NYT Books

Call her Ruth, or Baby, or Sunday: A San Francisco sex worker’s carefully compartmentalized life starts to unravel in Brittany Newell’s vivid “Soft Core.”

An author of books on Russia who spoke the language, she had no diplomatic experience but formed an unlikely bond with the president.

A novelist and short-story writer, she devoted years to a nonfiction project examining of the lives of two eccentric authors who spent decades in Morocco.

In “The Age of Choice,” Sophia Rosenfeld questions whether choosing — what to buy, whom to vote for — is actually worth it.

In Anne Tyler’s new novel, a socially inept mother faces hurdles in her personal, professional and family lives.

A new biography of Charles W. Chesnutt, by Tess Chakkalakal, explains the friendships and tensions he had with his white literary contemporaries.

In her fifth memoir, “Cleavage,” Jennifer Finney Boylan writes about her 36-year marriage, her adult children and why she keeps telling her story.

In “Memorial Days,” Geraldine Brooks retreats to an island off Australia hoping to pick up the pieces after the sudden death of her husband.

“Something Rotten,” Andrew Lipstein’s latest examination of male self-delusion, finds a Brooklyn journalist falling under the sway of a Svengali.

What are three popular tropes that romance novels use? Jennifer Harlan, a New York Times books editor, recommends three romance novels that show off those tropes at their best.