Few things haunt a critic more than loving something and not being able to share it. This year, Fresh Air critic John Powers circles back to Unbelievable,Atlantics, Where the Light Falls and more.
Gillian Gill’s new biography, “Virginia Woolf: And the Women Who Shaped Her World,” traces the influences of her female family members and friends on the author’s career.
This week, Lauretta Charlton reviews Darryl Pinckney’s collection of essays “Busted in New York.” In 1992, Edmund White wrote for the Book Review about “High Cotton,” Pinckney’s debut novel about a young black man coming of age.
“The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison” capture the fiercely intelligent and irreverent author of “Invisible Man” in conversation with other novelists and critics of his day.
“So many covers tossed aside fail-safe choices this year and pursued directions that allowed for the possibility of art,” the Book Review’s art director writes.
Do you need something to look forward to over the holidays? At 500-plus pages, these novels are worth the extra space in your luggage or megabytes on your device.