New Books Try to Offer Shelter From the Storm of Dementia

Mixing the medical and the personal, several memoirists find literary analogies the best way to capture unwelcome visits to “unimaginable lands.”

Alexandra Jacobs | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Caster Semenya: ‘I’m Still a Woman’

In “The Race to Be Myself,” the Olympic runner tells the full story of her gender-based discrimination and dehumanization by the global athletics world.

Jen A. Miller | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

16 New Books Coming in November

Barbra Streisand’s mammoth biography, Stephanie Land’s follow-up to “Maid,” Sigrid Nunez’s new novel and more.

The New York Times Books Staff | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

In the Early Days of Lockdown, a Writer Considers a Perplexing Age

Set during the pandemic, Sigrid Nunez’s new novel, “The Vulnerables,” is a story of unlikely companionship and personal reflection.

Dwight Garner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Do Any of These Never Trumpers Have the Power to Persuade?

Three new books from different corners of conservative America talk about the ways Donald Trump disfigured the country and wrecked their public lives.

Sam Adler-Bell | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Dylan’s Back Pages, and Then Some

This collection of archival treasures at the Bob Dylan Center includes fan mail from Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen.

Rob Sheffield | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Friendship Forged in Wartime Casts a Long Shadow

What happens when two American women attempt to help the people of Saigon? In Alice McDermott’s new novel, the answer is complicated.

Jennifer Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

An Embarrassment of Witches

Jewish magic, Southern conjure magic and Scottish magic abound in new middle grade novels by Laurel Snyder, Eden Royce and Elle McNicoll.

Marjorie Ingall | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

‘The Reformatory’ Turns the Lingering Impact of Racism Into Literal Ghosts

In Tananarive Due’s new novel, a boy sentenced to a brutal reform school must capture the phantoms of those who died at the institution in the past.

Randy Boyagoda | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Henry Winkler’s Dream Dinner Guests Wrote for Stage, Page and TV

“I know my limitations, but I would still invite William Shakespeare,” says the actor, whose new memoir is “Being Henry: The Fonz … and Beyond.” “I would also invite Daniel Silva and definitely Larry David!”

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6 Terrific Witchy Y.A. Novels

S. Isabelle, the author of “The Witchery” and its sequel, “Shadow Coven,” recommends some of her favorite Y.A. novels about witches.

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Desperate to Make Her Mother Smile, Nina Simon Wrote a Book

The author of “Mother-Daughter Murder Night” started working on her debut novel during a time of tremendous stress.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

6 Terrific Witchy Y.A. Novels

S. Isabelle, the author of “The Witchery” and its sequel, “Shadow Coven,” recommends some of her favorite Y.A. novels about witches.

S. Isabelle | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Father-Son Struggle That Helped Ensure IBM’s Success

In “The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived,” Ralph Watson McElvenny and Marc Wortman show how Oedipal battles fueled the company’s technological triumphs in the 1960s and beyond.

Tim Wu | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Britney Spears Doesn’t Need to Narrate Her Memoir for It to Sing

The actor Michelle Williams reads the audiobook version of the recently liberated pop star’s memoir, “The Woman in Me.”

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

American Stories and a British Romance

An editor recommends Lorrie Moore’s “Birds of America” and Mary Webb’s “Precious Bane”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How the World Once Handled War Crimes

In “Judgment at Tokyo,” the political scholar Gary J. Bass examines the post-World War II prosecution of Japanese military atrocities and makes the case for the real efficacy of international law.

Thomas Meaney | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Are Fears of A.I. and Nuclear Apocalypse Keeping You Up? Blame Prometheus.

How an ancient Greek myth explains our terrifying modern reality.

A.O. Scott | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Tupac Shakur’s Volatile Life, Delivered by Friendly Hands

Access to the late rapper’s journals gives Staci Robinson’s authorized biography a rare intimacy, without delving deeply into his music.

Sheldon Pearce | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

For N.K. Jemisin, Reality Inspired Horror Fiction

She didn’t think she was going to contribute a short story to a new anthology. A stressful vacation changed her mind.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

For N.K. Jemisin, Reality Inspired Horror Fiction

She didn’t think she was going to contribute a short story to a new anthology. A stressful vacation changed her mind.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Helen Garner Keeps ‘Paradise Lost’ and a Bible Close at Hand

“You never know when you might need to read something coolheaded about death,” says the author of “The Children’s Bach” and “This House of Grief,” which have just been reissued, “or be reminded of angels and other majestic beings.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

When Courtly Love Goes Wrong, It’s Deadly

In “Hunting the Falcon,” the historians John Guy and Julia Fox take a fresh look at an infamous Tudor marriage — and find there is indeed more to know.

Tina Brown | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Stephen Rubin, ‘Quintessential Hitmaker’ of the Book World, Dies at 81

He entered publishing when he was 43, then published many of the most popular books of recent decades, including “The Da Vinci Code.”

