'In Defense of Witches' is a celebration of women
Mona Chollet's book shows how women are still today expected to act certain ways or be ostracized, as it hails feminist minds — our modern witches — and their work.
(Image credit: St. Martin's Press)
'The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea' asks: What is it that defines our destiny?
Axie Oh's retelling of "The Tale of Shim Cheong" explores what happens when love of family changes the trajectory of those involved in the Sea God's search for a hundredth, and final, bride.
(Image credit: Feiwel & Friends)
'Glory' nods to Orwell as animals explore survival under a corrupt government
NoViolet Bulawayo's book expresses a people's frustration, terror, resilience, uprising, and hope in a way that can be applied to a multitude of nations and political realities around the globe.
(Image credit: Viking)
'In Love' tells the true story of a writer supporting her husband's euthanasia choice
The question overshadowing Amy Bloom's memoir is how far you'd be willing to go for the one you love. Would you agree to help your beloved end his life when he receives a hopeless diagnosis?
(Image credit: Random House)
'The Man Who Tasted Words' forces readers to question their reality
Humans walk around feeling like they know what reality is, but the message at the core of Dr. Guy Leschziner's book is that all sensory information we receive is intrinsically ambiguous.
(Image credit: St. Martin's Press)
Trump's attorney general sends a letter from No Man's Land
In One Damn Thing After Another, Bill Barr alternates between castigating and exonerating. He catalogs Trump's offenses yet casts him as the latest victim of dishonest media and "the radical Left."
(Image credit: Shuran Huang/For NPR)
Sandy Hook took place as 'alternative facts' muscled out objective truth
A feature writer at The New York Times, author Elizabeth Williamson is a compassionate storyteller and a thorough reporter who never loses sight of the larger issues Newtown presents.
(Image credit: Dutton )
'The Wonders' portrays the struggles of working women
Elena Medel's novel follows two women, separated in time but facing similar class and gender dynamics. It particularly explores the challenges of motherhood.
(Image credit: Algonquin Books)
Really listening to someone else's convictions in 'The Believer' by Sarah Krasnostein
The author offers six profiles that include a Buddhist death doula, a student of the paranormal, the staff at the Creation Museum, and a woman who was imprisoned for her abusive husband's murder.
(Image credit: Tin House Books)
She sees life through the lens of books in 'Checkout 19'
The protagonist of Clare-Louise Bennett's novel is a determinedly unfixed and unrooted person who marks time through which writers she has read.
(Image credit: Riverhead Books)
A woman finds as many constraints in America as at home in India in 'Border Less'
The character in Namrata Poddar's novel works in a call center and dreams of a new life in the U.S. but once there, she and other emigrants feel "othered" at work and in daily life.
(Image credit: 7.13 Books)
Are we ready for COVID-19 as a central theme in literature?
Reading about plagues or COVID-19 over the last two years was not an entertaining idea for many. But the pandemic has had an impact on literature — and people may be ready for it to enter the canon.
(Image credit: Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR)
'The Paradox Hotel' is a mashup of sci-fi and crime fiction
Rob Hart delivers a story in which time is broken — and some crucial events that have a huge impact on the present haven't happened yet.
(Image credit: Ballantine Books )
With a nod to 'Lolita,' 'Vladímír' makes a sly statement about sex and power
Julia May Jonas' debut novel centers around a women's lit professor whose feminist credentials are jeopardized because of her husband's bad behavior — and by her own relationship with a colleague.
(Image credit: Simon & Schuster)
'Scoundrel' examines how and why a convicted killer went free
Sarah Weinman's book excels as an in-depth exploration of how outside influence and support can affect the criminal justice system — and as the narrative of a con artist who hurt a lot of people.
(Image credit: Ecco)
A creation myth in Sheila Heti's 'Pure Colour' has art critics as evolutionary stars
The novel is simultaneously wise and silly, moving and inscrutable. It is also indisputably working hard to be new.
(Image credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
A damaging love affair with the U.S. ends in heartbreak in 'Black American Refugee'
Tiffanie Drayton tells the story of coming to the U.S. as an immigrant child and discovering that no level of accomplishment would enable her to shake the burden of Blackness in this nation.
(Image credit: Viking)
'Moon Witch, Spider King' is a rare sequel that is better than its predecessor
Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the first book in Marlon James' Dark Star Trilogy, systematically dismantled the known foundations of epic fantasy. This sequel once again shattered expectations.
(Image credit: Riverhead)
For Valentine's Day, a few of our favorite love stories to read, watch and hear
Valentine's Day reminds us we can relearn and redefine what it means to love and be loved. So, we offer some books, songs, and movies about passion, devotion, and relationships to take on the journey.
(Image credit: A. Martin UW Photography/Getty Images)
Sarah Manguso considers deprivations and predations in her novel 'Very Cold People'
Manguso made a name for herself in minutely observed memoirs. Now she uses fiction to write about what it is to feel poor, poorly nurtured, and inadequately loved in a class-conscious town.
(Image credit: Hogarth)
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