A Guide to Joan Didion’s Books
Ms. Didion was a prolific writer of stylish essays, novels, screenplays and memoirs. Here is an overview of some of her works, as reviewed in The Times.
For queer Seoulites in 'Love in the Big City,' pride and shame intertwine
Sang Young Park's novel can be read as an anthropological approach to Seoulite queer lives in the 21st century: Its four linked stories capture the experience of being both visible and unacknowledged.
(Image credit: Grove Atlantic)
Katie Couric Likes Books on Paper, and Articles Onscreen
“Sometimes I read my iPad in the bathtub, which is probably not a great idea.”
Best-Selling Debut Novels Are the Bald Eagles of the Book World
Unless an author is a household name or has a celebrity endorsement, the hardcover fiction list can be elusive for first-timers.
Was Elizabeth Taylor the Best British Novelist of the Postwar Era?
A reissue of her novel “Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont” solidifies the case, Geoff Dyer argues in his review.
'Small Things Like These' add up to a seismic change in 1980s Ireland
In Claire Keegan's feminist take on Dickens, a boy born to an unwed teen builds a life as a coal merchant, husband, and father to five daughters, and faces crises of faith and conscience.
(Image credit: Grove Atlantic)
'A Marvellous Light' infuses magic and adventures into 19th century England
The 19th century historical fantasy wherein magic is a layer over the already complicated strata of society is a fairly common genre, but Freya Marske makes it feel fresh in this treat of a book.
(Image credit: Tordotcom)
Newly Published, From Sea Stories to Trauma’s Impact
A selection of books published this week.
'All Her Little Secrets' asks whether we can reinvent ourselves
Wanda M. Morris' All Her Little Secrets is a carefully constructed thriller wrapped in a narrative about racism, gentrification, and being the only Black person in an all-white environment.
(Image credit: William Morrow )
Four Poets Write New Histories
The past and the future are very much present in new collections from Tracy K. Smith, Raymond Antrobus, Tishani Doshi and Jane Wong.
'Mothers, Fathers, and Others' addresses the realities of motherhood
Siri Hustvedt's essays bring into focus the profound contradictions of motherhood — often eclipsed by the cultural idealization of mothers as the model of self-sacrificing nurturance.
(Image credit: Simon & Schuster)
The 1619 Project
UnCovered review by Collette Jones, Librarian, ACLS Pleasantville Branch
THE 1619 PROJECT, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones, is the new book expansion version of the 2019 New York Times essays written by journalists. The new book adds to the collection of essays with historical points of view and poems reflecting racial injustice and a narrative explaining the historical perspective of the criminalization of enslaved people. History is not just about learning what happened, but it is just as important how we think about what happened. Re-framing America’s beginning from 1776 to 1619, when the first slave ship arrived, brings slavery and racism as central points of reference to the origin story of American people. Hannah-Jones refers to Black Americans as the country’s “true founding fathers as so deserving as those men cast in alabaster in the nation’s capital.”
Civil Rights Lawyer Bryan Stevenson’s chapter titled “Punishment,” and another chapter titled “Fear” written by legal scholar Michelle Alexander, push the reader to examine and trace the 13th Amendment. It is eye-opening that there is a loophole which ended involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime whereby the party shall be convicted.
The suggestion that the New Jim Crow author is tracing this part of American history and tying it into the current crisis with private prisons and mass incarceration is riveting.
Historian Carol Anderson writes a piece “Self-Defense” and traces the second amendment, claiming it did not concede the right of Black Americans to bear arms because enslaved people were not considered citizens.
Ibram X. Kendi writes that America requires a Third Reconstruction to address unfulfilled promises. The final chapter by Hannah-Jones identifies priorities currently that need attention that include: wages, universal healthcare, childcare, college, student loan debt, and cash repartitions for Black Americans.
Other “targeted investments” include enforcing civil rights laws for housing, education, employment in Black communities across the country.
Poignant writing. Compelling storytelling. Timely. Provocative. Controversial.
In 'Sea State,' life gets rocky when a journalist gets involved with her subject
Tabitha Lasley spent six months in Aberdeen, Scotland, interviewing men who work on offshore oil rigs. Along the way, she had an all-consuming affair with one of the very first men she interviewed.
(Image credit: Harper Collins)
As a Black Bard of the South, Randall Kenan Toppled Monuments
Through his fictional North Carolina town of Tims Creek, the author brought his buried lineage front and center.
The Life of a Jazz Age Madam
Debby Applegate discusses her new biography of Polly Adler, and Matthew Pearl talks about “The Taking of Jemima Boone.”
The Best Book Covers of 2021
The Book Review’s art director picks his favorite covers from a year that reminded him of the joys of picking up a book and holding it in his hands.
Alex Haley Taught America About Race — and a Young Man How to Write
In 1968, the celebrated author of “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” arrived at Hamilton College to teach and work on his magnum opus, “Roots.” Now, on the centenary of his birth, a former student recalls Haley’s class.
New in Paperback: ‘Wild Minds’ and ‘People From My Neighborhood’
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Science Fiction, ‘The Decameron’ and Other Letters to the Editor
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
Mac Barnett Reviews Picture Books About Time and Space
These four author-illustrators have time to play with.
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