Lose Yourself in Rich, Evocative New Historical Fiction

Our columnist on four standout releases.

Alida Becker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Don’t Tell, but Mark Greaney Is No Fan of ‘Goldfinger’

The author of the “Gray Man” espionage series grew up on James Bond, but that Ian Fleming novel has too much golf, too little “secret agenting.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Polyamory Novel for Generation X

The narrator of Ada Calhoun’s autofictional “Crush” strives toward “holiness” — in an extramarital affair.

Jo Hamya | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

She Remembers Everything. Except What Happened to Her Yesterday.

In Karen Thompson Walker’s latest novel, “The Strange Case of Jane O.,” a patient’s unusual symptoms suggest metaphysical mysteries.

Leah Greenblatt | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How Will the West Look Back on the Crisis in Gaza?

Omar El Akkad considers American and European responses to mass suffering in his new book.

Fintan O’Toole | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Do You Know These Popular Books That Were Adapted for the Screen?

Try this short quiz that highlights the film or television adaptations of novels and memoirs that often have a sharp comic edge.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Curtis Sittenfeld’s New Stories Revel in Life’s Delicious Mess

Her story collection is about the thorny conundrums of being alive.

Jen Doll | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Not-So-Straight Line From Little Richard to Bowie to ‘Saturday Night Fever’

In “The Secret Public,” Jon Savage traces how music helped popularize queer culture, from the 1950s through the heyday of disco.

Stephin Merritt | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

6 Thrilling Novels About Serial Killers

The mystery writer S.A. Cosby picks some of his favorite tales of the human monsters that wait for us in the dark.

S.A. Cosby | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Why Children Love Edward Gorey: A Centenary Tribute

He made the uncanny cool for a kid like me, whose dollhouse contained a miniature Ouija board in the child’s room and a ghost made of Kleenex and cotton balls in the attic.

Lisa Brown | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Best Second-Chance Romance Novels, According to Tia Williams

Books by Casey McQuiston, Alexis Daria and more offer emotional tales of love and forgiveness with plenty of heat.

Tia Williams | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How Teatime and Cartoons Changed the World

In “The Revolutionary Self,” the historian Lynn Hunt explores the way 18th-century culture transformed our sense of power in the world.

Marjoleine Kars | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

She Gathered Evidence of War Crimes. Then She Became a Victim of One.

The Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina compiled stories of women resisting the Russian invasion. After she was killed, colleagues ensured publication of her unfinished book.

Rebecca Donner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Does the Art World Need a New Avant-Garde to Shake It Up?

A new book by Morgan Falconer argues that artists working today should take inspiration from Futurism, Dada and other art movements that sought to reinvent the field.

Orlando Whitfield | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A South Korean Filmmaker’s Early Fiction Holds a Mirror to His Past

Set in 1980s South Korea, Lee Chang-dong’s book “Snowy Day and Other Stories” hangs in the shadow of the violent Gwangju massacre.

Camille Bromley | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Nightmare of Leaving an Abusive Marriage

The heroine of Roisín O’Donnell’s novel “Nesting” is a young mother desperate to escape her husband’s physical and emotional control.

Katie J.M. Baker | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Here’s Looking at You, Kids: 3 Picture Books About Eyeglasses

A forgetful bear, a lovesick boy and, yes, George Washington share their views from the bridge.

Barney Saltzberg | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

10 Great Gothic Thrillers That Will Keep You Up at Night

The author of “If We Were Villains” recommends novels that will make you shiver with delight one moment and recoil in horror the next.

M.L. Rio | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A New Book Gives Lorne Michaels the Founding Father Treatment

“Saturday Night Live” turns 50 this year, and a monumental biography of the man who created it attests to his enduring role as America’s impresario of funny.

A.O. Scott | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

An Exquisite, Wrenching Novel of Leaving Your Life Behind

In Charlotte Wood’s novel “Stone Yard Devotional,” an atheist burrows into herself while staying in a convent, and contemplates how to live without causing harm.

Lauren Christensen | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

An Esteemed Biographer Puts Her Own Life in the Spotlight

The standout essays in Megan Marshall’s “After Lives” recall her troubled father and the fate of a high school classmate.

Alexandra Jacobs | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

4 New Detective Novels Worth Investigating

Our critic on the month’s most notable releases.

Sarah Weinman | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

2 Books for Anxious Minds

Nadine Gordimer’s stories; Margaret Atwood’s sketches.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

7 Great Legal Thrillers

The novelist Robyn Gigl picks her favorite courtroom dramas and legal whodunits — some of which may surprise you.

Robyn Gigl | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

3 Creepy New Psychological Thrillers

Our columnist on the month’s best new releases.

Sarah Lyall | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Elinor Lipman Wants to ‘Get My Characters Out of the House’

Eighteen books in (the latest is “Every Tom, Dick & Harry”), she still recalls an editor’s note urging more action: “Could someone here please pass the potatoes?”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How the British Art Market Went From Sublime to Ridiculous

“Rogues and Scholars,” James Stourton’s erudite and authoritative history, doesn’t spare the color.

Walker Mimms | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Pole-Dancing Her Way Through a ‘City of Data and Drugs’

Call her Ruth, or Baby, or Sunday: A San Francisco sex worker’s carefully compartmentalized life starts to unravel in Brittany Newell’s vivid “Soft Core.”

Sophie Haigney | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Millicent Dillon, Chronicler of Jane and Paul Bowles, Dies at 99

A novelist and short-story writer, she devoted years to a nonfiction project examining of the lives of two eccentric authors who spent decades in Morocco.

Adam Nossiter | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

3 Romance Novels We Recommend

What are three popular tropes that romance novels use? Jennifer Harlan, a New York Times books editor, recommends three romance novels that show off those tropes at their best.

Jennifer Harlan, Karen Hanley and Claire Hogan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

If Patrick Bateman Were a 19th-Century English Governess

Virginia Feito’s relentlessly gory novel “Victorian Psycho” announces its narrator’s grisly intentions from the start.

Jac Jemc | NYTimes Books | Disclosure