Jean Franco, 98, Pioneering Scholar of Latin American Literature, Dies

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She infused her work with political and feminist perspectives and insisted that art had to be understood within its social context.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/obituaries/jean-franco-dead.html

Cara De Silva, Food Historian Who Preserved Jewish Recipes, Dies at 83

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She edited “In Memory’s Kitchen,” a collection compiled by prisoners in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. It was a surprise hit.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/books/cara-de-silva-dead.html

Librarians Are Meeting Younger Readers Where They Are: TikTok

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The pandemic hurt children’s reading skills. Librarians are doing what it takes to connect them with books — including dance routines.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/books/librarians-tiktok.html

This Diet App Sends a Goblin to Eviscerate Your Kitchen

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The narrator of “Goblin,” a story in Rachel Harrison’s horror collection, “Bad Dolls,” has signed up for a very bad app indeed.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/books/review/new-horror-fiction.html

What Don DeLillo’s ‘White Noise’ Can Tell Us About Life Today: Almost Everything

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Don DeLillo’s book “White Noise,” newly adapted for the screen by Noah Baumbach, precisely diagnosed the modern condition, Dana Spiotta writes.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/books/review/don-delillo-white-noise-today.html

Picture-Book End Papers

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A once purely decorative form is now full of wit, surprise, even feeling.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/books/review/picture-book-endpapers.html

Unlikely Parallels in a Year of Momentous Deaths

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The deaths of luminaries like Queen Elizabeth II and Bill Russell did not necessarily surprise. Others, though, inscrutably departed seemingly in tandem.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/29/obituaries/2022-deaths.html

Poem: 01.05.16

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Laynie Browne’s list of New Year’s resolutions argues for unconventional, magical goals.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/29/magazine/poem-01-05-16.html

Illuminating Toni Morrison’s Manuscripts at Princeton

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A campuswide slate of public events and exhibitions starting in February will celebrate the author.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/arts/design/toni-morrison-princeton.html

Book Review: ‘In Praise of Failure,’ by Costica Bradatan

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“In Praise of Failure,” by Costica Bradatan, examines a handful of thinkers who rejected worldly success in favor of struggle.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/books/review/in-praise-of-failure-costica-bradatan.html

Book Review: ‘Ms. Demeanor,’ by Elinor Lipman

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In “Ms. Demeanor,” the veteran author explores the ramifications of sexual freedom for a middle-aged woman.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/books/review/elinor-lipman-ms-demeanor.html

Newly Published Visual Books, From Laurie Lipton to Plant Magic

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A selection of recently published books.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/books/review/new-this-week.html

Nélida Piñon, Provocative Brazilian Novelist, Is Dead at 85

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Widely regarded as one of her country’s greatest contemporary writers, she was also the first woman elected president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/books/nelida-pinon-dead.html

Menahem Schmelzer, Jewish Theological Seminary Librarian, Dies at 88

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During his long tenure, the seminary’s collection was a primary destination for scholarly inquiry into the history and literature of the Jewish people.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/books/menahem-schmelzer-dead.html

Book Review: ‘Have You Eaten Yet?’ by Cheuk Kwan

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From the Arctic to the Amazon, Cheuk Kwan traces a diaspora through Chinese restaurants owned and operated by immigrant families.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/books/review/have-you-eaten-yet-cheuk-kwan.html

Readers Share Their Favorite Books of 2022

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New York Times readers recommend some of their favorite books, new and old, that they read in 2022.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/24/books/readers-favorite-books-2022.html

Book Review: ‘Ghost Music,’ by An Yu

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“Ghost Music” follows a piano teacher in Beijing as she struggles to connect to her husband and mother-in-law over meals of mysterious mushrooms.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/24/books/review/ghost-music-an-yu.html

Audiobook Review: ‘The Number Ones,’ by Tom Breihan; ‘How Far the Light Reaches,’ by Sabrina Imbler; ‘Young Bloomsbury,’ by Nino Strachey

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From Bloomsbury to the Billboard Hot 100, these audiobooks will hook you based on story alone.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/books/review/audiobooks-the-number-ones-tom-breihan-how-far-the-light-reaches-sabrina-imbler-young-bloomsbury-nino-strachey.html

Xi Xi, Whose Writing Defined a Changing Hong Kong, Dies at 85

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Her work captured the unease of Hong Kong’s transition to Chinese rule, gave voice to the city’s children and working-class residents, and helped put it on the literary map.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/world/asia/xi-xi-dead.html

