The Best Thrillers of 2025

Our columnist on the books that wowed her this year.

Sarah Lyall | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Best Romance Novels of 2025

Here are the books our columnist loved the most this year.

Olivia Waite | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Peek Into the Mind of One of History’s Great Thinkers

The notebooks of Albert Camus, the French philosopher and novelist, have been collected in a single volume for the first time.

Dwight Garner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Best Historical Fiction of 2025

Our columnist picks the year’s outstanding books.

Alida Becker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Big and Beautiful: Gift-Worthy Holiday Art Books

This season’s bounty includes volumes on far-out artists, unusual cats and enviable gardens.

Leah Greenblatt | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Liverwort or Moss? Horny Toad or Fence Lizard? Niche Field Guides Can Tell You.

What birders well know, fans of “composite organisms” and other creatures can now learn: how to identify obscure species in the wild.

Robert Ito | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Hannah Arendt Is Not Your Icon

Fifty years after her death, the German-born political thinker has been enshrined as a prophet for our times. What did she actually say?

Jennifer Szalai | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Our Favorite Books to Give Every Type of Person

Need a last-minute holiday gift? Try one of these recent releases.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Colorful Massachusetts Memoir, With a Cross-Cultural Twist

Raised in a large chaotic family outside Boston, the journalist Janice Page recalls an eventful childhood and the love story that brought her to China and back again.

Mary Pols | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How Should a Victim Be?

In “Girls Play Dead,” Jen Percy examines the ways women respond to sexual trauma.

Jessica Bennett | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Nobel Winner Blurs Genres and Genders in This Bewitching Novel

Olga Tokarczuk’s “House of Day, House of Night” brings together a constellation of characters and legends in a Polish border region.

Ben Markovits | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

In These Novels, Dystopia Is a World of Hovering Parents

Jennifer L. Holm’s “Outside” and Rebecca Stead’s “The Experiment” both feature well-meaning grown-ups who do everything to protect their kids — and fail.

Gayle Forman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How Capitalism Took Over the World

In a bold new history, Sven Beckert traces the origins of our modern economy, from global port cities to the halls of power.

Marcus Rediker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Do You Recognize These Quotes From Classic Books?

Try this short quiz to see how many popular lines from 20th-century science fiction novels have remained in your memory bank.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Reintroducing Jessica Mitford, the Activist With a ‘Concrete Upper Lip’

Carla Kaplan’s biography “Troublemaker” focuses on the fierce political commitments of the journalist best known for “The American Way of Death.”

Alexandra Jacobs | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Terry Martin Hekker, a Happy Housewife Scorned, Dies at 92

She wrote two popular memoirs: the first about the joys of married life, the second about her husband serving her divorce papers on their 40th anniversary.

Sam Roberts | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Shakespeare Becoming Shakespeare, With Help From His Working-Class Peers

The title of Daniel Swift’s book “The Dream Factory,” about the creative and capitalist conditions of Elizabethan drama, tellingly evokes the commercial aspirations of old Hollywood.

Ed Simon | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

My Kid Loves Percy Jackson. What Should They Read Next?

Eleven recommendations for fans of Rick Riordan’s Olympians series, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Jennifer Hubert Swan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

George Packer: ‘I’ve Stopped Being a Prig About Beautiful Writing’

“Journalism is essential, but it can’t get at certain levels of experience — so I wrote a fable,” he says of “The Emergency,” his first novel in more than 25 years.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

These Books Were Judged by Their A.I. Covers, and Disqualified

A New Zealand book competition dropped two of a publisher’s books because they had A.I.-generated covers. The publisher and the designer pushed back.

Jin Yu Young | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

It’s a Miracle That Mexico Exists at All

In a new book, Paul Gillingham tells the story of a nation that has thrived because of its diversity, not in spite of it.

Álvaro Enrigue | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Dazzling New Historical Fiction

Our columnist on four books that are worth your time.

Alida Becker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Literary Master Who Made Play His Life’s Work

A newly reissued book by the Argentine writer Julio Cortázar highlights his most consistent qualities.

Martin Riker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Do You Know These Award-Winning Books?

Try this short quiz to match the descriptions of past National Book Award winners with their titles and authors.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Voluptuous Return of ‘Love and Rockets’

With “Lovers and Haters,” Gilbert Hernandez expands on the surreal storytelling and bosomy B-movie film stars of his beloved long-running series.

Sam Thielman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

This 1,200-Page Poetry Book Affirms Seamus Heaney’s Towering Genius

Even the previously uncollected work in “The Poems of Seamus Heaney” shows a master craftsman in full control of his powers.

Robert Pinsky | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Feeling the Angst? These Nuns Have You Covered. (Not Like That.)

