All Books
- Strength and purpose anchor the 10 best books of February
Stories of bravery and tenacity dominate our reviewers’ picks for the 10 best books of February. They include tales of fears conquered, truths told, and voices found.
- Sobfests, pop songs: TikTok upends France’s lauded literary landscape
With emotional videos on TikTok’s viral #BookTok community, French influencers are bypassing the traditional literary establishment and garnering younger readers.
- Coming-of-age novel overflows with humor, heartache, and honesty
A Pakistani American girl narrates her life in “Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion,” a novel that touches on a Muslim family, their community, and difficult choices.
- Can society move beyond unachievable standards of motherhood?
Author Jessica Grose urges mothers, when faced with impossible demands, to ask “Does this help me improve my relationship with my children? And does this help my community? If the answer is neither, push back.”
- Measuring up: Why humans want to quantify everything
Statistics are personal and political, says author James Vincent, who explores the social history of measurement in “Beyond Measure.”
- Behind the velvet ropes: Thoughts from a Met museum guard
As a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Patrick Bringley learned to see the art in everyday, and the everyday in art. His love of beauty helped transform his grief over a brother's death.
- How my grandfather was like Michelle Obama’s
They were ordinary Black men, working to make a better life for their families, despite racism.
- A daring escape from slavery, and the love story behind it
An elaborate ruse secured the freedom of an enslaved couple in 1840s Georgia. Author Ilyon Woo chronicles William and Ellen Crafts’ remarkable true story in ‘Master Slave Husband Wife.’
- Wunderkind British explorer’s life demonstrates ice-hard resolve
The young British explorer Henry Watkins pursued impossible expeditions, leading men “Into the Great Emptiness” of Greenland’s ice cap. His leadership got them all home – eventually.
- How Sarah Kidd, the wife of a pirate captain, reinvented herself
“The Pirate’s Wife” tells the true story of Sarah Kidd, who was married to 18th-century privateer Capt. William Kidd. Her fortitude and adaptability helped her and her children survive.
- The defusing of the Cuban missile crisis involved delicate diplomacy
JFK carefully threaded a solution, which included a series of hard lines and face-saving measures that allowed the Soviets to withdraw their missiles peacefully.
- First LookChildren’s book ‘Freewater’ wins Newbery, Coretta Scott King awards
The American Library Association has announced the top children’s and young adult books for 2023. This year’s John Newbery Medal for best children’s book went to Amina Luqman-Dawson’s novel “Freewater” about a community of people who escaped slavery.
- ‘I cannot allow these people to die’: Saving Jews in World War II
During the Holocaust, unlikely heroes worked to get Jewish people out of harm’s way. The inspiring stories of these individuals, who were not Jewish, are told in “In the Garden of the Righteous.”
- Fully booked: January titles to take you to faraway places
Our 10 picks for this month convey courage in the midst of profound change, compassion for family struggles, and the excitement (and confusion) of overlapping cultures.
- What the world is reading: Fiction by bestselling authors
Newly translated into English, these five books give readers insights into lives, cultures, preoccupations, and the human condition.
- When everything breaks down, what does it take to survive?
On an isolated island in Maine, a woman is pushed to the brink to save her family, in Meghan Gilliss’ debut novel “Lungfish.”
- Hooray for Hollywood: A history of the cinema
Candid stories from actors, directors, and studio hands offer insider views in “Hollywood: The Oral History.”
- ‘Just give love’: One man’s tireless care for homeless people
Author Tracy Kidder shines a spotlight on Jim O’Connell, a Harvard-trained doctor who has spent 40 years caring for unhoused individuals in Boston, in “Rough Sleepers.”
- Play it loud: A rich history of American pop music
From its beginnings in blues and ragtime, American popular music has blended influences and genres. Four recent books explore its enduring appeal.
- The life of the playwright behind ‘Death of a Salesman’
Arthur Miller’s impact on American theater was seismic. New Yorker drama critic John Lahr delves into Miller’s life, and the plays that made him famous.