Book Review: ‘Beaverland,’ by Leila Philip

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“Beaverland,” by Leila Philip, offers an appreciative account of the North American rodent, whose habit of taking down trees and causing floods has given it a reputation as a nuisance.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/20/books/review/beaverland-leila-philip.html

Book Review: ‘Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins,’ by Aidan Levy

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Aidan Levy has written a revealing, comprehensive biography of the improviser-hero Sonny Rollins.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/20/books/review/saxophone-colossus-aidan-levy.html

Getting Close to Sondheim: New Books Try to Capture His Essence

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Memoirs by his collaborators are among the works available now, and several others are on the horizon.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/theater/stephen-sondheim-books.html

Essay: On Food in Cormac McCarthy’s Novels

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His novels are full of food scenes, often in modest digs. Why do they resonate so much?

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/books/cormac-mccarthy-food-passenger.html

Book Review: ‘Jan Morris: Life from Both Sides: A Biography’

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A new biography examines what made the prolific travel writer and transgender figure so driven, and who was ignored along the way.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/18/books/jan-morris-biography-life-from-both-sides.html

Milton Viorst, Writer Who Chronicled the Middle East, Dies at 92

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He wrote that the Six-Day War was a necessary prelude to peace, but he also warned that the conflict would continue without Palestinian statehood.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/us/milton-viorst-dead.html

A Child’s Drawing Tucked in an Agatha Christie Book Is Its Own Mystery

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A true-crime blogger in Virginia found a hand-drawn card signed “To Mum, love from Kit” in a used copy of “The ABC Murders” and set out to return it.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/arts/agatha-christie-mothers-day-card.html

Travel Meditations From a Stuck-at-Home Vagabond

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Rolf Potts, the author who inspired wanderlust in many, has mastered the art of ‘engaged travel,’ which makes you see home with fresh eyes.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/travel/rolf-potts-interview.html

Book Review: ‘Scatterlings,’ by Resoketswe Manenzhe

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Resoketswe Manenzhe’s debut novel, “Scatterlings,” witnesses the dissolution of a young family in the wake of South Africa’s Immorality Act, which outlawed interracial relationships.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/books/review/scatterlings-resoketswe-manenzhe.html

‘The Super 8 Years’ Review: Annie Ernaux’s Celluloid Souvenirs

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In this wistful movie, the French writer and Nobel laureate revisits her life with help from her son, who’s also the director.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/movies/the-super-8-years-review-annie-ernaux.html

Louise Penny Wrote a No. 1 Best Seller During Her Year Off

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She meant to take a break but the Canadian author ended up doing what she always does: powering through a new novel.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/books/review/louise-penny-a-world-of-curiosities.html

Jane Smiley By the Book Interview

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“It’s always tempting for readers to read novels about people like themselves,” says the author, whose latest novel is “A Dangerous Business.” “One of the benefits of literature classes in school is that kids get an early exposure to people who are not like them.”

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/books/review/jane-smiley-wishes-readers-would-embrace-more-diverse-books.html

Review: ‘The Tudors in Love,’ by Sarah Gristwood

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In the historian Sarah Gristwood’s “Tudors in Love,” for both monarchs and courtiers the stakes are higher than romance.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/books/review/tudors-in-love-sarah-gristwood.html

From Behind Bars, Inmates Award France’s Latest Book Prize

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For the first time, detainees picked their own winner in an offshoot of the Goncourt, France’s top literary honor.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/books/goncourt-inmates-book-prize-france.html

Thomas Pynchon, Famously Private, Sells His Archive

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The elusive author of “Gravity’s Rainbow” and “Mason & Dixon” has sold his papers to the Huntington Library. It includes drafts, notes and letters — but sorry, no photographs of him.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/14/arts/thomas-pynchon-huntington-archive.html

Bookforum Is Closing, Leaving Ever Fewer Publications Devoted to Books

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Launched in 1994, the magazine published reviews, essays and interviews, and was an important outlet for book reviewers and for authors.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/books/bookforum-magazine-closing.html

Book Review: ‘Eccentric Lives: The Daily Telegraph Book of 21st Century Obituaries’

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This new collection from Britain’s Daily Telegraph is full of oddballs, mavericks and cranks.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/books/eccentric-lives-telegraph-obituaries.html

Marijane Meaker, 95, Who Helped Launch Genre of Lesbian Fiction, Dies

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Her 1952 novel “Spring Fire” was about a girl who falls in love with a sorority sister. As M.E. Kerr, Ms. Meaker wrote popular young adult books.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/11/books/marijane-meaker-dead.html