The unlikely collaboration of two academics, “Convent Wisdom” provides unholy guidance by intertwining religious history with popular culture.

María Sánchez Díez | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Building Blocks of Life Were Just the Beginning

In “Crick: A Mind in Motion,” the British biologist Matthew Cobb provides a biography both vivid and authoritative.

Janice P. Nimura | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Loneliness of the Larger-Than-Life Black Athlete

In Derrick Barnes’s fantastical tale, a 13-year-old Black football star is idolized by his town’s mostly white inhabitants, until they turn on him.

David Barclay Moore | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Don’t Recommend a Book to Bryan Washington (Unless You’re a Bookseller)

His new novel, “Palaver,” observes how an expat in Japan and his visiting mother find “a new language and way of being that’s amenable for them both.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

This Club Kid Knows How to Survive. The Better Question Is: How to Live?

Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s new novel, “Terry Dactyl,” follows a young trans woman figuring out who she is throughout the AIDS crisis and Covid pandemic.

Trish Bendix | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Sarah Jessica Parker’s Year of Judging the Booker Prize

The actor had to read so many books (153) she bowed out of most family activities. Still, she said, collaborating to pick a winner was worth the sacrifice.

Alex Marshall and OK McCausland | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Ken Burns Brings the War of Independence to the Unruly Present

In “The American Revolution,” an illustrated companion to a new documentary series, the conflict is global, gruesome and tearing us apart.

Ted Widmer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Tale of Two Couples, and a Nation, Emerging From a Deep Freeze

Andrew Miller’s novel “The Land in Winter,” a finalist for the Booker Prize, observes a world on the brink of cultural change.

Kathryn Hughes | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Essential Kate Atkinson

Surprising, versatile, dark and funny, the British writer has something for (almost) everyone.

Sadie Stein | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

An Extravagant Dive Into Italian Cinema, Filled With Love and Death

“The Silver Book” follows one pivotal year in the life of the famed Italian costume designer Danilo Donati.

Christopher Bollen | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Susan Straight’s First English Professor Turned Her On to ‘Badass’ Women

Meeting traveling nurses during the pandemic led to “Sacrament,” her 10th novel. “Our memories will be indelible,” she says, “like my father’s stories of the Dust Bowl.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Love a Heist? These Books Deliver, With a Dose of Magic.

The best-selling fantasy writer Holly Black recommends novels that blend the thrills of a well-executed crime with intrigue and sorcery.

Holly Black | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

It’s Hard to Be Chronically Online and Hate Your Friends

In tracing the journeys of two frenemies with art-world aspirations, Anika Jade Levy’s “Flat Earth” distills the angst and aimlessness of a generation.

Erin Somers | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Do You Know These Family Sagas of Page and Screen?

The trials and tribulations of related people can really propel a plot. See how many novels and their adaptations you recognize in this short quiz.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

What Is Going On Inside the Department of Justice?

“Injustice,” by the veteran journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis, follows federal prosecutors at work under the presidencies of Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Jeffrey Toobin | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Disco, Djinns and 5-Star Service in Afghanistan

In “The Finest Hotel in Kabul,” the BBC journalist Lyse Doucet tells the story of a country through what was once its most luxurious hotel.

Amy Waldman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Book Club: Read ‘Hamnet,’ by Maggie O’Farrell, With the Book Review

In November, the Book Review Book Club will read and discuss Maggie O’Farrell’s historical tear-jerker, about a death that shaped Shakespeare.

MJ Franklin | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

23 Books Coming in November

New fiction by Salman Rushdie and Bryan Washington, a memoir by Margaret Atwood, devilish romantasy and more.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Joseph J. Ellis Doesn’t Think You Would Have Abolished Slavery, Either

In “The Great Contradiction,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian looks at the way the founders wrestled with the fate of human bondage.

Richard Kreitner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Jack Carr Knows His Way Around a Battlefield, and a Military Thriller

His gritty novels have spawned a cottage industry and become a rallying point for fellow veterans. “Cry Havoc” is the latest.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Images of Black Beauty and Belonging

In the transporting monograph “Tyler Mitchell: Wish This Was Real,” the gifted young photographer traces a path from high fashion to his Georgia roots.

Erica Ackerberg | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Philip Pullman Brings Lyra’s Story to a Close

A plea for humanism and honesty, “The Rose Field” wraps up the fantastical saga set in motion with “His Dark Materials.”

Sarah Lyall | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Romance Novels That Are Spicy, Sweet and Flat-Out Stunning

Our critic on four sizzling new releases.

Olivia Waite | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Do You Recognize These Literary References in Modern Pop Culture?

Try this quiz about the bookish influences on Homer Simpson, Kate Bush and others to see how many connections you know.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure