Obsessed with the Ocean, Susan Casey Takes the Plunge

Susan Casey has long been enchanted by the deep ocean. For her book “The Underworld,” she finally got to visit that unforgiving landscape herself.

Alexandra Alter | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

What Does It Mean to Be a Witness?

In his new story collection, Jamel Brinkley investigates the impact of seeing and being seen.

Mateo Askaripour | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Belly of the Beast

In Daniel Kraus’s “Whalefall,” a scuba diver, inadvertently swallowed alive by a 60-ton sperm whale, tries to escape.

Sarah Lyall | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Nobody Ever Read American Literature Like This Guy Did

Inflamed, impertinent and deeply insightful, D.H. Lawrence’s “Studies in Classic American Literature” remains startlingly relevant 100 years after it was originally published.

A.O. Scott | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Big Personalities, Small Towns and Rules Made to Be Broken

These novels remind us of old-fashioned human connections that can’t be severed, for better or worse.

Alida Becker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Late to the Reading Circle

“Writing for kids had long been an ambition of mine, but until recently I didn’t know it had long been an ambition.”

Bruce Handy | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How Does a Prolific Author Deal With Cold Feet?

Riley Sager has been on a publishing tear since 2017. His seventh book, “The Only One Left,” almost interfered with his breakneck pace.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Fight to Save Soldiers, From the Lab to the Battlefield

“In the Blood” traces how an engineer and a salesman took on military leaders and Big Pharma to get a revolutionary clotting agent to those in dire need.

Tom Mueller | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Booksellers Move to the Front Lines of the Fight Against Books Bans in Texas

With a book-rating law set to take effect in September, a group of booksellers, along with publishers and authors, filed suit to argue that it is unconstitutional.

Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Lessons on Leadership From a Barbarian King

In “Theoderic the Great,” the historian Hans-Ulrich Wiemer dissects the rule of the Goth king who nurtured Roman culture and impressed Machiavelli.

Jamie Kreiner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How Many Novels Set in the Mid-Atlantic States Do You Know?

Test your literary knowledge with this short trivia quiz.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Stories Like Norman Rockwell Paintings, if Rockwell Painted Guillotines

In his new story collection, “Disruptions,” Steven Millhauser reveals the bizarre within the mundane.

Dwight Garner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Regarding North Bath, Richard Russo Saved His Best for Last

Like “Nobody’s Fool” and “Everybody’s Fool,” “Somebody’s Fool” is set in a fictional town with lots of problems.

Hamilton Cain | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Diana Athill’s Only Novel, About Coming of Age in 1950s London

First published in 1967, “Don’t Look at Me Like That” follows a young woman from her unpopular teenage years to uncertain adulthood.

Sadie Stein | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Colson Whitehead on ‘Crook Manifesto’ and Harlem in the ’70s

The Pulitzer-winning novelist discusses the sequel to his 2021 crime story “Harlem Shuffle.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Mother, Her Daughter, a Masterwork of Psychological Tension

In her second novel, Hila Blum plumbs the depths of one of the most complicated relationships known to women.

Flynn Berry | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

6 Paperbacks to Read This Week

Including debut novels by Laura Warrell and Oscar Hokeah, a look into the dark side of America’s salmon industry and more.

Shreya Chattopadhyay | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Roald Dahl Museum Calls Author’s Racism ‘Undeniable and Indelible’

A museum in England devoted to the best-selling children’s author, who died in 1990, condemned his antisemitic views.

Derrick Bryson Taylor | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Novel of Sex and Crisis in the Aftermath of the 1960s

Henry Bean’s first novel, reissued as “The Nenoquich,” follows a young writer in Berkeley through a transformative affair.

Christian Lorentzen | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Richard Russo Misses the Purity of Childhood Reading

“When you become a writer, you inevitably lose your innocence as a reader,” says the Pulitzer-winning novelist, whose new book is “Somebody’s Fool.” “It’s like being given the underground tour of Disney World. Some of the magic dissipates.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Public and Private Lives, Playing Out in Four Sultry Romance Novels

The tropes may be familiar in these romance novels — fake dating, falling for a celebrity — but the books themselves are fresh and beguiling.

Olivia Waite | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Newly Published, From a Bayou Thriller to Drugs in America

A selection of recently published books.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Spies: Do You Know These Books and Their Screen Adaptations?

Try this short quiz about stories of espionage, war and international intrigue that have been adapted for film and television.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Can a Poem Be Too Short? It Depends on the Poem, and the Reader.

A new anthology highlights the charms and drawbacks of very brief verse.

Elisa Gabbert | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

You Had to Be There. ‘Encounterism’ Argues You Still Do.

Conceived before the pandemic, Andy Field’s ode to sharing space in person glosses over the ways our everyday habits seem to have changed for good.

Laura Collins-Hughes | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Water, Water, Everywhere, and Now the Husband Is Gone

In her new psychological thriller, “The Anniversary,” Stephanie Bishop follows an emerging writer after a tragedy on a cruise.

CJ Hauser | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How a Rocky, Inhospitable Place Became a Beacon of Calm

In “Returning Light,” Robert L. Harris reflects on his many years as the caretaker of a lonely outpost off the west coast of Ireland.

Margaret Renkl | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Year Is Half Over. Here Are the Books You Might Have Missed.

A look back at 2023’s buzziest titles so far.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Newly Published, From Nuclear Close Calls to Hollywood’s Greatest Love Affair

A selection of recently published books.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

At American Apparel, a Sex-Positive Veneer Belied Abuse Underneath

Kate Flannery’s “Strip Tees” is a racy, thoughtful memoir of her tenure during the rise and fall of the controversial retail company.

Estelle Tang | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

I Scream, You Scream, the Kennedys Scream for Ice Cream

While researching her best-selling book, “White House by the Sea,” Kate Storey inquired about dessert that unites us.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Hua Hsu Wants to Know Who Wrote the Zine ‘Secret Asian Man’

“A collection of these issues would undoubtedly be my favorite book that no one has heard of,” says the author of the memoir “Stay True,” one of the Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2022. “If you are reading this, please write me!”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Holocaust in Poland and the Erasures of the Past

In “Jews in the Garden,” the journalist Judy Rakowsky helps a relative uncover the truth of what happened to their family during World War II.

Richard J. Evans | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Centuries-Long Manhunt Stretches Across Mexico and Beyond

“Not Even the Dead,” a novel by Juan Gómez Bárcena, is a transhistorical epic with echoes of Cormac McCarthy and Joseph Conrad. Randy Boyagoda | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Suspecting Clandestine Plots Behind Every Door

In “Under the Eye of Power,” Colin Dickey unearths the long, disturbing history of fearmongering in American politics and culture. Elizabeth Williamson | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Why Crack Became the 1980s Superdrug

In “When Crack Was King,” Donovan X. Ramsey offers a fresh history of the epidemic that gripped minority communities, inflamed media coverage and led to draconian drug laws. Jonathan Green | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Ann Beatties Stories Confront Charlottesville a City Remade

Her new collection, “Onlookers,” is about shattered certainties in the wake of quarantine, growth and unrest. Dwight Garner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Language-Learning Institute With a Disturbing Secret

In her debut novel, “The Centre,” Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi explores class anxiety, identity, appropriation and more through a sinister language school. Rafael Frumkin | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

In Djunas Space-Elevator Sci-Fi Corporate Conspiracies Abound

The pseudonymous South Korean author’s first novel to be translated into English pits a multinational conglomerate against life on earth. Hari Kunzru | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

For a Tech Employee in Silicon Valley a Black Hole Looms Large

In Sarah Rose Etter’s novel “Ripe,” a 30-something writes marketing copy by day, but spends her nights diving deep into the void. Alexandra Chang | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

In 1960s New York City a Lost Young Woman Longs to Be Known

Nicole Flattery’s debut novel, “Nothing Special,” follows the protagonist through a menial and disorienting day job transcribing tape recordings — at Andy Warhol’s Factory. Alice Carrière | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Rachel Ingalls Considers a Fix for Marital Ennui: Sex Robots

Her novella “In the Act” explores love and fantasy in unusual guises. Audrey Wollen | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Art of Translation

See how a translator carries a book from one language to another, line by line. Sophie Hughes | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

If We Are What We Eat We Dont Know Who We Are

In “Ultra-Processed People,” Chris van Tulleken takes a close look at the franken-snacks that barely resemble what they’re imitating. Jacob E. Gersen | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Tragic Act of Gun Violence Repeats Itself in a Small Southern Town

In Amy Rowland’s second novel, “Inside the Wolf,” a New York City academic returns to her North Carolina roots to reconcile with old ghosts. Lauren LeBlanc | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

9 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times. Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Douglas Stuart Doesnt Need 3 People at His Dream Dinner Party

“I regret that I never met Hilary Mantel,” says the Booker-winning Scottish novelist, whose most recent book, “Young Mungo,” is now out in paperback. “I would be delighted with three of her.” Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

250 Pounds of Pot a Taco Truck and a Cross-Country Road Trip

Scott Von Doviak’s novel “Lowdown Road” evokes “The Dukes of Hazzard” — in a good way. Sarah Weinman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

This Bulgarian Writers Books Bend Time

Georgi Gospodinov won the prestigious International Booker Prize this year for “Time Shelter,” a satirical novel exploring lofty ideas about nostalgia. Thomas Rogers | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Secrets and Horrors at a Tragedy-Stricken Amusement Park

In Arianna Reiche’s debut novel, “At the End of Every Day,” a death at an amusement park leads to the discovery of a mysterious underworld lurking beneath the attractions. Ben H. Winters | NYTimes Books | Disclosure