6 Unforgettable Y.A. Thrillers to Add to Your Reading List

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Faridah Abike-Iyimide, the author of “Ace of Spades,” recommends some of her favorites.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/11/books/review/young-adult-thrillers.html

Eric Allison, Prison Reporter Who Knew the Beat All Too Well, Dies at 79

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A career criminal in England for nearly a half-century, he was hired by The Guardian to report on injustices in prisons — work that led to exposés and honors.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/world/europe/eric-allison-dead.html

The Critics’ Picks: A Year in Reading

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New York Times book critics discuss their favorite books and memorable reading experiences of 2022.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/books/review/the-critics-picks-a-year-in-reading.html

The Best Book Covers of 2022

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In a year brimming with beautiful jacket art, these books stood out.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/books/review/the-best-book-covers-of-2022.html

Penguin Random House C.E.O. Markus Dohle Steps Down

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The chief executive of the largest publisher in the U.S., Penguin Random House, has stepped down. Markus Dohle had overseen the attempted acquisition of Simon & Schuster.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/books/markus-dohle-penguin-random-house-ceo.html

11 New Books We Recommend This Week

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Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/books/review/11-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.html

Gaddis Smith Dies at 89; Taught History to Generations at Yale

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One of his students became a president, another an actress. He also helped the university modernize during the 1970s and ’80s.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/us/gaddis-smith-dead.html

Retracing Walt Whitman’s Steps Through Brooklyn and Manhattan

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The poet wandered for himself and for his various day jobs with New York City newspapers. Some of his haunts are still standing; most have been swept away with time.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/t-magazine/walt-whitman-new-york.html

The Best True Crime Books of 2022

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From the Jazz Age to the Jim Crow South to late-1960s Southern California, from serial robberies to kidnappings to double homicides: narratives all the more chilling because they happened.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/books/review/best-true-crime-books-2022.html

The Best Audiobooks of 2022

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Hearing a memoir in the author’s voice can make a big difference, and not just when the author is Viola Davis. Plus: A creepy novel gets creepier in audio.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/books/best-audiobooks-2022.html

Tell Us: What Book Was Your Favorite Read of 2022?

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We want to know what books, new or old, you read and loved this year.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/books/reader-favorite-book-recommendation-2022.html

Book Review: ‘Butts,’ by Heather Radke

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In her new cultural history, Heather Radke considers how women’s backsides have been described, displayed and fetishized — and what that says about gender, race and more.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/books/review/butts-a-backstory-heather-radke.html

Review: ‘The Lion and the Fox,’ by Alexander Rose

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In “The Lion and the Fox,” Alexander Rose tells the story of a pivotal naval conflict.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/books/review/lion-and-the-fox-alexander-rose.html

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2022

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Pandemics, witchcraft, terrifying A.I.: speculative fiction that stood out in 2022.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/books/review/best-science-fiction-and-fantasy.html

The Best Romance Novels of 2022

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The genre has had an exceptional year — one of its best of all time.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/books/review/best-romance-novels.html

The Best Thrillers of 2022

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A fiendish puzzle, an all-out struggle for survival on a remote island, the mysterious disappearance of a spouse: The year’s best thrillers could not be more different.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/books/review/best-thrillers.html

Book Review: ‘Cursed Bunny,’ by Bora Chung

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The 10 chilling stories in “Cursed Bunny” use creepy fetishes and proliferating waste as metaphors for the female condition.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/books/review/bora-chung-cursed-bunny.html

John Prados, Master of Uncovering Government Secrets, Dies at 71

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An “archives rat,” he was expert at digging through declassified materials to tell new stories about America’s military history.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/books/john-prados-dead.html

Newly Published, From Boy-Band Stardom to Architectural History

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A selection of recently published books.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/books/review/new-this-week.html

Book Review: ‘Science Illustration,’ by Anna Escardó

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Researchers have always used graphics and illustrations to help make sense of their work. This coffee-table book gathers seven centuries’ worth.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/books/review/scientific-illustration-anna-escardo.html

Book Review: ‘Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema,’ by Karen Han

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Karen Han’s coffee table book celebrates the Korean director’s work and distinctive vision.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/books/review/bong-joon-ho-dissident-cinema-karen-han.html

11 New Books We Recommend This Week

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Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

via NYT > Books https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/books/review/11-new-books-we-recommend-this-week.html