Snapshot of a Year in the Land of Best Sellers

Surprising ascensions, Hollywood migrations and daggers to the art — it’s all part of life at the top.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Masterpiece That Inspired Gabriel García Márquez to Write His Own

For decades, Juan Rulfo’s novel, “Pedro Páramo,” has cast an uncanny spell on writers. A new translation may bring it broader appeal.

Valeria Luiselli | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The 10 Best Books of 2023

They’re here!

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A French Thriller About a Kidfluencer Gone Missing

Delphine de Vigan’s “Kids Run the Show” skewers the phenomenon of parents exposing their children to the world for personal gain.

Madeleine Feeny | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Can You Find the 14 Hidden Food-Themed Book Titles in This Puzzle?

Just tap or click on the books you discover to learn more about them. You may even find some gift ideas for the foodie in your life.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

When They Were Going Through Hell, They Kept a Record

Lauren Grodstein’s new novel takes place in the Warsaw ghetto, where a secret group of archivists made sure the truth survived.

Kim Hubbard | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Another Battle Royale in the Windsor War

In “Endgame,” Harry and Meghan’s sympathetic biographer, Omid Scobie, takes on the in-laws — and takes no prisoners.

Eva Wolchover | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Two Novels by Renegade Women

Leah Greenblatt recommends “Meg,” by Theodora Keogh, and “The Glass Cell,” by Patricia Highsmith.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Magic Man: The Story of the Greatest Point Guard in N.B.A. History

Roland Lazenby’s big biography of Magic Johnson gives us a wealth of detail, a huge cast of characters and, in a way, the tapestry of our time.

Thomas Beller | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Reading Her Own Audiobook, Jada Pinkett Smith Slaps Back

In “Worthy,” the actor recalls her gritty Baltimore upbringing, her early stardom, her marriage and her mental health.

Elisabeth Egan | 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

Mark Kurlansky Wishes More Authors Would Denounce War

“There are too many books celebrating it,” says the author, whose new book is “The Core of an Onion.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Bob Contant, Dedicated Bohemian Bookseller, Dies at 80

A founder of the St. Mark’s Bookshop in the East Village, he prided himself on stocking titles that were not “too popular” and stayed in business for four decades.

Sam Roberts | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Political Convert in the Long Shadow of the Civil War

In “Longstreet,” Elizabeth R. Varon dissects the life and legacy of a Confederate general who became a devoted supporter of Reconstruction.

Brenda Wineapple | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

100 Notable Books of 2023

Here are the year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, chosen by the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

The New York Times Books Staff | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

In the Middle of a War With No End in Sight

In “November 1942,” Peter Englund pieces together a month in the Second World War with the diaries and memoirs of the people who survived it.

Caroline Alexander | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

To These Writers, Video Games Are Not Just Entertainment, but Art

In the anthology “Critical Hits,” gamers like Hanif Abdurraqib, Alexander Chee and Larissa Pham explain what the medium means to them.

Joseph Earl Thomas | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

To These Writers, Video Games Are Not Just Entertainment, but Art

In the anthology “Critical Hits,” gamers like Hanif Abdurraqib, Alexander Chee and Larissa Pham explain what the medium means to them.

Joseph Earl Thomas | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

‘Murder’s Easy. We Did Something Much Worse.’

Our crime columnist recommends four newly published books.

Sarah Weinman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Trip to the French Countryside, and Through Time

Mathias Énard’s new novel, “The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers’ Guild,” considers the jumble of life in a variety of stories and styles.

Martin Riker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Critics Scoffed. Nora Roberts Just Kept Writing.

At 73, a titan of the romance world talks about how she redefined a genre that was all too easy to dismiss.

Lulu Garcia-Navarro | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

6 New Paperbacks to Read This Week

Including titles by Haruki Murakami, Dipo Faloyin, Beverly Gage and more.

Shreya Chattopadhyay | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

In These Short Stories, Characters Young and Old Struggle to Connect

In new collections by Yiyun Li, Claire Keegan, Alexandra Chang and Lore Segal, interpersonal bonds are created and destroyed.

Kathleen Alcott | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Kerry James Marshall’s Prints Throw Blackness Into Relief

A new art book collects the painter’s printmaking oeuvre over almost half a century.

Lauren Christensen | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Masterpiece About a Masterpiece, for All Ages

An enchanting work by Italy’s foremost living children’s author is finally available in English.

Joseph Luzzi | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Tracy K. Smith Collects Books About the Supernatural

“I have a lot of books on near-death experiences, psychic phenomena and past-life regression on my shelves,” says the two-time poet laureate, whose new book is the memoir “To Free the Captives.” “These kinds of books nudge me to remember our world is but one facet of an enormous continuity.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Filmmaker and the Superspy

In “A Woman I Know,” Mary Haverstick discovers that the subject of her documentary may have once been a key player in Cold War espionage.

Andy Kroll | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

We All Love ‘Anne of Green Gables.’ What About ‘Emily of New Moon’?

L.M. Montgomery’s oft-forgotten novel, which turns 100 this year, is more timely than ever.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Writer’s Memorial to a Lover, and an Era, Lost to AIDS

Robert Glück’s “About Ed” recounts his relationship with the artist Ed Aulerich-Sugai.

Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Do You Know These Fictional Places in Popular Novels?

Try this short quiz to see if you can identify the imaginary locations created by certain authors for their books.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Pandemic Novel That Never Says ‘Pandemic’

Michael Cunningham’s “Day” peeks into the lives of a family on one specific April date across three years as life changes because of Covid and other challenges.

Caleb Crain | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Swift, Opinionated Portrait of Willa Cather (She Would Have Approved)

“Chasing Bright Medusas,” a new biography by Benjamin Taylor, aims not to uncover new facts but to provide a concise introduction to the novelist.

Andrea Barrett | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Inside Facebook’s Dangerous Battle Between Integrity and Engagement

Jeff Horwitz’s “Broken Code” draws on 25,000 pages of internal documents to reveal the company’s tumultuous inner workings — and their devastating impact on humanity.

Alexandria Symonds | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Innocence, Here and Abroad

Taboos about what can’t be shown in picture books vary around the world.

Daniel Hahn | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Window Treatments to the Soul

In her perceptive cultural history, “Eyeliner,” Zahra Hankir shows that liquid versus pencil is only the beginning.

Cat Marnell | 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

Read With Jenna, Who Writes With Barbara

The twin sisters Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush published their third picture book this week. They sat down to discuss fighting, writing and chosen family.

Elizabeth A. Harris | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Even for Two Pros, Collaboration Was No Picnic

Welcome to the occasionally fraught partnership of Bill Watterson, the creator of “Calvin and Hobbes,” and John Kascht, a renowned celebrity caricaturist.

Neima Jahromi | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

‘Fear of Flying’ Is 50. What Happened to Its Dream of Freedom Through Sex?

With its feminist take on sexual pleasure, Erica Jong’s novel caused a sensation in 1973. But the revolution Jong promoted never came to pass.

Jane Kamensky | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

‘What’s Cooking in the Kremlin’? A Heady Mix of Propaganda and Paranoia.

The new book by Witold Szablowski features the chefs who were expected to prepare sumptuous meals for Russian leaders — and keep them from being poisoned.

Jennifer Szalai | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

For Stephanie Land, College Was the School of Hard Knocks

In her second memoir, the author of “Maid” recounts the struggle of getting educated in America below the poverty line.

Nelson Lichtenstein | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Can the Parole Process Make Prison Sentences More Just?

In “Correction,” Ben Austen investigates a system meant to promote rehabilitation, and reward prisoners who change, but that no longer seems to work the way it was intended.

John J. Lennon | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

His Mother Spoke Truth to Power, Until She Was Killed for It

Daphne Caruana Galizia devoted her life to exposing Malta’s pervasive corruption, writes her son, the journalist Paul Caruana Galizia, in “A Death in Malta.”

Clyde Haberman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Celebrating Literature That ‘Brings the World Close’

Words Without Borders, a magazine dedicated to literature in translation, is turning 20 at a fraught time. How to celebrate words when bombs are dropping?

Robert Ito | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Who Is Hannah Grace? And Why Won’t She Show Her Face?

The author of “Icebreaker” and “Wildfire” has her own reasons for avoiding the limelight.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Welcome to Ed Park’s Many-Layered World

“Same Bed Different Dreams” is the rare sophomore novel that has the wild, freewheeling ambition of a debut.

Hamilton Cain | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Jeff Tweedy Used to Browse Encyclopedias for Hours on End

“I read them the way that people surf the internet today, maybe,” says the Wilco frontman, whose new memoir is “World Within a Song.” “So I know everything.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure