Molly on Philosophy for Kids and British Suspense for Adults

Jean-Luc Nancy’s “God, Justice, Love, Beauty”; Barbara Vine’s “A Dark-Adapted Eye”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Reimagining Real Lives in the Best New Historical Fiction

This trio of new novels shows real people in their natural habitats, drawn with writerly flair.

Alida Becker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Writing a Book About Grief Isn’t Always Cathartic

Sloane Crosley’s apartment was robbed. Then her friend died. The only sensible thing to do was write about how it felt — and still feels.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

What Is Your Favorite Funny Novel? Tell Us.

The staff book critics of The New York Times selected 22 of their favorite comic novels in English since “Catch-22.” What would top your list?

Dwight Garner, Alexandra Jacobs and Jennifer Szalai | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

22 of the Funniest Novels Since ‘Catch-22’

Because we could all use a laugh.

Dwight Garner, Alexandra Jacobs, Jennifer Szalai and Cari Vander Yacht | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Kate Zambreno Takes Issue With What Counts as ‘Literature’

Men’s personal narratives are dissected; women’s are “dismissed as merely autofiction or memoir,” says the author of “The Light Room: On Art and Care.” Her 2012 “Heroines” has just been reissued.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Food Writer Whose Essays Go Heavy on the Salt and Fire

Geraldine DeRuiter’s “If You Can’t Take the Heat” expands on her viral, award-winning blog posts.

Jennifer Reese | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

He Played the Victim. It Earned Him Attention, Success and a Lot of Trouble.

In Andrew Boryga’s debut novel, a young writer creates a career for himself by exaggerating, or sometimes completely manufacturing, stories of tragedy.

Mateo Askaripour | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Bee’s-Eye View of the World

Using clever camera methods, a new photo book illuminates how honeybees see plants and flowers.

William Atkins | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Love-Addled Apple Farmer, Inseparable Sisters and Other Fictional Heroes of Massachusetts

A vibrant cast narrates “North Woods,” Daniel Mason’s lyrical saga about the various inhabitants of a single home in Massachusetts, from the founding of this country to the present day.

Lauren Christensen | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Move to England Led Armistead Maupin Back to ‘Tales of the City’

Some familiar San Franciscans turn up in the British countryside in “Mona of the Manor,” which the author vows is the 10th, and last, in the series: “That has a nice symmetry.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

No One Has Ever Read Genesis Like This

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson delivers a riveting interpretation of the Bible’s first book.

Francis Spufford | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Modern-Day Persephone, Seduced by Opioids and Wealth

Rachel Lyon’s novel “Fruit of the Dead” updates the Greek myth with a pharma tycoon who lures an aimless slacker to his private island.

Molly Young | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Inspired by a Real Mystery, This Novel Skewers the Art World

In “Anita de Monte Laughs Last,” by Xochitl Gonzalez, two Latina women working a decade apart fight to break out in the New York art scene.

Jean Hanff Korelitz | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

An Amnesiac Pieces Together a Life From Strangers’ Stories

“Your Absence Is Darkness,” a novel by the Icelandic writer Jon Kalman Stefansson, is a complex history prompted by one man’s quest.

Daniel Mason | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Fresh Look at a Sensational 1843 Murder Case and Its Fallout

In “The Witch of New York,” Alex Hortis revisits a Staten Island case that helped usher in a lurid new era of journalism.

Kate Tuttle | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Two Lives Intertwined, on Both Sides of the Camera

In “Double Click,” the writer Carol Kino explores the pioneering glamour of a famous fashion-photography pair.

Sarah Boxer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Two Books About Lovable Unlikable People

Molly recommends a novel about a scornful teenager and a collection of interviews about a difficult filmmaker.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Tana French’s Moody, Mesmerizing New Thriller

“The Hunter,” set in western Ireland, is a sequel to 2020’s “The Searcher.”

Sadie Stein | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Comedy Gold

In the audiobook oral history “Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of ‘Airplane!,’” a cast of dozens fondly revisits a now-classic film.

Judith Newman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure