A Dark Matter
Peter Straub's ambitious new novel turns on a supernatural encounter that forever
changes -- and wounds -- a group of friends. Jeff Vandermeer reviews.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Injustice in the name of science, and its aftermath.
Don DeLillo
The writer on the genesis of his new novel Point Omega.
Union Atlantic
The financial wreckage of an era, captured in fiction.
Five Books
Black History Month for Younger Readers.
GUEST BOOKS
Bernard Cornwell
The creator of Sharpe recommends reading from across human history.
HISTORY
Bomb Power
Gary Wills traces the origins of the national security state.
GRIN & TONIC
Dear Mr. Thomas Pynchon
Special request.
Rock & Roll &
Smart and Smarter
Robert Christgau on Vampire Weekend's sophmore effort, Contra.
LIBRARY WITHOUT WALLS
Devils and Angels
Michael Dirda on the powerful, uncanny short fictions of Heinrich von Kleist.
Shades of Gray
Ward Sutton on a new history of Americans living in Nazi-occupied Paris.
Conspirata
A new chapter in Robert Harris's epic of Roman intrigue.
The Whale
A writer's obsession with oceanic giants.
Where the God of
Love Hangs Out
Amy Bloom's short stories.
Daybook
February 10: On this day in 1846, Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense was published. Lear was the first in a golden half-century of English nonsensicality that would include Lewis Carroll and Hilaire Belloc. His contemporaries, his letters…
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Previously in Daybook
In the Margin
After enjoying the narrative fireworks on display in Cloud Atlas, Ghostwritten, Number9Dream and Black Swan Green, I've been primed for news of David Mitchell's…
more »
Earlier Posts
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The Long List
Books CDs, DVDs to know about now
The Union Jack
A British flag glimpsed during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution is the prompt that inspires this autobiographical novel by the 2002 Nobel laureate.
The Cartoon Introduction to Economics: Volume One: Microeconomics
Who said economics is the dismal science? An award-winning illustrator and a comic economist (really) team up to chase the blahs away from the subject in this witty course in microeconomic theory.
Beneath the Lion's Gaze
A compelling novel of family and friendship set in Ethiopia in 1974 during the violent overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie.