NYT Books

“Chasing Bright Medusas,” a new biography by Benjamin Taylor, aims not to uncover new facts but to provide a concise introduction to the novelist.

After nearly 40 years as a professor, he began a new career writing poems and translating classics. He won a National Book Award when he was 86.

Long before Kindles and iPads became popular, Ruiz Robles, a teacher, created her Mechanical Encyclopedia to help lighten her students’ textbook load.

A lonely Londoner cyber-stalks her married lover and his other paramours; a dispersed Guatemalan American family comes together in crisis; a Mohawk mother navigates life off the rez.

An editor recommends “84, Charing Cross Road” and “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.”

In Lexi Freiman’s “The Book of Ayn,” a canceled novelist drifts from New York parties to L.A. parties to a commune in Greece, spreading the gospel of Ayn Rand.

The bibliophiles in Christopher de Hamel’s lavishly illustrated book ensured the survival of medieval texts over centuries.

Jeff Horwitz’s “Broken Code” draws on 25,000 pages of internal documents to reveal the company’s tumultuous inner workings — and their devastating impact on humanity.

Alexandra Alter talks about her profile of the best-selling author behind “Fourth Wing” and Alexandra Jacobs discusses her review of “My Name is Barbra.”

Two new middle grade novels insist Hans Christian Andersen got it all wrong.