Alex Traub | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Country Where ‘Some People Need Killing’ Was State Policy

The new book by the Philippine journalist Patricia Evangelista recounts her investigation into the campaign of extrajudicial murders under former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Jennifer Szalai | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Jacqueline Woodson and Amber McBride Look Backward to Look Forward

“Remember Us” recalls the fires of 1970s Bushwick. “Gone Wolf” begins in a 2111 Southern breakaway nation after a second Civil War.

David Barclay Moore | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Can You Pair These Books With Their Settings in U.S. Cities?

Try this short literary geography quiz and see how many locations you can identify from your reading.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A History of Chinese Food, and a Sensory Feast

Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Invitation to a Banquet” is a cultural investigation of an impossibly broad and often misunderstood cuisine.

Dwight Garner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Is It a Moral Awakening or Just One Man’s Midlife Crisis?

In Rupert Thomson’s new novel, “Dartmouth Park,” the sound of a mundane beep triggers in one man what may be either a revelatory metaphysical journey or a bout of male existential angst.

Matt Bell | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Teju Cole Knows His New Novel Resembles Autofiction. Please Don’t Be Tempted.

“Tremor,” his first novel in over a decade, is set in Massachusetts and Lagos, and came from a desire to capture the last moments of a pre-Covid world.

Anderson Tepper | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Good Mom, Bad Mom, Possessed by Evil Mom

In Jennifer McMahon’s new novel, “My Darling Girl,” a woman must protect her family from a terrible darkness lurking in her abusive mother.

Gabino Iglesias | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Louise Meriwether Dies at 100; in 1970, a New, Black Literary Voice

Writing of life in Harlem, she emerged at the same time as Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou but never achieved their fame, though James Baldwin was an admirer.

Richard Sandomir | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

9 New Books We Recommend This Week

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

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Heather Cox Richardson Wants You to Study History

The author of “Democracy Awakening” and a popular politics newsletter makes a powerful case for studying the past.

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For Tiya Miles, Girlhood Reading Was ‘My Escape and Joy’

“My favorite author was Madeleine L’Engle,” says the National Book Award-winning historian, whose new book is “Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation.” “In middle school I would ride the city bus to the public library and check out L’Engle’s novels for teens.”

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New Novels Brimming With Mystery, Mayhem and Quite a Bit of Murder

Our crime columnist, Sarah Weinman, on four buzzy October releases.

Sarah Weinman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Taking a Stand on Native American Rights

New works of nonfiction and fiction transcend stereotypes, and connect a wealth of ideas and facts for young readers.

Abby McGanney Nolan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Cosmic, Outrageous, Ecstatic Truths of Werner Herzog

The filmmaker’s new memoir, “Every Man for Himself and God Against All,” prompts a critic’s incredulity.

Dwight Garner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Radical Queer Novel Challenges the Idea of History Itself

Justin Torres’s genre-defying new book, “Blackouts,” explores what it means to be erased and how to persist after being wiped away.

Hugh Ryan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Taking a Stand on Native American Rights

New works of nonfiction and fiction transcend stereotypes, and connect a wealth of ideas and facts for young readers.

Abby McGanney Nolan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Press Gangs

Four recent books wrangle with threats to — and from — the American news media.

Richard Stengel | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Spy Thriller and a Prismatic Look at Light

Two books with nothing in common except for Molly Young’s enthusiasm, and possibly yours.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A New Mother Finds Solace From the Patriarchy — in Sex Work

The heroine of Ainslie Hogarth’s “Normal Women” is so desperate to escape the confines of conventional, upper-middle-class womanhood that she turns to a yoga studio that looks a lot like a cult.

Amil Niazi | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Who Is Madonna, Anyway?

A conversation with the biographer Mary Gabriel, whose substantial new book offers a comprehensive and surprising look at the pop star’s life and career.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Newly Published, from Graphic Novels to a Covid-Era Literary Obsession

A selection of recently published books.

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Ghosts Come in Many Forms in Bryan Washington’s New Novel

In “Family Meal,” the author follows the jagged reunion of two former best friends, each grappling with grief and complicated relationships.

Ernesto Mestre-Reed | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Audiobook of the Week: What’s Really in a Hot Dog?

“Raw Dog,” by the comedian Jamie Loftus, is an investigative memoir that’s part gonzo travelogue and part takedown of the factory farming system.

Marian Bull | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Jhumpa Lahiri Translates the Varieties of Strangeness

In “Roman Stories,” written in Italian, nine protagonists have little in common except their foreignness.

Lily Meyer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Where to start? A guide to Fosse’s work.

Joumana Khatib and Tina Jordan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The writer attracts global renown for his plays.

Alexandra Alter | NYTimes Books | Disclosure