NYT Books

In his new memoir, the CNN veteran opens up about faith, his midlife career upheaval and that time he got into homemade laundry detergent.

James Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room” has been meaningful for “generations of queer people (including for me),” says the novelist, who argues for “less facile” literary conversations. His new book is “Small Rain.”

In her new novel, Rachel Kushner invents a secret agent who’s not really all that different from a novelist.

The fifth in a series of conversations with authors appearing on our “Best Books of the 21st Century” list.

“My gaze meets the spine of a certain book,” explains the author of “The Memory Police.” “We exchange glances. … This book has chosen me.” Her latest novel to be translated from Japanese is “Mina’s Matchbox.”

A federal appeals court lifted an injunction on the law, which had already led to the removal of thousands of books from public school classrooms and libraries.

Italo Calvino? Not so bad! May Sarton? Pretty good!

Among her favorites: books by Pat Barker and Marguerite Yourcenar. Her own latest work of historical nonfiction is “Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation.”

Musical adaptations of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” and “The Lord of the Rings” as well as a new Samuel D. Hunter play were on our critic’s itinerary.

The author of humorous short stories finds emotional connections in tales that engage with tech. But he’s more interested in the ties between humans.