Books and Literature

October 28, 2019

The Joy of Kooky

In the early 1990s, Joost Elffers, a successful Dutch book packager, met an American expatriate living in Amsterdam named Gary Goldschneider. Mr. Goldschneider was a brilliant […]
October 25, 2019

Jenny Slate Wrote a Book-Shaped Thing. What Is It?

SOUTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. — The only piece of fiction in Jenny Slate’s new book, “Little Weirds,” describes a love that grew old in an un-air-conditioned house […]
October 15, 2019

The Return of Olive Kitteridge, the Tart, Crotchety, Beloved Curmudgeon

OLIVE, AGAINBy Elizabeth Strout Patrick Melrose, the deeply troubled yet savagely witty character who was breathed into existence by the English author Edward St. Aubyn, seized […]
October 10, 2019

This C.I.A. Agent Wants to Give Peace a Chance

You wouldn’t expect a C.I.A. agent to talk like the spiritual presidential candidate Marianne Williamson. But there was Amaryllis Fox, who spent much of her 20s […]
March 22, 2018

‘A Man and His Watch’

In a recent book, Sylvester Stallone, Ralph Lauren and a Japanese dye master are among the owners talking about their treasured timepieces.
January 29, 2018

Naomi Alderman on the World That Yielded ‘The Power’

Advertisement “The Power,” Naomi Alderman’s recent work of speculative fiction, tackles a freighted question: What would happen in a conventional society if the roles of men […]
December 14, 2017

Books of Style: Hygge Gets Heave-Ho as Swedes, Norwegians Join the Fun

Lykke, pronounced loo-kah, like the character in the Suzanne Vega song, is the Danish word for happiness, perhaps that country’s most valuable commodity. (Denmark often sits […]
November 7, 2017

Modern Love: Looking for the ‘Bad Mother?’ She’s Still Here

Advertisement It was 2005 when Ayelet Waldman declared in Modern Love that she was the only one in her Mommy and Me class who was still […]
October 11, 2017

With…Tom Hanks: Hollywood’s Most Decent Fella on Harvey, Trump and History

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — In 2006, when Tom Hanks wanted to get a story published, he sent it to his friend and sometime director Nora Ephron. […]
October 10, 2017

In Love With Romance Novels, but Not Their Lack of Diversity

Earlier this year, after having seen books like “Heroine Complex,” “Trade Me” and “Forbidden” fly off shelves at the Ripped Bodice, their Culver City, Calif., bookstore […]