johnson, who writes frequently about France, discovers the appeal of her native Midwest.
‘The Exiles Return’
By ELISABETH DE WAAL
Reviewed by ANDREW ERVIN
Elisabeth de Waal’s novel of betrayal and loss in postwar Vienna.
‘The Bird Skinner’
By ALICE GREENWAY
Reviewed by JOANNA HERSHON
An unexpected arrival stirs memories of war.
‘The Empire of Necessity’
By GREG GRANDIN
Reviewed by ANDREW DELBANCO
Greg Grandin tells the story of the slave uprising that inspired Melville’s “Benito Cereno.”
‘A Highly Unlikely Scenario’
By RACHEL CANTOR
Reviewed by LYDIA NETZER
In Rachel Cantor’s novel, rival fast-food factions pursue philosophical truths.
‘The Light and the Dark’
By MIKHAIL SHISHKIN. Translated by ANDREW BROMFIELD.
Reviewed by BORIS FISHMAN
In a postmodern Russian epistolary novel, two lovers are separated both by distance and by time.
Children's Books
Maira Kalman's "Thomas Jefferson."
In poetry and prose, these books shed light on the fascinating, complicated lives of our commanders in chief.
Children's Books
Hitting the Road
By PETER BEHRENS
Punk rockers and a pair of misfits unite for cross-country trips in two young adult novels.
Children's Books
Unbridled
By JILLIAN DUNHAM
In two middle-grade novels, horses possess fantastical abilities, including the power of speech.
Children's Books
‘The Impossible Knife of Memory’
By LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON
Reviewed by JO KNOWLES
The daughter of a traumatized war veteran must care for her father and survive senior year in Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel.
Books News & Reviews
Amiri Baraka, Polarizing Poet and Playwright, Dies at 79
By MARGALIT FOX
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Mr. Baraka at home in Newark in 2007. He was a lecturer and poet whose words were celebrated by some, but considered hateful by others.
Mr. Baraka’s work was widely anthologized, and he was also long famous as a political firebrand, with critical opinion divided in every arena.
Books of The Times
‘Words Will Break Cement’
By MASHA GESSEN
Reviewed by ALEXANDER NAZARYAN
In “Words Will Break Cement,” Masha Gessen explores the impact of the Russian musical activist group Pussy Riot.
The Murderer and the Manuscript
By SARAH WEINMAN
The winner of the novel-writing contest was a complete unknown, right down to the fact that he was serving a life sentence.
Holiday Sales Slide 60% at Struggling Barnes & Noble Nook Unit
By JULIE BOSMAN
Revenue in the Nook division, which includes digital content and devices, fell 60 percent, while sales in its bookstores dropped 6.6 percent, the company said.
Old Breakfast Buddies, From Tarzan to Snoopy
By DANA JENNINGS
Sunday afternoon with the funnies: retro comic strips can make a comeback in a digital world, with new collections published as books.
Santiago Journal
A Chilean Dictator’s Secret Book Collection: Heavy on Napoleon, Light on Fiction
By SIMON ROMERO
General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, known for his brutal 17-year rule, amassed about 50,000 volumes for his private library, using public money.
Books of The Times
‘Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War’
By ROBERT M. GATES
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
In his fascinating new memoir “Duty,” former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates provides highly revealing insights about decision making in both the Obama and Bush White Houses.
Bipartisan Critic Turns His Gaze Toward Obama
By THOM SHANKER
Former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’s new memoir is the first describing the Obama administration’s policy deliberations written from inside the cabinet.
Books of The Times
‘The Kept’
By JAMES SCOTT
Reviewed by IVY POCHODA
Dark themes are explored after most of a family is shot dead in “The Kept,” James Scott’s first novel.
Children’s Books
Part of Something Big
By SARAH HARRISON SMITH
“The Cart That Carried Martin” is about the day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral, and “We Shall Overcome” tells the story of the civil rights movement through a popular song.
Books of The Times
‘Little Failure’
By GARY SHTEYNGART
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
Gary Shteyngart’s memoir, “Little Failure,” tracks his family’s immigration to the United States from the Soviet Union.
C. T. Hsia, Who Brought Chinese Literature to the West, Dies at 92
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Dr. Hsia helped introduce modern Chinese literature to the West in the 1960s while teaching at Columbia University.
Elizabeth Jane Howard, Novelist of Mid-Century British Life, Dies at 90
By MARGALIT FOX
Ms. Howard’s five-part series, The Cazalet Chronicles, traces a British family before, during and after World War II.
Giving Voice, and Finding Her Own
By FELICIA R. LEE
Race and the South have helped shape the novelist Sue Monk Kidd, whose new work, “The Invention of Wings,” is out this week.
Books of The Times
‘The Trip to Echo Spring’
By OLIVIA LAING
Reviewed by JOHN WILLIAMS
In “The Trip to Echo Spring,” Olivia Laing combines literary analysis, memoir and travelogue in examining six writers and their alcoholism.
A King’s Counselor, Whittled to Size
By PATRICK HEALY
Hilary Mantel’s two Man Booker-winning historical novels, “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” are being adapted and condensed for the stage in Britain.
Opinion
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Reader
By COLIN ROBINSON
The convergence of several trends leaves the book-buying public out in the cold.
George Jacobs, Memoirist and Valet for Sinatra, Dies at 86
By MARGALIT FOX
Mr. Jacobs had a close-up of Frank Sinatra’s inner circle in the 1950s and ’60s and wrote about it in a 2003 book.
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PRINT & E-BOOKS
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HARDCOVER
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PAPERBACK
Bookends
James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot: Why Do We Keep Resurrecting the Same Literary Characters?
By JAMES PARKER and PANKAJ MISHRA
James Parker and Pankaj Mishra discuss why certain characters keep returning to life.
Open Book
Poems, Protests and Prayers
By JOHN WILLIAMS
James Parker joins the list of Bookends contributors.
The Shortlist
Global Warming
By CORAL DAVENPORT
New books by William Nordhaus, Linda Marsa, Christopher White and J. B. MacKinnon.
Bookshelf: Friends in Fur
By SARAH HARRISON SMITH
New picture books about bears include “Cub’s Big World,” by Sarah L. Thomson.
Book Review Features
Inside the List
By GREGORY COWLES
Jack Higgins, whose novel “The Death Trade” is No. 11 on the hardcover fiction list, does much of his writing at a restaurant near his home in the Channel Islands.
Inside The New York Times Book Review Podcast
This week, Greg Grandin talks about “Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World”; Julie Bosman has notes from the field; Coral Davenport discusses new books about global warming; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Pamela Paul is the host.
Twitter Gears Up for Second Fiction Festival
January 10, 2014
Book Review Podcast: ‘Empire of Necessity’
January 10, 2014
Gary Shteyngart Offers Some Jokes, Some Self-Analysis
January 9, 2014
Off the Shelf
Making the Most of Financial Resources at Hand
By PAUL B. BROWN
Those who have resolved to put their financial house on sounder footing this year may benefit from two new books.
Bookshelf
Immigrants and Red Scare Case Studies
By SAM ROBERTS
Essays on immigrants in New York and Amsterdam, a history of Italian-American food, and the human costs of McCarthyism.
Books
What Your Cat Is Thinking
By NICHOLAS WADE
What’s the meaning of that dead rodent in the house? This guide to our feline friends unravels the mysteries.
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