NYT Books

A new book argues that the isolation of a pre-social media era helped fuel a fertile Chicago ecosystem for offbeat stand-up comedians.

In her memoir, “Thicker Than Water,” the famously private “Scandal” star opens up about the family secret that made her question whether she was playing the lead role in her own life.

A growing number of video stars are using their online clout to break into the publishing world — and top the best-seller lists.

Groff works on several novels at once, composes in longhand, and wrote a draft of her new book, “The Vaster Wilds,” in iambic pentameter “just for fun.”

Lisa Jewell puts a great deal of thought into the monikers she chooses for the people who populate her books. Here are her rules of thumb.

“I am weak from so much internal bleeding,” the novelist wrote to his lawyer. “Have been a good boy and tried to rest.”

He spent his career exploring will and deceit. Then came a sudden success: a bluntly titled book that found that one strain of dishonesty with a barnyard name was worse than lying.

“A collection of these issues would undoubtedly be my favorite book that no one has heard of,” says the author of the memoir “Stay True,” one of the Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2022. “If you are reading this, please write me!”