Nerd’s eye view (opens on Times Literary Supplement)
A lifelong love affair with books, libraries and ancient manuscripts
Reviews
The headline, standfirst and reviewer from each outlet. Each links to the full review and to the book’s page here.
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Resolve, not hope (opens on Times Literary Supplement)
Poems of high moral seriousness from a beleaguered nation
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A dark fairy tale (opens on Times Literary Supplement)
Memoirs, literature, music and art of Ukraine at war
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Tehran’s secret war (opens on Times Literary Supplement)
How western spies helped Khomeini
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A fractured Middle East (opens on Times Literary Supplement)
Putting the crusades into a wider perspective
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Perils of safety (opens on Times Literary Supplement)
The twentieth-century birth of nations from Iran to Morocco
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In her own right (opens on Times Literary Supplement)
A harpist who made her mark on jazz history
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Cold Warrior (opens on Times Literary Supplement)
A historian of Russia and the Soviet Union
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‘Artificial Intimacy,’ by Sherry Turkle (opens on The New York Times)
In “Artificial Intimacy,” Sherry Turkle warns that we seek comfort from A.I. devices at the peril of our well-being and even our democracy.
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‘Seasons of Fury,’ by Rozina Ali (opens on The New York Times)
A new book by Rozina Ali traces the rise of anti-Islamic sentiment in the wake of 9/11, showing how ordinary residents became targets of fear and suspicion.
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‘Heavy Cream,’ by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright (opens on The New York Times)
In Sarah Blakley-Cartwright’s novel “Heavy Cream,” a teenager tries to fill the vacuum left behind by her unstable, unreachable mother.
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Dèy by Edwidge Danticat review – motherhood and trauma in Miami (opens on The Guardian)
The first novel in over a decade from the acclaimed Haitian-American author lacks the power of earlier works
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On the Equality of All Things by Carlo Rovelli review – a physicist’s guide to life, the universe and everything (opens on The Guardian)
Near-mystical musings from a scientist who believes we are on the brink of a revolution in understanding ourselves
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‘American Hagwon,’ by Min Jin Lee (opens on The New York Times)
The beloved author’s follow-up to “Pachinko” features a cram school that dares to promote students’ well-being over academic striving.
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‘The Vanishing Family,’ by Robert Kolker (opens on The New York Times)
In “The Vanishing Family,” Robert Kolker paints a portrait of nine siblings under threat from a vicious form of dementia.
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When “Gender Deception” Is a Crime (opens on The New Yorker)
A new book revisits a notorious British sexual-assault trial in which a woman was convicted of posing as a man in bed.
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‘The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman,’ by Deesha Philyaw (opens on The New York Times)
Deesha Philyaw’s debut novel is a rebellion disguised as a romp.
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‘The Radiance,’ by Ayad Akhtar (opens on The New York Times)
“The Radiance,” by Ayad Akhtar, blends campus satire, autofiction and philosophical exploration into an explosive and timely brew.
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The Fall of the West by Owen Jones review – a bracing history of the changing world order (opens on The Guardian)
A journalist charts a quarter century of geopolitical hubris and economic overreach
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Stations by Louise Kennedy review – a superb follow-up to Trespasses (opens on The Guardian)
This tale of broken hearts and broken people moves from the Troubles of 1980s Northern Ireland to an unforgiving London of squats and payphones
