NYT Books

Answering reader mail with a recommended crime series and a book about architecture.

Derna, which lost entire neighborhoods and thousands of residents in the deluge, has a history as a cultural and intellectual hub as well as a rebellious streak.

In Eliza Clark’s novel “Penance,” a 16-year-old becomes more fascinating in death than she was in life.

In Nora Fussner’s new novel, the jaded producers of “Searching For … the Invisible World” are pulled into a haunted story they initially refuse to believe.

“There is the danger of being Dan Browned,” said the comedian and author of “Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult.” Debtors Anonymous, coffee-shop chitchat and a well-timed pool gag help her stay afloat.

In “The Fall,” Wolff predicts the collapse of Rupert Murdoch’s cable network and recounts the recent tumult there through a barrage of fuzzily sourced trash talk.

Analyzing the controversy over hosting duties at the National Book Awards, and interviewing Zadie Smith about her latest novel, “The Fraud.”

In two new books, the historians Adrian Goldsworthy and Tom Holland portray an empire that knew how to hold back from a fight and make room for upstarts.

Guests at a Manhattan party for the chronicler of Trump and Murdoch included headline writers and headline makers.

He was among the first to offer a comprehensive explanation, and a possible solution, for the country’s rising health care costs.