NYT Books

And A.O. Scott on the joys inherent in giving poems a close read.

In his candid memoir “Comedy Samurai,” the writer-director Larry Charles explains his comfort with failure and analyzes why creative collaborations end.

A new book of photographs captures the landscapes, buildings and faces along the route that once conveyed untold wealth between Europe and China.

The fantasy author Charlie Jane Anders recommends some of her favorite, most magical books.

Amy Bloom’s “I’ll Be Right Here” zigzags between Paris and Poughkeepsie as it shares the saga of Algerian siblings and their chosen family.

Visit the aquatic hereafter in a fantasy, then track down threats on Martha’s Vineyard in a taut contemporary suspense novel.

With folk traditions and sui generis prose, Amos Tutuola enthralled readers with his magic realist novel “The Palm-Wine Drinkard.”

Fluent in German and passing as an Aryan, she once crossed into Germany, uncovered Nazi military secrets and nursed a wounded, and deceived, SS officer.

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

Feigned love leads to real connections in these funny, joyful and deeply romantic books.